The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a proposal to explore a grant program to support so-called \u201cvertical content\u201d creators and incentivize local production.<\/p>\n
Vertical content refers to videos on mobile devices, which have proliferated in recent years. These videos are usually set in a 9:16 ratio, tailored for viewing on phones.<\/p>\n
In a 14-0 vote, council members approved a motion introduced by Councilman Bob Blumenfield in September 2025, and instructed the Economic and Workforce Development Department to report on a framework for the program.<\/p>\n
Councilman Curren Price was absent during the vote.<\/p>\n
City staff would analyze economic development tools to attract long-term industry investments, potential funding sources and review permit fees and tax rebate opportunities, among other things.<\/p>\n
The aim is to establish an initial $5 million in public, private and philanthropic funding sources for a \u201c40% launch and rebate program,\u201d which would provide up-front funding to micro-drama productions offering a 40% rebate on qualifying L.A. expenditures. An initial 20% up-front grant would be provided to small productions with the final 20% provided upon completion of the project.<\/p>\n
The market for short-form content, or \u201cmicro-dramas,\u201d is projected to hit $15 billion by 2028, according to the motion. Blumenfield seeks to position Los Angeles as \u201cthe national and global hub\u201d for this form of storytelling.<\/p>\n
Micro-drama productions typically have budgets less than $200,000, which fall below the threshold to qualify for California\u2019s tax credits. Some creators relocate to other cities that offer tax credits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe targeted support to micro-drama production will not only nurture a new generation of creative talent, but also help future-proof Los Angeles\u2019 position at the center of the global entertainment industry,\u201d according to Blumenfield\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n
Blumenfield said he got the inspiration for the program from his brother, who works in the film industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I introduced this motion, we\u2019ve heard from many emerging filmmakers who voiced how micro dramas have given them opportunities that they wouldn\u2019t have had with traditional productions,\u201d Blumenfield said. \u201cFrom students to seasoned professionals, this type of content is being made, and we need to step up to the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a proposal to explore a grant program to support so-called \u201cvertical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2323,75697,10659,1924,3667,48,52,51,47,50,49,75698,4576],"class_list":["post-153797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-council","tag-dramas","tag-explore","tag-film","tag-grant","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-micro","tag-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}