At this month’s Seriencamp TV conference in Cologne, Germany, media consultancy Bolytics revealed that of the $18 billion market for microdramas, $14 billion sits within China, while $4 billion is spread across the rest of the world.

The data reflects the outsize influence China currently has in the microdrama space, but it also hints at the vast runway for growth in other markets. Companies such as Germany’s Red Pony are keen to demonstrate that the future of the medium is “regionally-driven”: China leans into AI and scale; the U.S. is all about platforms and creators; India is mobile-first; and European countries and Japan focus on premium storytelling.

Red Pony, a new digital label set up earlier this year by the Bavaria Film and MDR Media-owned Saxonia Media, is trying to crack what a successful European microdrama format looks like.

At Seriencamp, head of Red Pony, Gregor Sauter and strategy, content & tech lead Beliban zu Stolberg unveiled two titles, Ghostwriter and Between the Beats, which is the first vertical drama from a German public broadcaster. Each employs different production methods, but they convey the potential in the market, along with a new ‘social cinema’ model that swaps some microdramas’ misogynistic storylines for more equitable narratives.

Commissioned by public broadcasters Radio Bremen and Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), Between the Beats is more vertical drama than microdrama; meaning it feels like a scripted series that has been split into a 26 x 2-minute vertical format. Ghostwriter, meanwhile, was developed by testing potential storylines and hooks and was data-driven from the beginning, making it more of a traditional microdrama.

“There’s a lot we can learn from the fact that this is such a huge market and that there is a demand for that,” says Zu Stolberg. “We want to do it in a premium way and to have higher-quality storytelling and production values. But I don’t think we’re looking down on microdramas. Maybe the dramaturgy of the stories are a bit simpler than the high-quality serial content from Europe [we’re used to], but the creativity is still there.”

This week, The Indie Hustle catches up with Zu Stolberg and Sauter to detail their model of elevated storytelling and the secret ingredients every microdrama needs to have.

Read on to find out:

• Why microdrama producers need to think about distribution and audience testing from the very beginning

• How K-pop vertical drama Between the Beats could open the doors for broadcasters experimenting in the space

• Why microdrama storylines need to align with the culture and values of the local market

• How “social cinema” turns microdrama’s stereotypes and tropes on their head

• How a hybrid AI model can help to elevate a microdrama’s story hooks

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Think of distribution first

Saxonia Media, best known for long-running teen soaps and medical dramas in Germany, set up its Red Pony label in February as an incubator for new ways of storytelling, alongside strategic IP-building and creator-driven entertainment.

The label’s microdrama drive is not all that different from Saxonia’s core soaps and telenovelas, which also employ episodic hooks. But microdramas hold particular interest, says Sauter, because “you can get in contact with the audience, test the content at a really early stage and build your storytelling strategy on top of it.”

Both Sauter and Zu Stolberg underline the importance of thinking carefully about how a format is going to be distributed from the get-go, in the development process. Will it be on TikTok? Instagram? A bespoke microdrama app? And how can you connect with your target audience as early as possible?

“You have to think about distribution early on - straight from the beginning - which is a reversal of the more traditional stages in filmmaking that you usually have, where at the end you have a product and you’re not even sure if people like it, and then you test it with audiences, even though it’s already done,” says Zu Stolberg.

What microdramas are revolutionising, she adds, is that distribution is considered from the beginning and ideas are tested early “to get some signals from the market on how things might perform.”

Takeaways: think about distribution early on and test your concept in the market

A tale of two vertical dramas

In the case of Between the Beats, public broadcasters Radio Bremen and SR approached Red Pony with “a specific idea of how they want to reach new audiences on TikTok,” explains Sauter.

The idea for the show - a slick, music-infused Romeo and Juliet-style love story set in the worlds of ballet and K-pop - was to develop an “IP-building concept.” The company hired a Korean showrunner and writer to build out the story, with the longer-term goal of “building a brand for K-pop.”

Between the Beats is “made in the dynamic of a vertical drama in that it has cliff mechanics to hook people,” says Sauter, “but compared to a microdrama, it’s slightly slower [because of] dance scenes and there’s a bit more time for the characters.”

All eyes are on Between the Beats, which launches on TikTok on June 25, as it’s the first attempt at a vertical drama by a public broadcaster in Germany. If it breaks through it could forge a way forward for more broadcasters trying to reach younger audiences using vertical scripted series.

But Sauter advises that there are “different legal implications” for what a public broadcaster can commission compared with a commercial broadcaster. “What is the goal of the broadcaster? Is it targeting new audiences, or is it taking existing IP and extending it with a spin-off? There are dozens of possibilities, and it always starts with the strategy and the distribution infrastructure.”

Takeaways: Between the Beats could help more broadcasters step into vertical storytelling; different legalities for a PSB versus a commercial broadcaster

Introducing ‘social cinema’

In contrast, the development of Ghostwriter - which follows a young writer at a private school who surreptitiously pens essays for rich students to keep her comatose mother in hospital - followed a more traditional microdrama track.

Red Pony tested five or six different storylines using a new German microdrama app called Badaboom, which is backed by AI microdrama studio Deep Sauce Labs.

“We got data from them, and we tested specific arenas,” explains Sauter. “It was really data-driven.”

But Ghostwriter also “tried to elevate the microdrama,” explains Zu Stolberg. “There were certain beats that we tried to transcend in terms of genre.”

Microdramas use specific beats to hook viewers, and keep them paying for the subsequent chapters of a story. Just as CEO-based and illicit affair stories are common within the medium, shows also tend to feature some kind of a slap, for example, as a way of adding instant drama.

“We realised there are certain beats you have to hit, but then we ran into this problem of wanting to keep certain values and perspectives, such as having the female protagonist have her own agency and not being put down and humiliated by men, which is a common trope in the microdrama genre,” says Zu Stolberg.

“We thought, ‘How can we keep these beats that people expect and which drive the narrative, but reverse them, or tilt them a bit in a different narrative direction?’”

The team has labelled their method of turning microdrama-specific stereotypes and tropes on their head “social cinema.”

“It’s taking those learnings from microdrama and applying them in a way that we can stand behind,” explains Sauter.

When testing the Ghostwriter storylines, the traditional story arcs “had slightly better numbers,” adds the exec, but because they didn’t align with the producer’s values, “We took the second-best data from the second-highest ranking show in our data tests,” he says.

“This is what makes us a bit different from a 100% tech company from the U.S. or Holywater in Ukraine or a company from China,” says Sauter. “They only care about data. We try to find the thing in between that makes it social cinema.”

