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Calgary Herald

Made for smartphones, verticals are bringing much needed work to Hollywood North

Article content Actor Nic Westaway's resumé has a notable thread running through it. Article content 'I think I've played 10 billionaires, maybe 12,' he said. Article content Since last year, the Vancouver-based actor has been a sought-after star in the world of verticals, also known as micro-dramas. The Australian transplant, who did four seasons on the hit Australian soap opera Home and Away, has starred in 19 verticals in the last 1½ years. Article content Article content Meant to be watched on your phone, verticals are feature film-length stories typically broken down into 70 to 150 episodes of 60 to 90 seconds each. Article content Article content 'It's this weird mash up. It's like, if Hallmark and telenovela had a throuple with a B movie is how I like to describe it,' said Vancouver actor Alicia Read, who has made 10 verticals to date. Read, along with a few others, has formed the Vertical Film & Short Series Alliance ( to help TV Land film people navigate the exploding world of verticals. Article content The stories are watched using vertically oriented apps such as ReelShort, FlickReels, DramaBox and GoodShort. Each platform usually offers between 10-20 free, cliffhanger-packed, episodes to hook the viewer. After that, it will cost you US$20 to US$40 to continue to view. Article content 'They know when people are clicking. They know how far they go in before they start to lose interest,' said Vancouver casting agent Monika Dalman, who notes she has lost count of the number of verticals projects she has worked on since 2023. Dalman's stopped counting after number 40. 'They know what specific cliffhangers are making people pay for the rest of it.' Article content They also decide via data what the next scripts will be. Article content Article content Article content 'I'm all in on this sector,' said Jimmy Wu, a producer/cinematographer and founder of Vancouver production company Vertical film Vancouver/Section Cinema Inc., which has 20 vertical projects to its credit. Article content An early adopter, Wu produced his first vertical in December 2023. For each project, Wu employs anywhere between 20 and 40 cast members, 95 per cent of whom are local. Article content Article content The way things typically work is a company reaches out to a producer and gives them a script from a previously produced project, most likely from an Asian market. It is then westernized. Article content The plots lean toward revenge or rags-to-riches stories, with a soap opera/telenovela flavour. There are hidden identities, lost loves, unknown fortunes — and sometimes werewolves, vampires, and more billionaires than Mar-a-Lago's membership list. The narratives are big on dramatic gasps and slapping.