After producing the microdrama Tides of Temptation for Lifetime, Taye Diggs is set to launch a vertical storytelling platform for bite-sized mobile content.
Microhouse Films, set to launch this spring, has Diggs partnered with Autumn Federici, Shelby Stone, James Black and Troy Brookins on the mobile-first venture that aims to allow creators to produce, distribute and monetize their work from a single platform.
“When we thought about how to meaningfully impact the vertical space, we immediately focused on the creators and storytellers whose livelihoods depend on where this industry is headed. Microhouse Films is about creating a model that supports them in this next phase and allows them to keep telling stories that move us,” Diggs said in a statement on Thursday.
Microdramas, also called “verticals” because they are filmed in portrait orientation and are intended to be viewed on cellphones, first took off in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. But more recently, upstart platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox have built an American following for typically low-budget, soapy series with short episodes and catching storylines.
Diggs executive produced Tides of Temptation with Frederici, Stone and Jake Helgren of The Ninth House, with Brookins starring and co-producing. The microdrama followed a young woman (Mea Wilkerson) who falls for an athlete (Q Stenline, aka SwagBoyQ) on the Caribbean island of Nevis.
Microhouse Films will have no subscription fee for creators or audiences and there will be no fee to upload or to host content, as is typical of microdrama self-distribution models. Through an ad-free model, filmmakers can choose which episodes to offer for free and which to monetize as viewers use in-app coins to unlock content, while creators control pricing, the release strategy and revenue.
The vertical app will also include built-in discovery tools, including trope tags, so creators can assign their own genre.
“The industry is rapidly changing, and we have an opportunity to redefine who benefits in this new ecosystem that puts control directly in the hands of filmmakers. We’re excited to introduce a model for vertical storytelling with Microhouse Films that places a premium on both the quality of the work and the storyteller behind the content,” Federici, Stone, Black and Brookins added in their own joint statement.
