The regularsWe can\u2019t stop talking about: microdramas<\/p>\n
Alyx Gorman: For the uninitiated, what is a microdrama?<\/p>\n
Ima Caldwell: Television distilled, for your dopamine-fiending pleasure! A microdrama is usually an episodic series filmed (or reframed) in portrait orientation, for phone screens. Each instalment clocks in at around 60-90 seconds and they\u2019re aired to social media and on specialised microdrama streaming apps. They\u2019re generally packed with enough plot twists to make daytime television look like slow cinema. One producer described them as \u201csoap operas on cocaine\u201d<\/a>. Maybe the sort of thing you\u2019d end up watching drunk at 2am<\/a>.<\/p>\n Alyx: I downloaded ReelShort the other day and was kind of shocked at the content. Forced marriage mafia plotlines; Secretly Pregnant by the Homeless Billionaire. It basically looked like the greatest hits (and misses) of Kindle Unlimited\u2019s alpha male romance charts<\/a>. Is the Neighbours microdrama going to be that hectic?<\/p>\n Ima: You probably won\u2019t see Margot Robbie\u2019s character, Donna Freedman, fated to carry an heir for her crypto-billionaire werewolf<\/a> on Ramsay Street, or pregnant by her Ex\u2019s Professor Dad<\/a> anytime soon. Neighbours is being recut for a vertical video series,<\/a> after producer Fremantle struck a deal with company RoseBerry Media \u2013 which will adapt and distribute the show on its Epis streaming platform. Robbie\u2019s 2008-11 storylines will be sliced into morsels by an AI-assisted production tool called RedSnapper, which both companies insist is used with human oversight. While it may lack the high highs of original microdramas, like Revenge of XXL Wife<\/a>, it will be stripped of any slow moments.<\/p>\n The real drama here is off screen. Longtime Neighbours castmates are annoyed that their work is being algorithmically cropped without consultation. Whether that translates into addictive viewing remains to be seen \u2013 there\u2019s a risk it ends up as enjoyable as an unskippable ad<\/a>.<\/p>\n Alyx: Has this kind of recutting happened to other soaps?<\/p>\n Ima: Not officially on this scale, although we must not forget fans have already spent years cobbling together bootleg supercuts of their favourite soaps for social media. It\u2019s interesting that a legacy production house has agreed to having its back catalogue used like this, though we\u2019ve seen similar recuts elsewhere. There was Paramount\u2019s chop of Mean Girls into 23 parts<\/a> for TikTok, and an app recently reframed Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s silent thriller The Lodger into short clips, with critics asking whether Psycho on Snapchat was next<\/a>.<\/p>\n The hope is that microdramas will reinvigorate a struggling TV sector, but when studios start feeding archive tape into editing bots to avoid paying writers and actors fresh rates for new stories, it doesn\u2019t exactly scream innovation.<\/p>\n Alyx: Do we know much about who is watching microdramas? And how these shows make money?<\/p>\n Ima: There\u2019s not one demographic, because there\u2019s no age limit on a diminishing attention span<\/a>. Apps like ReelShort and DramaBox pull huge audiences of all ages, with the global market expected to be worth $26bn by 2030<\/a>.<\/p>\n In China, smartphone-friendly duanju (\u201cshort drama\u201d) shows reportedly generated US$7bn in 2024<\/a>, overtaking the country\u2019s domestic box office for the first time.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in an ever-shrinking Hollywood, with studios chasing TikTok audiences, microdramas are expected to generate $1.5bn in US revenue this year, according to Omdia.<\/p>\n The monetisation model for many microdramas is comparable to those \u201cfree-to-play\u201d mobile games you see in pop-up ads. Platforms will show the first five or 10 episodes for free to get you hooked, build to a cliffhanger, then slam down a paywall. If you want to see whether a wicked stepmother can conquer the mafia boss father and son<\/a>, it\u2019s going to cost. That fee might only be around 30-50c an episode, but by the time you\u2019ve tapped your way through all 80 minutes, it might add up to $40 \u2013 which is more than most monthly streaming platform subscriptions.<\/p>\n Your week aheadAustralian artist Sampa the Great\u2019s third album is Nu Zamrock. Photograph: Abu Dumbuya<\/p>\n What to watch | While we all continue being loudly impatient for You Can See Everything to be released in Australia, Hannah J Davies recommends revisiting the 2022 series The Dropout<\/a>, which stars a brilliant Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes \u2013 and which I didn\u2019t realise until reading this piece was a TV adaptation of a podcast that I\u2019m now going to listen to too. \u2013 Steph Harmon, culture editor<\/p>\n What to listen to | Sampa the Great\u2019s world-class third album fuses hip hop with a deeper exploration of her family connection to Zamrock. Rewarding repeat listens, it revels in charisma, defiance and cheek \u2013 and a track that hits like a truck. \u2013 SH<\/p>\n What to read | The astonishing artist-author Shaun Tan is back with yet another book that blurs the line between children\u2019s literature and adults\u2019. Homecoming is a vivid fable about a human girl who lives in a world of strange creatures, who is confronted when a human stranger suddenly arrives to tell her that she doesn\u2019t belong there. We\u2019ve called it a \u201cmasterpiece\u201d<\/a>. \u2013 Sian Cain, deputy culture editor<\/p>\n What to cook | There\u2019s a strawberry glut incoming, and Anna Jones\u2019 strawberry shortcakes<\/a> with zesty creme fraiche are a fresher, more summery take on scones and jam. \u2013 Yvonne C Lam, deputy lifestyle editor<\/p>\n What to book | Ken Russell\u2019s 1971 film The Devils<\/a> is in cinemas, restored and uncut for the first time after years of censorship. Oliver Reed stars as a sexually magnetic French priest and Vanessa Redgrave is the jilted nun who accuses him of being demonic, with horrifying, hypnotic results. And Derek Jarman did the set design! What more could you want? \u2013 SC<\/p>\n Wishlist\u2018A $55 pillow with legs\u2019: Vacation\u2019s head hammock. Photograph: Hencla<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t planning a Chind\u014dgu<\/a> summer, until I discovered the existence of head hammocks. Miami brand Vacation makes a $55 pillow with legs<\/a>, while Australian brand the Z Hut<\/a>\u2019s options are even more ridiculous, and come with built-in shade. They are sublimely silly and I would very much like to try one. \u2013 AG<\/p>\n Open tabs<\/p>\n With all the speculation about the demise of David Jones, this September conversation between Bloomingdale\u2019s CEO Olivier Bron and Monocle<\/a>\u2019s Tyler Br\u00fbl\u00e9 is worth a listen. Thumbing their nose at the death of the department store, Bron brags, \u201cRight now, we\u2019re renovating our flagship in New York to differentiate it from anything else that you can experience in the US.\u201d Big talk, but Bloomingdale\u2019s is currently enjoying a \u201csteady stream of positive growth figures,\u201d so they\u2019re doing something right. DJs, take note. \u2013 Sophie Black, features editor<\/p>\n