The Vertical Reach Podcast

Pauline Gray
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Hosted by Pauline Gray, an award-winning screenwriter and narrative strategist with over thirty years in commercial production, this podcast brings together the creators, innovators, and visionaries shaping the future of vertical film and microdrama. As a Marshall Scholar with dual master's degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Bristol's Film & Television program, Pauline brings both academic depth and industry insight to every conversation. Through her studio, Pauline Gray Studios, she has championed vertical storytelling as a powerful medium for brands, streaming platforms, and cultural institutions — proving that short-form content can deliver cinematic precision and emotional intelligence. Each week, Pauline sits down with directors, writers, producers, platform executives, and creative leaders who are redefining how stories are told in a swipe-up world. Together, they explore the craft, strategy, and future of vertical content — from the creative process behind compelling microdramas to the business of building audiences in the mobile-first era. Whether you're a filmmaker looking to expand into vertical formats, a brand seeking to understand the power of short-form narrative, or a storytelling enthusiast curious about where the industry is headed, The Vertical Reach Podcast offers the insights, inspiration, and connections you need. Because great stories deserve to reach everyone — one vertical frame at a time.

  1. 1d ago ·  Video

    Ep 16. AI, Brands & the Future of Vertical Drama: Bethany Thomson

    What happens when the person integrating AI into an industry is also the person most worried about what it might replace? Bethany Thomson has been sitting with that question all year. As Creative Lead at Sea Star Productions, she's spent the past year and a half helping build one of the UK's leading vertical drama studios — after landing in the space almost by accident, as a social media hire who'd never heard of microdramas before her first day. In this episode, Bethany and Pauline dig into the AI conversation shaking up the vertical drama world: the flood of AI-generated titles coming out of China, why the UK and US are responding so differently, and where the line sits between adopting new tools and protecting the craft. They trace a surprising throughline from old-school filmmaking — avid editing suites, pencil-and-paper script notes — straight to today's phone-shot verticals, and make the case for branded storytelling as the format's next real opportunity, including why a $150K micro-drama series can outperform a single day of traditional commercial shooting. Bethany also shares her own "next swipe up": moving from marketing into development, and helping brands find their place inside vertical storytelling. This one covers a lot of ground — the future of AI in entertainment, the economics of branded microdrama, and what it actually takes to build a career in an industry that's still inventing itself in real time. About Bethany Thomson Bethany Thomson is the Creative Lead at Sea Star Productions, where she pioneers storytelling in the emerging microdrama world and works to advance the industry in the UK. With a background spanning locations, short films, marketing, and music videos, she now leads the business and marketing side of Sea Star Productions while supporting production processes that reshape how audiences engage with stories on mobile platforms. Passionate about the future of vertical dramas, she works to inspire the next generation of filmmakers to think beyond the traditional screen and into an industry that is constantly growing and seeking new creatives. Connect with Bethany Thomson: Sea Star Productions Instagram Sea Star News Instagram Sea Star Productions LinkedIn Bethany Thomson LinkedIn

  2. Jul 14 ·  Video

    Episode 15. Vete Para La Calle: Angelina Barbieri's Vertical Hustle

    Angelina Barbieri is a first-generation Latin American actress with a career spanning film, TV, and comedy, including Transporter 2, HBO's Ballers, NCIS: Los Angeles, Anger Management, NBC's The Night Shift, Rosewood, and HBO's How to Make It in America. After an eight-year break from the industry, she returned two years ago and pivoted into vertical drama, booking eight roles since October 2025 across platforms including ReelShort, FlareFlow, Shortical, GammaTime, MicroCo (aTwist), and PocketFM — and winning the Visionary Award for her role in Santos. In this episode, she talks with Pauline about reinvention, the immigrant hustle behind her career, the rise of brand integration in vertical storytelling, and what success looks like now. Connect with Angelina: IG Handle : @angelina_barbieri Facebook

  3. Jul 7 ·  Video

    Episode 14. Doug Vermeeren: Building the Cannes of Vertical Drama in Las Vegas

    Here are the clean Buzzsprout show notes (matching the standard template format, with guest links kept as their own section rather than folded in): Doug Vermeeren: Building the Cannes of Vertical Drama in Las Vegas What happens when a lifelong love of movies turns into building the biggest event vertical storytelling has ever seen? Doug Vermeeren has been on movie sets since he was a kid — from background extra work to stunt performing, from indie documentaries shot on Betacam to vertical dramas streaming on ReelShort. In this episode, Doug traces that path: growing up broke and sneaking snacks into the movie theater, learning the business from the inside while renting a room from a studio executive, and eventually building a career that's spanned drama, action, and horror across both traditional film and the emerging vertical space. We talk about what drew him to verticals — the speed, the built-in audience, the sense that this is a new format sitting alongside cinema and TV rather than replacing it — and why he believes the genre is only beginning to expand beyond its early "melodrama" roots into horror, comedy, documentary, and more. The heart of the conversation is Doug's newest project: the Vertical Micro Drama Market (VMM), a first-of-its-kind event taking over the Sahara in Las Vegas. Doug walks through what makes it different from the smaller festivals and educational panels that have served the space so far — a full trade show floor, major distributors ready to acquire projects, live casting sessions, and investors (including Doug's own Real to Real Capital) with real capital to deploy. Doug also shares hard-won advice for actors and filmmakers: how casting decisions really get made, why "tell, sell, and service" matters as much as talent, and why the smartest people in the industry are the ones who show up as collaborators rather than egos. He closes with some of his favorite origin stories from film history — George Lucas, James Cameron — and a challenge to anyone sitting on an idea: stop waiting for permission and start making something. This is a conversation about movies, about reinvention, and about what it takes to build something the industry hasn't seen before. Let's tell stories that connect. Connect with Doug Vermeeren: Website Instagram IMDb

