‘A new space to play in': can vertical dramas save the UK's TV sector?

The Guardian

22-06-2025

They're a Chinese cultural phenomenon which keeps millions of viewers glued to their phones, but the runaway success of 'vertical dramas' is providing an unlikely source of employment for film and TV crews here in the UK.
The bite-size melodramas have breathless titles such as A Flash Marriage with the Billionaire and My Firefighter ex-Husband Burns in Regret, and are chopped into one minute episodes for avid consumption on viewers' vertically held smartphones.
The UK is an increasingly popular location for these typically low-budget productions, reflecting the popularity of British actors in a genre proving a smash with US audiences, the popularity of UK locations for dramas with a royal or aristocratic theme, and the lower cost of filming compared with the US.
The emergence of vertical dramas has coincided with a dip in the UK's film and TV employment market, with almost a fifth of industry freelancers saying they are out of work.
Dan Löwenstein, a British film and TV director, has shot 16 vertical dramas over the past year including a version of Pride and Prejudice for ReelShort, a US-based platform with a Chinese-backed parent.
Löwenstein spoke on a location shoot in Kent for Obsessed with My Scheming CEO, a remake of a Chinese hit about a relationship between a scion of a crime family and a lawyer.
Löwenstein says the vertical drama genre is providing 'income and opportunities' for actors and crew.
'It's bringing income to people, giving opportunities. For actors, it's giving the opportunity to have a leading role in a film. For crew, if you're in with a production company or in with a producer, you could work pretty much full-time at the moment because there's so many being produced in the UK.'
A key difference with conventional drama is production pace. Löwenstein says it is normal to shoot three pages of script a day on a standard feature, but with a vertical drama he has gone as high as 25. Obsessed is shooting 77 pages in seven days, cramming in lines like 'I'm about to be engaged, you're about to be married. One last round?' and 'Wayne! You and your lawyer bitch are dead – you hear me? DEAD.'
Löwenstein acknowledges the gap in quality between fast-moving, telenovela-style vertical dramas and conventional TV fare.
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'That's where the question of quality comes in, because you're flying so fast that the quality obviously suffers from that. But as a director it's interesting to battle that, and still keep the quality in a way that keeps moving the story forward and keeps production value.'
But there is still a 'taboo' around the genre in the UK, he says. 'Some people frown upon it still … Within the filming community, some actors, some crew, it's not for them. And sometimes it's not for me either. It depends on the script. But it is becoming more legit. As times goes on the scripts are getting better. '
He adds that he likes experimenting with new formats and finds vertical dramas an 'interesting new space to play in' although he is also developing multiple feature films.
Demand for vertical content is increasing rapidly, with a significant audience in the US. Global downloads of vertical drama apps like ReelShort and FlexTV rose 460% last year, while monthly user numbers for those apps have reached nearly 600 million so far this year, up 131% on the same period in 2024, according to data from Sensor Tower.
Obsessed has a crew of 22 and the budget comes within the typical range of vertical dramas of $150,000-$250,000 (£110,000-£185,000).
Zoey Edwards, a hair and makeup artist who worked on Löwenstein's Pride and Prejudice and whose previous experience includes Bridgerton, has worked on five vertical dramas in the UK. She says the work came at a time when the whole UK TV and film industry was struggling with the impact of the 2023 Hollywood writer and actor strikes.
'It was nine months that I didn't work in film and TV. But once film and TV production came back the industry did not get back to the level it was at before. Vertical drama filled a gap in my work.'
She adds: 'It's not the most exciting of jobs or most gripping of scripts but it was still fun to do what you are qualified to do and be around people who understand your profession'.
Tom Walder, who was worked as a director of photography on more than a dozen UK-shot vertical dramas over the past year including the Austen adaptation, says vertical dramas have been a vital addition to an industry that he says has been stuck in a post-Covid lull.
'Vertical dramas have definitely helped me become more financially free,' he says, adding they have provided a 'multitude' of film professionals with more opportunities as vertical drama filming has taken off this year.
'It's a pleasure to be one of the pioneers of such a novelty,' he says.
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Charles Alexander, a lighting technician on the Obsessed film, moved to the UK from Australia last year and says vertical dramas provided much-needed work.
'When I got here the industry was really quiet and a lot of people seemed to be struggling and leaving the industry,' he says. 'So it's been good for me to find this work and I like a lot of the crew that I have worked with on these productions.'
Tim Barber, an actor in Obsessed, who worked in the telecoms industry for two decades before turning to acting, says he has done five vertical dramas since February and the genre has given him a quick introduction to professional acting.
'If you want to get a show reel together as a beginning actor, this feels like a great niche for people fresh from drama school.' Describing the vertical dramas he has worked on, he says: 'Quite a lot of these are like Mills & Boon for a new generation.'
Obsessed is a co-production between Feuer Media, a company owned by the Chinese-born Canadian Tramy Han and FlexTV, a popular vertical drama platform owned by Mega Matrix, run by tech entrepreneur Yucheng Hu. Mega Matrix forecast last year that the short drama market, worth $5bn in 2023, could reach $36bn by 2027.
Han admits there have been problems on shoots. Vertical dramas got off to a bad start when they first started shooting in the UK, she says, with issues such as inexperienced producers and crew.
'At the very beginning a few of the companies were not very professional and there were safety concerns,' she says.
A British TV crew member who has worked on vertical dramas over the past year said there was 'an element of the wild west' about this industry niche, amid concerns over safety, long hours and low pay. Another says vertical dramas can be 'rushed film sets' and 'accidents always happen when you are rushing'. But, says another crew professional, the choice is sometimes between working on a vertical drama or a 'pub job'. The Guardian has also been told of one UK-shot vertical drama where crew members are still awaiting payment.
Pengyu Lyu, a producer on Obsessed for FlexTV, says the reason for shooting in the UK is simple. The target audience is located in the west so you shoot 'anywhere the mother language is based.' There is the option to use China as a 'western' location but it 'looks like China', he says. FlexTV has shot three vertical dramas in the UK over the past year.
Asked about safety, hours and pay, he adds: 'Whichever country we film in, we will follow the local law and working requirements, so unsafe filming conditions, low pay and long working hours are not really happening.'
Wenting Yuan, a head writer and producer at FlexTV, says the reasons for shooting in the UK can depend on the theme of the drama as well. From Lost Heiress to Royal Highness, a FlexTV drama, was shot in Britain because the UK is 'more suitable for themes related to royalty and aristocracy. Currently filming costs in the UK are somewhat lower than in the US,' she adds.
Some in the industry see a direct link between the rise of the cheap dramas in the UK and the long-running crisis in traditional television production, which has seen many experienced people out of work.
According to one senior producer, 'there's definitely a swing to cheaper alternatives as fewer people are actually watching broadcast TV and vertical dramas are a good example. But for people in the industry who are used to their work paying for their mortgages and feeding their children, there's just not enough money being earned from them.'
In the meantime, Löwenstein says vertical dramas are a medium worth getting a 'grasp on' because of the sheer amount of phone use in modern society.
'There are two end goals: to drive up the quality level of vertical dramas and to work on films and high-end TV more often.'