EXCLUSIVE: Spirit Studios and Night Train Media are joining forces on a micro-drama series, which is in funded development. As micro-drama continues to grow in popularity around the world, Spirit and Night Train are looking to catch the wave.
With 60 cliffhangers per series and AI-assisted scripts, this is drama, but not as the traditional industry knows it, in the UK and Europe at least. Micro-drama – also known as short-form vertical video – is becoming hugely popular on platforms like ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax. The Spirit and Night Train micro-drama will be launched by Night Train Digital across digital platforms worldwide.
“The global explosion in vertical content is something we’ve followed closely and our aim is now to elevate the quality in this space by bringing top class writing and acting talent to the production,” said Herbert L Kloiber, CEO Night Train Media Group. “NTM’s core business of scripted drama development, combined with the expertise in digital exploitation that we’ve been growing at Night Train Digital, makes this the perfect marriage for us.”
One Series: 60 Cliffhangers
London-based Spirit works across linear and digital content, and across docs, scripted and unscripted. Company Co-Founder and Creative Director Matt Campion gave Deadline the lowdown on its push into micro-drama.
“We’re a multi-platform production company, and we produce things of any length on any platform,” he said. “We are a scripted company as well, in long form, so it doesn’t feel like a huge jump for us. It feels like an exciting step, and there will be lots of new learnings.”
Details of the first Spirit micro series and its cast will be revealed soon. In the meantime, Campion said Spirit has been analyzing the format to determine what works and how to structure a project. “We’ve been really analytical about breaking down how a series works in terms of the writing and the structure. The average length is 60×90 seconds, so you’re making a 90 minute film, but breaking it down into a minute and a half per episode. And every episode has to retain the audience, we don’t want them closing the app off and going elsewhere, so it has to have a hook every time. You’re building in 60 cliffhangers.”
Writers & AI & Talent
Spirit is putting together a writing team and it is safe to say that it is unlikely to resemble the one that would create a traditional longform series. The idea is to find native talent who have a profile and following in the online world. Some of the talent in question will also span both writing and performing.
In the U.S. there is a lot of chatter in acting and writing circles about micro-drama as the community grapples with the pros and cons of the format. One positive is the shows provide a leg-up to newer talent as budgets, as well as audience tastes and target demos, mean the focus is not on hiring the established industry big names.
“We’re working with a number of writers, and some already have a social audience,” Campion explained. “One of the things that we’re doing to trying to do is work with real talent from the online world that has influence. So, creators, in both the writing and the performing and acting sense. We’re trying to cast and hire people from those worlds. Inherently, they will help with distribution and promotion, but more than anything, they really understand how this type of programming works.”
There is also an AI component. Spirit is already using AI tools in the production process, including to create reconstruction and drama segments in its docs, and the tech will be deployed as it move into micro-drama.
“The writers are sort of the story engineers and editors,” Campion said. “We can train an AI model to understand the formula and the writing pattern, and then we can work with a writer’s room to help hone it until we get a brilliant script. We’ve got a full-time lead writer, and then we’ve got two of the cast that also write.”
Distribution & A Micro Studio
Night Train Digital will handle the series’ distribution with, most likely, a launch on one of the vertical video apps followed by releases on other digital platforms in different windows. “This project aligns perfectly with our vision to not only exploit traditional rights but also to develop digital-first content that can form a key part of our future growth,” said Neil Francis, Managing Director, NTD. “Off the back of our Virtually Parkinson AI Podcast, this development enables NTD to continue to push boundaries and experiment with formats that evolve the distribution landscape.”
More European studios, distributors, and producers are set to follow Spirit and Night Train into the micro-drama world and it’s an area that will be much discussed next month at the MIPCOM market in Cannes. Campion will be on stage talking about vertical video at MIPCOM, which is leaning into the creator economy this time. Ahead of the market, he told Deadline the plan is, ultimately, to work up a slate of UK-originated micro-dramas: “The idea is to test and learn in this space, but then to build, and have a studio producing multiple titles.”
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