{"id":223226,"date":"2025-10-14T05:14:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T05:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/223226\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T05:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T05:14:06","slug":"sag-aftra-to-produce-verticals-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/223226\/","title":{"rendered":"SAG-AFTRA to Produce Verticals Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSAG-AFTRA<\/a> has become the latest Hollywood union to acknowledge the rise of verticals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe performers\u2019 union stated on Monday that a contract specifically tailored to the booming microdrama format would be forthcoming by the end of the month. This \u201cVerticals Agreement\u201d will cover projects that have budgets of under $300,000, in keeping with the typically small budgets and tight turnarounds of these made-for-mobile titles.<\/p>\n

\n\tSAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin called verticals an \u201cexciting new space\u201d in a statement. \u201cThis fast-evolving format is catching on and we are here to support our performers as they pursue their craft and engage this new business model,\u201d Astin said. \u201cBy offering a contract that is tailored to the unique needs of these projects, our union is meeting the moment. As the business of verticals experiences substantial growth, so too will our relationship with the producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFilmed in portrait mode, \u201cverticals\u201d are serialized stories that are often divided into increments of one to a three minutes. The most popular verticals platforms at the moment, like DramaBox and ReelShort, for the most part offer romance stories that are on the soapy and melodramatic side \u2014\u00a0with titles like Fake Dating My Rich Nemesis and Claimed By My Ex\u2019s Alpha Brother.<\/p>\n

\n\tBudgets for projects on ReelShort tend to fall under $300,000, as The Hollywood Reporter has previously reported.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs underemployed Hollywood workers have increasingly turned to these microdramas in the absence of traditional entertainment opportunities, unions have begun to take notice of the space. Crew union IATSE is exploring the possibilities. The Writers Guild of America West, which told its members in September<\/a> that the projects could be covered under its contract, is also on it.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor burgeoning actors, verticals have recently offered the chance to gain on-camera experience in a tight job market.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis agreement works for the realities of these productions \u2014 their pace, their budgets, and their creative ambitions, while upholding the union\u2019s core standards of actor protections,\u201d SAG-AFTRA\u2019s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement. \u201cThis agreement works for the realities of these productions \u2014 their pace, their budgets, and their creative ambitions, while upholding the union\u2019s core standards of actor protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new agreement arrives as traditional Hollywood is attempting to make inroads in the format. Just last week, Fox Entertainment announced<\/a> it had taken an equity stake in verticals company Holywater, which incorporates AI in its production process. Veteran media exec Lloyd Braun, formerly of ABC and WME, has entered the space with a new company MicroCo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAG-AFTRA has become the latest Hollywood union to acknowledge the rise of verticals. The performers\u2019 union stated on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,1929,3801],"class_list":{"0":"post-223226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-labor","10":"tag-sag-aftra"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}