Takeaways: Ghostwriter was created with extensive testing; Red Pony actively decided not to use misogynistic storylines even though they tested well

Leaning into AI

On Ghostwriter, Red Pony also used a hybrid AI model. The tech was never used for writing, but where it did come in handy was in testing the effectiveness of the story’s hooks.

“We try to bring all the KPIs of the project together, so we figured out some different directions we could go in the beginning and did some simulations of, ‘If we go this way, then this will happen,’” says Sauter. “We saved a lot of time.”

The team also used AI for stunt work in one scene, and to add details to a specific close-up shot — a revelation that Sauter describes as “a great learning.”

Red Pony is no stranger to taking AI even further on productions. The outfit’s next film, Zimmermädchen (The Chambermaid), is a 100% AI-produced microdrama. Zu Stolberg describes the series as a “female underdog story.” While Ghostwriter only used AI where it made sense, Zu Stolberg acknowledges the enduring stigma around using the tech and advises producers “not to be scared of it.”

“There’s this kind of hesitation for a lot of production companies to even try it, but I think it really elevated the look,” she says.

Takeaways: AI was used to test story hooks and save time in development

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Global production powerhouse Banijay has long been lauded for its huge stable of TV formats.

Now it’s leveraging its powerhouse catalogue into the booming experiential live entertainment market.

First out of the block is a premium immersive experience based on the Netflix hit dystopian anthology Black Mirror, due to be followed by another of its big shows - more on that later.

Getting an IRL version of a fan favourite wrong by producing a low quality immersive show can result in a consumer backlash and taint a brand - even if the show was unlicensed. In 2024 two events not affiliated with the rights holders hit the headlines for the wrong reasons: Willy Wonka-based Willy’s Chocolate Experience and a Bridgerton-themed ball in Detroit.

But get it right and fandoms, keen to step inside the story of a show that they love, will turn up in droves.

Banijay’s fledgling division Banijay Live is behind The Black Mirror Experience and not only produces the experiences - rather than licensing them as All3Media did with the Traitors Live Experience and a Race Across the World Experience - it also owns companies that make blue chip events such as the opening ceremonies of the current men’s football World Cup.

With the post-covid boom in consumers wanting collective experiences and analogue connection away from social media, anyone creating screen IP now has to think of the live element.

But if you’re keen to bring some of your catalogue to life, what is the best selection strategy?

And how can you create not just a good event but a multi-territory business model that doesn’t compromise the on-screen brand’s integrity?

This week, Banijay Live’s CEO Francois de Brugada tells us how.

So read on to find out:

• How to identify which television IPs is right for real-life experiences

• Which of Banijay’s premium IP is due to be turned into a live experience next

• The strategy behind getting a creator’s blessing for an unwritten ‘episode’

• How to unlock partnerships

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In 2025, the word “parasocial” - used to define a close, one-sided relationship with a famous person you don’t know - was Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year.

Social media platforms are fuelled by parasocial bonds with celebrities, but these connections are also powering the podcasting boom. After all, there’s an intimacy in tuning into a favourite podcast, and spending time with a host literally in your ear, that is distinct to many other mediums.

At Indielab’s recent Content Futures event, executives from Goalhanger, the audio giant behind The Rest Is franchise, and Cold Glass Productions, makers of Waitrose’s Dish podcast, discussed how the unique relationships born out of podcasts can lead to community-building and, ultimately, live events.

Eight of Goalhanger’s 15 shows have membership clubs, with perks including ad-free listening, bonus episodes, members-only miniseries, early access to certain episodes and live show tickets, a members’ chat, newsletters and book deals. With 250,000 members across the eight clubs paying roughly £6 per month, that means these clubs generate a monthly revenue of £1.5 million, and £18 million a year.

Goalhanger’s senior memberships manager Hannah Rashbass says that as memberships have grown into a key revenue driver, they have organically led to more in-person experiences. “In an increasingly fragmented world where people feel lonelier and like they aren’t a part of things anymore, they want that experience in person,” she says.

Cold Glass CEO Ben Kerr and director of production Sam Cocker have also expanded Dish into live events, and last year staged a 90-minute “dinner party-style” live edition of the podcast at London’s Royal Opera House. The event sold out after just one promotional Instagram post, and made more than £100,000 in ticket sales.

Both Goalhanger and Cold Glass execs, however, stress that arriving at in-person experiences is only really possible with a strong foundational offering that is, ideally, brand-friendly. “If you can build a brand like The Rest Is History or Dish, in which an audience is willing to pay for your content, you’re much more valuable to an advertiser,” says Kerr.

Read on to find out:

• Why going niche with your podcast unlocks more opportunity

• Why brands are looking for ‘replicable behaviours’ in a show

• How membership is the future for media outfits

• Why the correct-sized venue for your live event is essential

• How to select and tailor an event space to suit your show

• When the right time is to ‘go live’

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It’s not just you: it’s hard to make money online. The traditional TV commissioning model may not be the meritocracy the industry needs it to be, but in many ways, it’s a hell of a lot easier than cracking YouTube.

As strategist and Business of TV author Jen Topping detailed at Indielab’s recent Content Futures event, emerging producers struggling to monetise on platforms such as YouTube aren’t missing a trick: among a host of other challenges, there is an enduring gulf between the advertisers and CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions) on social platforms versus what is spent on linear channels. It’s “why you have to run so much harder online at the moment to make money relative to television,” according to Topping.

Yet speakers including Little Dot Studios’ MD of network social platforms Alex Hryniewicz, Jungle’s chief growth officer Jade Raad and Spirit Studios co-founder Peter Cowley stressed to the Content Futures audience that there are ways to work smarter in the digital content economy. Increasingly, it takes more than just creative excellence to get a show off the ground: producers need a hybrid strategy that considers the entire ecosystem, and meets the audience where it is.

In this week’s Indie Hustle, we look at some of the pillars of the new content ecosystem, and reveal the top five things everyone needs to know about working with YouTube and brands, going “direct to consumer” and diving into vertical video.

We hear from Little Dot Studios about the do’s and don’ts of sweating assets on YouTube; social and influencer agency Jungle about what brands really need from producer partners; and Spirit Studios about gamifying your content for vertical video. (We’ll have more next week from Goalhanger’s senior memberships manager Hannah Rashbass and Cold Glass co-founders Ben Kerr and Sam Cocker, producers of Waitrose’s Dish podcast, on how to build communities around your ideas and expand into live events.)

Read on to find out:

• Why long-form content pays off on YouTube in the long term

• The content black holes (including true crime) you need to avoid on YouTube

• Why a recurring audience matters more to brands than a hit show

• Why every production company needs to sort out its email strategy

• How to gamify your vertical content for maximum impact

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Channel 5 has been lauded for its stable of dramas which have pedigree credentials at a lower price point.

