A Hollywood Start-Up Targets the Micro Drama Craze

New York Times

2 days ago

Remember Quibi?
It was a short-form content studio and streaming service for smartphones that failed in spectacular fashion in 2020, so much so that its name became Hollywood slang: That's a Quibi, as in a terrible idea.
Now, however, one of Hollywood's most outsize personalities is giving the basic concept — a short-form studio and app — another shot. He thinks Quibi was a terrific idea, albeit with spotty execution and really bad timing.
And it needed the help of artificial intelligence.
Lloyd Braun, whose résumé includes stints running ABC Entertainment, the Yahoo Media Group and the WME talent agency, lifted the curtain Wednesday on what he and his partners are calling MicroCo. It's the first Hollywood effort to capitalize on micro dramas, an addictive, bite-size entertainment genre that started in China a few years ago and has ballooned into a more than $7 billion business there, according to analysts.
Shot vertically for viewing on phones, micro dramas are soapy, scripted and serialized — video romance novels for the TikTok era. Shows available on ReelShort, a Chinese-backed app, have titles like 'Selling My Virginity to the Mafia King' and 'Pregnant by My Ex's Professor Dad.' Production costs are minuscule by Hollywood standards, with Chinese companies spending as little as $15,000 for an entire season, analysts say. Episodes are a minute (or three) in length. Seasons stretch from 30 to 150 episodes.
Chinese micro drama apps have lately been gaining traction in the United States; millions of Americans have downloaded them, according to Sensor Tower, an analytics firm. Analysts estimate that the genre will be a $10 billion business outside China by 2027.
'This is a rare white space in entertainment: an emerging global format with no clear leader here in the U.S.,' Mr. Braun said in an interview, gesticulating wildly as is his custom. (He was once parodied on 'Seinfeld.')
MicroCo is funded by Cineverse, a tech-driven entertainment company in Los Angeles, and Banyan Ventures, an investment firm and media incubator run by Mr. Braun, Sarah Bremner and Noah Oppenheim, a former president of NBC News. Cineverse and Banyan declined to say how much they are spending.
MicroCo plans to make money through a 'freemium' model in which people can view initial episodes of shows for free and buy credits (or a subscription plan) to unlock additional content, to find out how the stories end. The still-unnamed app may also run advertisements.
By its own admission, Quibi failed, in part, because it spent too much on content: about $100,000 to $125,000 per minute, with episodes as long as 10 minutes. It released 25 new episodes, or about three hours of content, each day. The company hoped to sell enough monthly subscriptions to make money, but hardly anyone signed up. It burned through an estimated $1.4 billion in funding from an investor list that included Jeffrey Katzenberg, Goldman Sachs, Google and Alibaba.
MicroCo plans to use A.I. tools to keep costs down. 'With today's technology, we can tell quality stories at an exceptionally attractive cost,' Mr. Braun said.
For instance, MicroCo's app, which it plans to roll out early next year, will expand the micro format to other genres, including animation. Television animation costs $15,000 to $60,000 per minute if done traditionally. Intelligent Animation, another start-up backed by Banyan Ventures, has developed an A.I.-assisted process that drops the cost to as little as $1,500 per minute.
A.I. is a touchy subject in Hollywood. Creative workers, in particular, worry about being replaced by machines. But at least so far, few studios are using it the way MicroCo intends to use it.
'Everything will have a human touch, but technology is going where it's going, and we hope to use it in the best way possible to scale our business and do great storytelling at a reasonable cost,' Jana Winograde, MicroCo's chief executive, said.
Ms. Winograde, a former Showtime president, said MicroCo intended to improve on the quality of the average micro drama show while maintaining a cliffhanger-heavy style. Shows will try to establish stakes (plot tension) within three seconds and serve up a dramatic hook (to prompt continued viewing) within 23 seconds.
'We want quality storytelling,' Ms. Winograde said. 'But we're not trying to be premium television.' In other words, the froth will remain. Forgetting what has made micro dramas popular is 'the last thing we want to do,' she said.
Susan Rovner, a former chairwoman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will be the venture's chief creative officer. (She will join in early October, after her contract with NBCUniversal expires.) Before NBCUniversal, Ms. Rovner spent 22 years at Warner Bros. Television, where she oversaw the development of shows like 'Ted Lasso,' 'Gossip Girl' and 'The Flash.'
Mr. Braun, who played a pivotal role in bringing shows like 'Lost' and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to the air, positioned Cineverse, which has a 50 percent stake in MicroCo, as something of a secret weapon. Cineverse, which has expertise in streaming and A.I. technology, is building the MicroCo app. The company employs more than 100 engineers in India.
Erick Opeka, Cineverse's president and chief strategy officer, said, 'We think we can build a better, more refined experience than what we're seeing in the micro drama space today; one that is more consistent with the entertainment experiences Americans are accustomed to.'
Cineverse also has a library of roughly 71,000 media properties (podcasts, films, TV series), some of which Ms. Rovner may adapt. Cineverse gained widespread acclaim in Hollywood last year for using its network of assets to turn 'Terrifier 3,' a low-budget horror movie, into a runaway hit. Cineverse spent less than $1 million marketing the film, and it collected $90 million at the worldwide box office.
There is one question: If micro dramas are such a great business opportunity, why haven't any old-line studios started to make them?
'The entertainment business is in complete turmoil right now,' said Chris McGurk, Cineverse's chief executive. 'And so the big studios are busy trying to put their fingers in the dike, as opposed to looking at really innovative, cool, new ideas that require the kind of innovative thinking that Jenna and Lloyd and Susan bring to the table.'