Following the success of Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, it now has another high-profile true crime drama, Under Suspicion: Kate McCann.

Cutting corners can result in bad TV, most obviously in drama. And when you’re dealing with sensitive subjects you need to go above and beyond to ensure editorial excellence; as ITV found in 2007 when it had to pull its below-par infamous Marchioness disaster drama.

However Under Suspicion, made by Orchard Studios, has successfully balanced budget constraints with compelling storytelling.

But how do you produce sensitive factual drama on a lower tariff, without compromising the on-screen outcome?

This week, Orchard Studios head of programmes Nat Lippiett tells us how.

So read on to find out:

• How budget limitations can lead to creative solutions

• Upskilling and training can actually save money

• How to navigate true crime drama’s legal, ethical and duty of care protocols

• Securing international distribution advances

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Budget limitations can be creative

Traditionally, drama-documentary hybrids run the risk of looking cheap if resources are stretched too thin across timelines and numerous locations.

The key is to decide what not to do.

Orchard Studios head of programmes Nat Lippiett argued that the solution is to go for a focused, contained narrative rather than trying to film an entire case.

“We didn’t want the budget to dictate the quality or the editorial integrity of the piece, but we knew we had a limited budget, so it does sharpen the mind.”

He explained the solution was to stick to the 48 hours during which the McCanns became suspects and the claustrophobic interrogation room it happened in.

The question the team asked itself was: “How do we make a very contained [show] and… hone the narrative so much that we don’t have to compromise on the quality of the actors, the quality of the talent behind the camera, the duty of care and the journalistic integrity of the piece?”

“The issue is that you can’t really do drama, particularly with dialogue, half-cocked,” Lippiett explained. “You’ve got to go all in, because otherwise it’s very easy to be quite bad.”

Anchoring the action mostly inside one, highly emotional environment, helped maintain production values.

Lippiett thinks this approach breathes new life into well-known cases: “You’re always looking for a reason to tell a particular story... [you] learn something new by doing it this way.”

“This lesser-known moment has been somewhat lost in speculation and narrative. So we revisited that material and felt there was a really important story to be told that not only told the context around some of the misunderstood moments of this case but brought out the humanity and emotion of it.”

The idea for Under Suspicion came out of a conversation Orchard had with 5 commissioning editor Dan Louw about “contained dramas and the idea of the interrogation room” with its twists and turns within “a claustrophobic space.” That drama is documented by police records, providing good source material.

But they did not think it should be a documentary as, “there’s more purpose to it if we’re able to treat it as a drama.”

“[So] we made a conscious decision to make something contained, small crew-type focus [with] an intimate approach…It was a deliberate, creative choice that we felt strengthened the premise.”

Takeaways: tight constraints sharpen creative problem-solving; single-location settings save on budget and heighten narrative tension; using a different genre can bring a new dimension to a case

Upskilling talent on set

Orchard Studios used the production as an internal training pipeline, moving some of their unscripted workforce into scripted.

Lippiett explained that a dedicated, nimble crew allowed the production to remain intimate, whilst giving people a chance to expand their skills.

“We have training pathways on all our productions at Orchard Studios, so we made sure that people had opportunities that perhaps they wouldn’t have had before,” Lippiett noted.

He highlighted what can happen when teams pivot to new areas: “The researcher at Orchard became involved in wardrobe and became invaluable on set. We kind of looked on it as an opportunity to allow documentary talent to flex their drama muscles, get drama experience and give them the creative freedom.”

There was a high creative bar set by director Paula Wittig and director of photography, Jim Incledon - who has shot drama and docs - and the small team “felt strongly about this story, this script, and the purpose of this production. So people went above and beyond. Everybody worked very, very hard” and “we stretched the budget as far as we possibly could”, observed Lippiett.

Takeaways: a smaller crew can be an upskilling opportunity; a tight, dedicated team can create a faster, more intimate shooting environment

Navigating duty of care and compliance

When dealing with high-profile, real-life cases, factual accuracy is vital.

Orchard Studios’ production relied on verbatim writing techniques and using established public records as sources to ensure the script remained as true to the facts as possible.

Lippiett pointed out that the writer, Philip Ralph, has a history of verbatim drama docs, such as Walking Wounded and Einstein and the Bomb.

“We relied on the available material and the testimony of the direct people involved,” Lippiett said. “We wanted to stay true to the spirit of the material.”

When it came to managing the sensitive nature of the case and handling duty of care towards the McCanns, the production team dealt with a long-term associate of the family.

Lippiett explained: “They’re not involved editorially, but we worked with a trusted associate who knows the family very well to keep them informed at the scripting stage.” That person also watched the final film and informed the McCanns of details such as the TX date.

Takeaways: hiring experienced factual writers minimises legal and compliance risks; sticking to public records helps journalistic integrity; use a trusted intermediary to keep subjects informed without compromising editorial independence

Securing international distribution

Because the subject matter has a lot of international interest, Orchard Studios was able to get a distribution advance to help ensure as much money went on screen as possible.

“We secured an international distributor who will take the film out internationally in order to kind of help fund the production,” Lippiett added.

He does not yet know what sales are like but acknowledged that the idea of “a victim who becomes a suspect” within just a couple of days is a “compelling” strand.

In fact, also for 5, Orchard is making a drama called Suspect: The Road Rage Killer about Tracie Andrews, who murdered her fiancé Lee Harvey in 1996, but initially claimed he had been killed by a man in a road rage incident.

Takeaways: speak to international distributors early to unlock advance funding; there is usually an appetite for globally-recognised true crime dramas

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The industry is under unprecedented pressure to make budgets go further.

Finances are stretched and commissioners want more for less.

AI can help, not only by speeding up your admin but also your production.

But what are the latest tools, what do they do and which ones should you use? That was the topic of conversation during a panel session called ‘How AI is transforming my indie’ at Indielab’s Content Futures 2026.

So we’ve extracted some of the highlights and advice from that day from two indie leaders at the vanguard of the new technology in TV: Deep Fusion CEO and co-founder Ben Field and Jason Mitchell, founder of The Connected Set.

As Field said: “The industry is under pressure, money needs to go further and that means we need to look at every efficiency gain we possibly can in order to get as much on screen as possible out of the money that’s available.”

Read on to find out:

• How vibe coding your own software can save you money

• The tools that will help you streamline archive and editing

• How AI can help with your YouTube channel and production schedule

• The latest AI regulation and business tools

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Brock Media’s Sarah Brocklehurst is one of the UK’s most respected indie film producers, but in between the long years waiting to get features off the ground, even movie producers need a side hustle.

In Brocklehurst’s case, the “side hustle” involves making Amazon-owned audio giant Audible’s biggest audiobook production to date, its 2025 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

But as Brocklehurst tells The Indie Hustle this week, making the leap from film and television into audiobooks is something that any inventive producer is capable of.

“It’s all very transferable,” says Brocklehurst. “If you can script edit something episodic and if you have relationships with writers and an idea that could be suited to audio, you should be able to pitch it.”

The timing couldn’t be better. The audiobook industry has been on a steady growth trajectory in the UK. NielsenIQ data revealed in March that audiobook purchases rose by 5% in 2025, and revenue was up 11% to just over £270 million. Among audiobook platforms, Audible is the market leader, followed by Spotify.

With more than a third of listeners active in the space for more than three years, the market is said to be maturing, which means that companies such as Audible are upping the ante on their offerings to customers. Brock Media’s Pride and Prejudice had an all-star cast including Harris Dickinson, Marisa Abela, Bill Nighy and Glenn Close, and the company’s second Audible project, Heathcliff, starred Daryl McCormack.

While Brock’s primary focus will always be film and TV, Brocklehurst echoes what podcast experts such as Steve Ackerman have previously told The Indie Hustle: “If you can make film and TV, the likelihood is you can make audio.”

However, diversifying into audio didn’t just happen for Brock: Brocklehurst first executed a careful strategy that involved self-financing a pair of podcasts.

Read on to find out:

• How Brock Media self-financed its own proof of concept for audio platforms

• Why partnerships in podcasting can help break into an unknown field

• Why casting and scheduling can be easier on audiobooks

• The budget ranges for premium productions

• Why now is a good time to approach giants like Audible

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Things are about to get easier and more lucrative for producers and creators wanting to make money from digital platforms such as YouTube.

For years podcasts on the main audio platforms have been able to use targeted, dynamic advertising (more of what that means in the story). Now Apple has allowed it for video and YouTube is due to follow suit.

But what does it mean for you and how can you harness this key change to increase your income?

This week we spoke to board advisor and consultant Steve Ackerman (who was previously Sony Music Entertainment’s global podcasting boss) about the new possibilities available.

So read on to find out:

• Why platforms’ new ad models can game-change your business

• How to capitalise on competition between podcasting platforms

• New advertising and income sources

• Where podcasting is heading next

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It may feel like half your LinkedIn contacts are building ‘portfolio careers,’ but TV makers may be surprised to learn that they should be taking the same approach to production.

Indielab’s Content Futures programme last week saw top executives from Banijay Rights, Fremantle, South Shore Productions and the podcast world detail the revenue streams savvy producers need to be considering if they are to succeed in today’s market.

How will you go beyond your original commission? Where can your content live? What is your multi-platform strategy? These questions need to be top of mind in development, financing, production and distribution.

Today, The Indie Hustle breaks down key learnings about the future of content, including how indies can best work with brands, squeeze the most revenue out of digital and explore the world of opportunity in audio.

Read on to find out:

• Why independent data-gathering is key to a successful brand partnership

• The in-demand genres still landing sales for international distributors

• Why any indie can recalibrate as a podcast prodco

• Why a two-year digital strategy for back catalog shows is essential

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Breaking into branded? Fund your own data research

In the span of five years, South Shore Productions has become one of the UK’s most prolific indies working in brand-funded entertainment, with credits including Champions: Full Gallop, The Great Escapers and M&S: Dress the Nation. These shows now comprise one third of the company’s revenue.

As The Indie Hustle recently reported, there’s no set model of how to work with brands, but South Shore co-founder Andrew MacKenzie said his team often has the same conversations with brands as they do with TV commissioners, particularly as select brands have marketing budgets that are equal to the commissioning budgets of some channels.

“You’re trying to persuade them that television can be part of their story and can give them a significant return on investment by dealing directly with what their story is,” said MacKenzie. “So, it’s a really similar relationship to the one [you have with] a commissioner.”

Brands are, in fact, “much more commercial” than some commercial broadcasters in that they are data-hungry and keen to see immediate returns on investment. To meet this need, South Shore works with an independent agency to collate data on how their branded commissions have landed. “We want it to be independent,” said MacKenzie. “We want it to be verifiable and not something we’ve made up.”

Having that data means the indie can then tell British Racing, their partner on ITV1’s Champions, that 70% of the audience is more likely to go to a horse racing event having seen their show. Or Aldi that their Channel 4 show Aldi: The Next Big Seller means people are more likely to set foot in an Aldi store.

Takeaways: data is imperative for brands, which need to see speedy ROI; fund your own data collection to present independent findings

Think beyond the commission

Fremantle VP of commercial strategy Jill Kellie’s resounding advice for indies was to think beyond their original commission and keep their eyes firmly on digital and what success in that realm looks like.

“Sometimes you just want reach and eyeballs, or you just want to look at how to exploit your back catalogue,” said Kellie. But mastering digital isn’t only about posting episodes and expecting revenue.

“It’s not just a ‘dump and run’,” continued Kellie. “You’ve got to work at it over months. You’ve got to build up a two-year content strategy about how you’re hosting that content with regards to format, the duration of that content, understand what’s working [and what] is really driving watch time from a revenue perspective.”

If a piece of content isn’t performing well online, Kellie advised revisiting thumbnail imagery, repackaging and reposting, or even crafting a compilation.

“It’s really about understanding the content you have and how that can work and also who you can work with, because all of the big studios are really keen to work with third parties in this space,” said Kellie.

The exec noted that Fremantle, whose content racked up 35 billion views on YouTube and Facebook in 2025 alone, has done “a whole host of deals” in the last 12 months with UK indies across a range of content.

Similarly, Banijay Rights boss and distribution veteran Cathy Payne noted that the company is hyper-focused on what happens to content beyond its “premier run.”

“Behind the [subscription] wall on Amazon is all revenue share and that does huge business for us,” said Payne.

The exec added that Roku has been surprisingly lucrative. “I thought there was a mistake when our figures came through from January for Roku and in [one] month, it was nearly as much as the whole of 2024 on a title I would have never believed.”

Takeaways: plan a two-year strategy for your content on digital; Fremantle is working with UK indies on digital deals for back catalog content; premier run no longer be-all end-all for distributors; Roku increasingly lucrative

You’re a podcast prodco. You just don’t know it yet

TV producers wondering how to expand into audio may not realise it, but they have a number of relevant and transferable skills, according to Steve Ackerman, the former head of global podcasts for Sony Music Entertainment.

“You know how to tell stories or create formats; you may be a specialist in a subject area; you may have really good links with celebrity talent or well-known hosts,” said Ackerman. “You obviously know how to shoot, light and edit and it’s a lot easier to learn audio editing skills if you have video editing skills, than to go the other way around.”

The value of podcasting has changed tremendously in recent years. Ten years ago, a podcast was seen as a proof of concept that could help you sell a show into a global streamer. But in the last 12 to 18 months, “it’s swung to the other side,” said Ackerman, noting that Netflix is now aggressively buying video podcasts. (Stay tuned for a deep-dive Indie Hustle interview with Steve Ackerman in the coming weeks.)

Takeaways: producers can organically transfer video productions and editing skills to audio; strong visualised podcasts are in demand

In demand: factual, scalable formats and lower-cost drama

What was Banijay Rights’ top-selling show out of February’s London TV Screenings? It wasn’t a pricey period drama, but rather the BBC’s Clickbait Clinic fronted by Stacey Dooley. Banijay Rights’ Payne said the Nutopia-produced series, which interrogates the wildest health trends on social media, was the company’s “most popular show.”

“Stacey isn’t really well known [internationally], but it was touching on a subject that is global,” said Payne. The title’s success suggests there is now “big demand for factual content,” added the exec, who urged producers not to underestimate what a global “calling card” valuable British IP can be.

Payne also underlined the importance of crafting scalable formats that can be made on either a huge budget or funded by multiple partners. Meanwhile, on the scripted side, she said buyers are looking for commercial shows with reasonable budgets. Reflecting on recent investments, Payne said four third-party scripted projects have been made with “good talent” for between £1.6 million to £2.2 million.

“They’ve been able to get other partners involved and look at clever tax breaks,” said Payne.

The exec said the market is still seeing a lot of “enhanced presales,” which means a territory will come in early, have some degree of editorial input (without driving the project) and be able to call a title an original. However, Payne advised that if producers want to land enhanced pre-sales on their projects, “You need to ask why that [country] needs to buy this before it comes to market. It has to be something that has just as much story interest in that market as it does here.”

Takeaways: demand returning for British factual content; scalability of a format is more important than ever; appetite among buyers for lower cost drama; enhanced presales still popular but need to have a reason for them

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Getting a new BBC daytime commission is like gold dust at the moment.

As is finding new sources of revenue and, if you’re a true indie, keeping a regular team on staff.

But Chepstow and Bath-based One Tribe TV have managed all three and they are also one of the companies selected by the BBC to pilot a straight to YouTube series.

How have they done it and what is their recipe for success?

Read on to find out:

• How to deliver in daytime

• The app that is rivalling TikTok for people's attention

• Innovative ways to get funding for YouTube channels

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When you’re tasked with getting a drama from blank page to an air date over the course of 12 months, you tend to think long and hard about the right business partner.

For Clapperboard Studios managing director Mike Benson, who is often tackling a yearly turnaround for his slate of shows for 5 and parent company, Paramount UK, distributors have become the linchpin behind a rapidly growing scripted slate that includes The Good Ship Murder, The Ex-Wife, Girl Taken and the just-announced The Day starring Minnie Driver.

The disruption to the traditional role of the distributor who has gone from handling straight international sales to navigating complex deficit financing models, editorial input and even commissioning has characterised the better part of the last decade. But their role in a challenged market for drama makers is unparalleled.

“Our relationships with distributors are as important as our relationship with channels,” says Benson, who established unscripted indie Chalkboard Productions in 2013 before setting up Clapperboard in 2020 for scripted commissions. “Distributors, in the current climate, are taking more risks than ever.”

That’s largely because producers can no longer rely on plum sales into the US, and this has had deep ramifications for the level of minimum guarantee (MG) distributors are able to offer (in scripted, a robust US sale used to constitute 40% to 50% of an MG, says Benson). A sluggish American market means “it’s increasingly important that you’re developing something that’s aligned with what the distribution market is telling you they can finance and sell on,” notes the exec.

It also means that choosing the right distributor for your project is paramount. Clapperboard, which is part of France’s Studio TF1 (formerly Newen Studios), works with a range of different distribution partners for its scripted projects, from boutique operators to larger superindies. There are, Benson says, pros and cons to both ways of working.

This week, the Clapperboard boss shares his tips on choosing the right distributor for your project.

Read on to learn:

· The various models of developing with distributors

· Why boutique outfits can have an edge on the superindies

· How a challenged US market is affecting distributor minimum guarantees

· Why talent attachments can give you a head start with distributors

· Why the industry can no longer afford to make limited miniseries

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This week sees the start of the eagerly-anticipated BBC comedy Twenty Twenty Six - the follow up to Twenty Twelve and W1A.

The latest instalment in the Ian Fletcher franchise of corporate and interpersonal dynamics is based around a global football tournament in the USA that is absolutely, definitely not (for branding and legal reasons) the FIFA World Cup.

For the show, north London’s Mill Hill doubles as Miami and, whilst filming took place before the war in Iran began, such moves could become more prevalent as the industry tries to factor in the current geopolitical situation.

With a looming energy crisis, flight costs increasing and some countries introducing measures such as fuel rationing, many are working out how it affects production.

So this week we’ve taken a deep dive into what the impact might be, what broadcasters and streamers are doing about it and how you can think strategically to mitigate some of the effects.

So read on to find out:

• The current state of play

• How to plan during unpredictable times

• Lessons that can be learnt from other productions

• Broadcasters and streamers’ response

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In a time where high-end period dramas have become challenging to produce in Britain due to soaring costs, Channel 4’s rags-to-riches series, A Woman of Substance is breaking the mould.

The Barbara Taylor Bradford novel was first adapted for Channel 4 in 1985, with its finale pulling in 13.8 million viewers, the broadcaster’s highest audience ever.

While that series squeezed the infamous novel into three parts, The Forge has again brought working-class heroine Emma Harte’s story to life for Channel 4, but this time over eight episodes. It’s a lengthy order that’s a rarity in today’s market, where terrestrial period fare is often limited to four or six parts. There’s also a premium sheen that makes it look far more lavish than it was to make.

The Forge’s joint managing director Beth Willis has been immersed in period drama over the past six years, helping to shepherd the company’s glossy series The Buccaneers for Apple TV+ across three seasons. But A Woman of Substance didn’t have the same streaming budget to play with, and Willis and her team had to make terrestrial pounds go much further, bolstered by deficit financing from distributor Banijay Rights, which pre-sold the show to BritBox in the U.S.

So, how do you stretch a terrestrial budget across eight episodes of period fare in today’s market?

Read on to find out:

• How to find stories with modern sensibilities within period book IP

• Willis’ two “secret weapons” to making modest budgets go further

• The one mistake producers make that becomes a money pit

• Plans for future series of A Woman of Substance

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Making ‘dusty’ period dramas feel modern

The first of a seven-book series, A Woman of Substance centers on Yorkshire-born Emma Harte (Jessica Reynolds), a maid at the grand Fairley Hall estate who strikes up an illicit romance with young Edwin Fairley. But when she falls pregnant, he casts her away and she’s forced to leave her family to make it on her own in Leeds as a seamstress. Emma vows to get revenge on the entire Fairley clan, and works her way up in the world.

The show opens in New York City with an elderly Emma (Brenda Blethyn), who has made good on her promise, and then some. She’s the richest woman in the world with a vast retail empire, but her legacy is in turmoil thanks to a PR crisis orchestrated by her own children.

Willis began developing the idea for A Woman of Substance in 2020, before Netflix released Bridgerton that December and upended what audiences should expect of the genre. Audience tastes have changed in the interim period, with viewers expecting new twists on the usual “corset” dramas.

“Pre-2020, period was having a bit of a dive, particularly for young people, because it didn’t speak to them,” says Willis, who joined the Banijay-backed Forge in 2018 after serving as Channel 4’s head of drama. “It was beginning to feel like a bit of a dusty genre that felt quite traditional.”

Bradford’s novel, published in 1979, had “all the history and all the texture” of a classic period entry, says Willis, “but it also had something I think would really resonate with a modern audience, which is an incredible female protagonist. Although [Emma] has lots of affairs and husbands and lovers throughout the book, getting married and finding the One is absolutely not what drives her.” Instead, Harte is fuelled by her determination to get revenge on the Fairley family.

It felt unusual for a TV drama to have a female protagonist “that isn’t either a detective who works really hard, or a love interest, or a messy Bridget Jones-type,” adds Willis.

As such, A Woman of Substance may be a period drama, but the producer hopes all these elements help elevate it to feel modern and fresh.

“Barbara Taylor Bradford always said about her book that having a female mogul going through the 20th century in a man’s world is a really interesting bit of history,” says Willis. “You see her fight for those contracts, and have to get married before she can get her mortgage. She doesn’t even have a right to vote in the first series.”

Takeaways: period dramas don’t need to feel dusty if you target stories that feel fresh and of the moment

Secret weapon #1: get scripts locked in early

As fresh as one’s idea may be, however, it’s tough to escape the sky-high costs of making premium drama in the U.K. where prices for crew, equipment and locations have been inflated due, in part, to streaming services driving up costs and the aftermath of the post-COVID boom years. In 2025, a number of leading drama figures spoke out about the crisis facing British broadcasters, who no longer have the budgets to fund uber-expensive dramas on their own.

Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky famously revealed that the series two shoot of the Tudor drama was almost called off weeks before cameras rolled due to budget pressures. Eventually, production went ahead by scrapping some costly exterior shots and centering most of the dialogue indoors.

Willis says she had two secret weapons on A Woman of Substance that helped the show stick within its budget range, which falls somewhere between £1.7 million to £2.3 million per hour.

Firstly, the producer worked closely with the show’s two writers, Katherine Jakeways and Roanne Bardsley, to get scripts finalised ahead of time in order to schedule the big location numbers.

“We shot in those places for just a few days, and we shot all episodes’ material in one go, so we didn’t go back to locations repeatedly throughout the series,” says Willis.

This way of shooting is “incredibly complicated” and tough for the cast and crew, “but we knew we had to scatter that scale across the series.”

It seems like a logical strategy, but this way of working is unusual. “The gap between a show being commissioned and shooting is so tight that there isn’t time to get scripts ahead of time,” Willis explains.

But if you don’t have the scripts and you need to return to an expensive location that’s far away from your base, that means “you’re having to put people in hotels, and if it’s a location that needs 100 extras, all in period costume, then you’re paying for that four times over, rather than once. And that adds up really, really quickly when you’re looking at multiple locations,” she continues.

“Channel 4 were really incredible in terms of supporting us with development and putting the money down to pay for those scripts ahead of time, which not all broadcasters are up for doing these days,” adds Willis. “That really allowed us to plan carefully about where that money was going to go.”

In reality, the show only has a handful of locations but by shooting those places in blocks, each episode looks as though it has a lot of variety and scale.

Takeaways: get scripts completed and signed off ahead of shooting so you can plan filming and save budget

Secret weapon #2: lean into your locations

Willis’ other trick on the show was leaning into the locations and landscapes available.

“We used Yorkshire as a landscape,” she says. “It’s beautiful countryside anyway, but that is free scale. And we made sure we shot in that landscape an awful lot.”

Throughout the show, Emma and other characters are often traipsing across the Moors, and there are plenty of breathtaking overhead shots that convey the beauty of the area, almost serving as a character on the show in its own right.

Meanwhile, Broughton Hall in North Yorkshire served as Fairley Hall, and plays a significant role in the series, appearing repeatedly for scenes shot outside the manor and in its gardens.

“We were lucky with Broughton Hall that it’s a private property, so unlike a National Trust property where you’re restricted with the hours that you can work, because they’ve got to open it to the public, Broughton Hall was very flexible, and allowed us to take it over completely when we were there, which was great and definitely helped.”

The way the show was filmed also meant that “we were booking those locations for tighter, shorter periods of time, rather than going back repeatedly.”

One of the show’s more challenging shoots was its big opening scene with an older Emma weaving through what may look like Manhattan on screen, but is actually Liverpool.

“It was a big number,” admits Willis. “Getting American cars and then actually making sure those cars looked like they were from the 1970s was a challenge for the art department,” she says. “But Liverpool is built in the same way that New York is, with that grid system. So, it really worked well.”

Will A Woman of Substance return for more series?

The Indie Hustle can reveal that scripts for series two are being developed, but haven’t yet received the greenlight. But Willis underlines that the first series alone is only half of the first book. “There are definitely more Emma Harte stories to tell,” she says.

Takeaways: lean into your natural backdrops and make them a focal point; find locations that provide extensive access

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At the press screening of Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards in London, Channel 5 chief content officer Ben Frow highlighted the current fashion for factual drama.

“There seems to be a trend for factual dramas that highlight issues,” he said. “And I’m proud we’re able to join that group of people who are highlighting a very serious issue; in this case the grooming of young men and abuse of power.”

Factual dramas require rigour, courage and working closely with commissioners. But they can pay dividends, as the pre-TX positive reaction to Power - which stars Martin Clunes as the disgraced BBC newsreader - shows.

It airs on 24 March on Channel 5 and ahead of its transmission we spoke with Wonderhood director of development Tom Garton about how it worked, what he thinks commissioners and audiences are looking for and what Wonderhood has in store.

So read on to find out:

⁃ How to navigate a factual drama

⁃ Garton’s strategies for success

⁃ Big questions TV is grappling with

⁃ What Wonderhood is focusing on

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“We’d love to make this show, but there’s just not enough money.”

It’s a line that’s intensely familiar - and maybe even a little triggering - to any producer. Two years ago, the very suggestion of a brand to bridge a funding gap felt anathema to some TV commissioners. But in 2026, there is more open-mindedness around brand-funded entertainment than ever before.

“That’s what’s changed,” says Carlotta Rossi Spencer, global head of branded entertainment business development at Banijay. “Instead of a producer saying, ‘I can’t bring the budget down. I won’t get this commission,’ the answer can be, ‘Can we look for a brand or brands?’ And if the answer’s ‘yes,’ then you have an opportunity.”

Shows such as Prime Video’s The World Cook and ITV’s The Great Escapers have both been made in partnership with travel brands such as Tui and Jet2.com, respectively, while M&S has helped to fund both ITV’s Cooking With the Stars and Dress the Nation. In the U.S., brands such as Procter & Gamble are even leaning into the vertical drama craze for their own entertainment play. The consumer products giant launched its 55-part microsoap The Golden Pear Affair directly on a dedicated website.

However, the chasm between a desire to bring a brand on board, and the reality of securing one, has proved to be a hurdle for many well-intentioned indies who have discovered the hard way that the world of advertisers and media agencies don’t tend to align with the traditional TV production ecosystem.

In the last two years, executives such as Banijay’s Rossi Spencer, who came up in format development, have chartered new territory for brand partnerships in TV. What kind of research is essential in your pitch to a brand? When is the right time of year to approach them? Who, exactly, do you approach?

This week, she opens up her playbook for The Indie Hustle, sharing essential advice for any producer interested in setting up a brand-funded entertainment production.

Read on to learn more about:

• The three most common entry points for brand outreach

• Why studying a brand’s marketing strategy from the outset is crucial

• The best contacts on the brand side to hear your pitch

• Why media agencies can be a TV producer’s friend

• The minimum investment you should expect from a brand

• Why vertical dramas are helping brands get into scripted

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After drama’s long stint in the sun, comedy is having the last laugh as broadcasters and streamers realise the long-term value of the genre.

The success of the Gavin & Stacey finale, Amandaland and Last One Laughing, plus the ‘clipability’ of comic moments for socials and YouTube has led to more commissioner confidence in comedy and big swings such as the forthcoming UK version of Saturday Night Live.

Yet Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee told Peter Fincham and Jimmy Mulville's Insiders podcast recently that “fewer people understand comedy...finding people to work with comedy writers is really tricky" these days.

To look at the challenges and opportunities in the sector, we spoke to a colossus of comedy, Shane Allen.

Allen has overseen some of the best-loved shows on TV, including Peep Show, Ghosts, The Inbetweeners, Black Mirror, Motherland and Car Share, during his stints as head of Channel 4 and then at the BBC - the first person to have held both roles.

Now he’s chief creative officer of his own indie, Boffala Pictures, which works with big names such as Sian Gibson in the acclaimed Power of Parker and Diane Morgan and Sue Johnston in the forthcoming BBC1 robot sitcom Ann Droid, as well as nurturing new talent such as Ada Player in the award-winning Peaked and Lenny Rush in the upcoming The Reluctant Vampire.

So read on to find out:

• Why streamers are looking for more comedy

• Genre insights

• Tips on structuring a comedy indie success

• Strategies for growth

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Factual co-productions used to be perceived as the rarefied pursuit of a handful of indie producers, but in today’s pressurised landscape, this funding model plays an essential role in programme-making. Yet getting these bi- or multi-national projects over the line can be complex at best… and excruciating at worst.

As Kirstie McLure, managing director of My Best Friend’s An Animal indie Big Wave Entertainment, tells us this week, they’re not for the faint-hearted. But if you can find the right partners, work closely with a tax credit expert and know exactly how your budget split is being allocated, the rewards can be material.

McLure recently partnered with Cantina Media - the Canadian production outfit backed by Solange Attwood and Julie Chang’s Serial Maven Studios - for Baby Elephant School, which goes inside a Sri Lankan elephant sanctuary that rehabilitates orphaned calves. The U.K.-Canada co-production is between Channel 4 and CBC, with France’s Arte on board as a pre-sale partner.

The show is a treaty co-production, meaning it takes advantage of the formal treaty between the U.K. and Canada, first set up in 1975. This official pact is not always leveraged for factual projects because certain criteria can push prices up and erode the overall value of a co-production.

But for projects such as Baby Elephant School, savvy producers have proven that the right factual production can take advantage of the treaty requirements, as long as they stay within some essential guardrails.

Read on to learn more about…

• How to find the right Canadian co-production partner

• Why working with a tax credit expert will save you down the line

• When to apply for official treaty co-production status

• Crafting different versions of a story for different countries

• How to work the budget split according to treaty lines

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Finding the Right Match

McLure, former managing director of Pioneer Productions, first engaged with the co-production model when budgets tightened up during an industry crunch around the 2008 recession. Since then, she has set up several co-productions (Can Dogs Talk? recently aired on CBC), with Canada becoming a favoured market due to its appealing tax credits and rich production sector.

McLure encourages producers to, firstly, think carefully about their story, and whether it has a Canadian link or interest. If it does and lends itself to a treaty co-production (specific criteria is found on the BFI website), you can either reach out to a Canadian producer directly, or ask for support from U.K. producers’ trade org Pact or a co-production consultant who will have those connections. (Tip: Canada is a huge country, and there is an eight-hour time difference for the U.K. with West Coast-based companies, compared to five hours with the East Coast. Keep in mind that you’ll likely meet regularly on Zoom to discuss the project so time differences can make or break your schedule.)

In McLure’s case, she had a long-standing relationship with Canadian public broadcaster CBC and, once she secured her commission from Channel 4, she was able to pitch Baby Elephant School directly to CBC and reverse engineer the project, bringing Cantina on board as her Canadian production partner.

Finding the right partner with the same sensibilities is critical for a ‘harmonious’ co-production. In McLure’s case, she had a long history of working with Serial Maven’s Chang and Attwood at their previous home of Blue Ant Media, and with Cantina’s Betty Orr when she was still at Pioneer.

‘It’s a bit like a marriage; it’s quite an intimate relationship,’ says McLure, who encourages transparent communication about everything from budgets to timelines. ‘You need to date your Canadian partner a little bit. You need to make sure you’re going to get along when times are difficult, which they really are in productions with low budgets and high expectations.’

When a co-production is agreed, each respective side needs to apply for official co-production status with official funding bodies Telefilm Canada and the BFI. Here, assistance from an exceptional tax credit expert is worth their weight in gold.

‘It’s really important that all that is done early on, to be sure that you are actually going to qualify,’ says McLure. ‘You have to do a lot of work to get that qualification, in terms of business affairs, paperwork and budgeting. And it all needs to be filed through BFI and Telefilm quite early. You can’t spend too much until you’re convinced you’ve got co-production status.’

Takeaways: Think about your story and whether it has a Canadian angle or interest; find an appropriate production partner; keep the time difference with the U.K. in mind

Crafting the Story

Some stories will have obvious ties to a certain country, but sometimes the subject matter will be more universal. Wildlife series such as Baby Elephant School can fall into the latter, and attract a Canadian broadcast partner without a local connection. Even so, the project, which is now in production, took roughly three years to bring together due to complex permissions and access protocols in Sri Lanka.

‘It’s very hard to make wildlife,’ says McLure, who notes that once robust cable networks such as Discovery’s Animal Planet are no longer commissioning in the same way. ‘There are very few hours being commissioned in the wildlife community, and very few at tariffs that make it doable. We were chasing this access with our partners in Sri Lanka for a long time, and [because] commission rates are dropping, we thought the only way this will work is to turn it into a co-production with partners.”

Channel 4’s version is four parts with wildlife host Lizzy Daly attached, while the CBC’s popular The Nature of Things strand will get a one-hour film fronted by science presenter Anthony Morgan. France’s Arte, which has signed on to the project on a pre-sale basis, will take a three-hour series without a host.

‘Each of these are having their own versions,’ says McLure. ‘We have to make sure we have our shot list for each channel. There will be some shared material, because there are wonderful elephant characters who will be similar in each version, but then we take time [shooting with each host].’

Takeaways: Wildlife is time-consuming and lends itself to co-production because it’s so expensive to make; each country needs its own bespoke version of the show

Keep Your Spend on Track

Budgets tend to rise on Canadian co-productions because the treaty requires that certain roles are occupied by nationals. On Baby Elephant School, for example, there are both Canadian and U.K. directors, editors and executive producers.

‘You have to be quite careful, because it can get expensive when you’ve got two teams running,’ says McLure. ‘Look at the project and understand where the split of spend should be, and who should be in which office. Where should the editing be done? Where should the final post-production be done?’

The budget should ultimately follow the same ratio as the treaty co-production split. For example, a 60-40 U.K.-Canada split means that 60 percent of spend is in the U.K. and 40 percent is in Canada.

‘If you get that wrong, when you don’t comply at final audit, it will fail. You won’t get your money, and you end up in a real hole,’ warns McLure, who handles most of the business affairs for productions herself, alongside her reliable tax credit expert.

Funding the tax credit is also mission critical, particularly as Canada pays back the tax credits at the very end of production.

‘Cash flow becomes an issue you have to understand before you undertake a production,’ says McLure. ‘You may need to make a provision for funding the tax credits, which is an area not to be forgotten because you [may not] have the finance to go ahead and make the project.’

Money aside, bringing the right attitude and working with like-minded partners is paramount, says McLure. And that often means staying open to compromise.

‘Make sure you go into it in the real spirit of true co-production,’ she says. ‘You have to be aware that there will be leads on both sides, execs on both sides and probably a director on both sides. And you have to discuss the process with your partners to be sure everyone’s going to be comfortable with the way the production is set out.’

Takeaways: Budgets must follow treaty co-pro ratios; it’s essential to think about cash flowing your project because tax credits are paid at the very end

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Everyone is talking about how to raise new revenue streams. One way to do that is through platforms such as Patreon.

It can seem daunting going direct to consumer, but the brains behind Time Team did just that after the show was cancelled by Channel 4.

They have built up a membership that has funded the return of the much-loved archaeological show, which now airs on YouTube.

So read on for advice on:

• How to make the leap to fandom funding

• Smart strategies to grow and activate your membership

• Production playbooks for YouTube

• Unlocking partnerships and monetising your archive

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There are wildly different estimates of how much the vertical drama business is worth, but Media Partners Asia estimated that 2025 revenues in China, where the ‘duanju’ format originated, exceeded an eye-watering $9 billion.

Over in the U.S., where short-form’s popularity has skyrocketed in the last year, headline-grabbing deals such as Fox Entertainment’s equity stake in Ukrainian vertical drama operator Holywater and scripted pact with creator Dhar Mann last month have illustrated how seriously legacy players are beginning to take the burgeoning format.

As the U.K.’s vertical offerings start rolling out onto market, we’re seeing the first local test cases. Will local producers and app developers manage to sustain businesses in the Wild West of vertical dramas? Can they sidestep the crushing marketing costs required to get eyeballs to the platforms?

To dig into the mechanics of how the U.K.’s pioneering vertical video makers are navigating the format, Indie Hustle caught up with two vertical drama specialists playing very different roles in this space: production house Onset Octopus, which is carving a niche as a trusted supplier to platforms such as DramaBox and ReelShort; and EMC Productions, founders of Britain’s first vertical drama app Tattle TV, who are focusing their efforts on licensing and commissioning.

Read on to learn more about:

• The budgets, production timelines and tech behind successful vertical dramas

• Why the U.K. is ‘wide open’ as a short-form market

• How vertical dramas are keeping actors and crews in steady work

• How one app is keeping marketing costs low and growing organically

• Why leveraging AI is necessary to scale a vertical drama app

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In the week that it emerged creative industries minister Ian Murray has written to Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, saying that “the television market is transforming” so Channel 4 and the BBC should forge closer ties, we are taking time to look at the tectonic plates that are shifting and reshaping the industry.

Mega-mergers and consolidation are the buzzwords of the moment, whether it be the proposed union between All3Media and Banijay or Sky’s owner Comcast looking at buying ITV.

Sometimes we are so busy looking at the waves we cannot see the tides.

So we spoke with the chair of the British Broadcasting Challenge, Pat Younge, for his overview of the industry, the challenges it faces and the opportunities in the emerging new landscape.

With his extensive experience at the BBC, ITV Studios and as an indie boss at Sugar Films and Cardiff Productions, and now at creative consultancy Skin In The Game Studios, he has some ideas about how smaller indies can continue to thrive and win more commissions.

So read on for a resounding rallying call and insights about:

• Why the mega-mergers change the game for everyone

• Archive is the new currency (and what to do about it)

• Policy is market-shaping: have your say in the BBC charter consultation

• Think 360 or get squeezed: building ecosystems around ideas

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