  4. Jun 30 ·  Video

    Episode 13. The Vertical Reach: How One Writer Moved UpUntitled Episode

    Jessica Burkhart went from publishing 30 novels to writing full-time verticals in a year. She shares her pivot from books to games to screenwriting, how she learned to work within tight budgets, and why moving vertically—not horizontally—changed her entire definition of success. In this conversation, Jessica walks us through her creative journey: from middle-grade and YA novels to mobile games (Pixelberry's Choices, Chapters app) to becoming a Silver Telly Award-winning vertical drama screenwriter with 17 produced shows on DramaShorts, Shorts, and ReelShort. We talk about the biggest challenges (relearning pacing and economy of language), the biggest surprises (creative freedom without traditional boundaries), and the real work of balancing creative ambition with shoestring budgets. Most importantly: we talk about permission. Permission to try. Permission to pivot. Permission to move up instead of across. If you're at a creative crossroads or you've hit a ceiling somewhere, this conversation is for you. GUEST Jessica Burkhart is a Silver Telly Award-winning vertical drama screenwriter, best-selling author of 30+ novels, and mobile game writer. Her vertical drama series have been featured on most-watched charts across major platforms. Recent credits include The Sweetest Challenge (DramaShorts) and The Quarterback's Secret Princess (Shorts). Website Instagram

  5. Jun 23 ·  Video

    Episode 12. From Shanghai to the Screen: Inside the Vertical Drama World the West Is Just Discovering

    What does it look like to be inside a revolution before the rest of the world catches on? Daniel D. Newman found out — not by accident, but by spending 15 years living and working in China, where he watched vertical drama go from a niche format on metro screens to a global industry. Now back in the UK and fully embedded in the Western vertical space, he's leveraging everything he knows to build bilingual stories that travel. In this episode, Daniel walks us through the birth of vertical drama in China — from the dominance of Hongguo to the ecosystem behind platforms like Drama Box and the mechanics of a market years ahead of the West. He shares what surprised him as a filmmaker making the shift from landscape to vertical: the reframing of space, the dirty singles, the cliffhanger every 90 seconds. We also get into the real economics of the indie vertical filmmaker — what it means to have platforms willing to pay after a film is made, but not before. And how Daniel is navigating that gap as he develops three new vertical concepts and considers whether to lead with proofs of concept or go straight for the 50-episode mark. His background is unlike anyone else in this space: bilingual in Mandarin, bicultural by experience, and entrepreneurial by necessity. That combination has given him what he calls a "back door" — direct relationships with both the LA and China sides of the biggest vertical platforms in the world. If you're watching the vertical space and wondering who's already ahead of the curve, this is that conversation. Connect with Daniel D. Newman: Website IMDb Instagram Facebook TikTok X LinkedIn YouTube Watch Shanghai Sherlock on ReelShort: https://www.reelshort.com/episodes/episode-1-shanghai-sherlock-6a05e459cd4097f64401ce53-chbns769vv?play_time=1

  6. Jun 16 ·  Video

    Episode 11. The Writer Is King: Adrion Trujillo on Who Really Runs Vertical Drama

    What if the most important person in vertical drama is the one no one's putting in the credits? Adrion Trujillo would argue that's exactly the case — and he'd know. An award-winning writer, Adrion has shaped standout series and format-defining experiments across Pocket FM, Drama Box, and Pine Drama, from top-performing male-frequency sagas to bold creative swings. His most recent show, Chained to My Nemesis, is currently #1, arriving right off the back of Keep Your Ring, I'm President Now. In this episode, Adrion takes us from the years of writing specs and entering contests that never materialized, to a single Twitter post that opened the door to Pocket FM — and the moment he realized that "TV on your phone" wasn't a step down from his dream job. It was his dream job. From there, he and Pauline get into the real mechanics of the format: how a vertical writer's room actually works, why writers pitch from marketing moments before anything else, and why he believes the writer is the true author of vertical storytelling — even though the industry hasn't woken up to it yet. They also dig into the credit and compensation struggles carried over from traditional Hollywood, whether there's any such thing as "life after verticals," and what happens when Hollywood tries to walk into this space and add water. Adrion closes with grounded, specific advice for directors, writers, and producers looking to break in — and a reminder to stop internalizing the "no's" and build your own path. Whether you're already deep in the vertical world or just discovering it, this is a rare, candid look inside the machine from someone running at full speed within it. Connect with Adrion Trujillo: Instagram: @Trujelloforever TikTok: @Tru_jello If this one made you think, send it to someone standing at their own crossroads — a writer waiting for permission, a creator wondering if it's too late to change altitude. Let's tell stories that connect.

  7. Jun 10 ·  Video

    Episode 10. Kyle Maddox on Why the Police Genre Is Vertical Drama's Untapped Frontier

    What happens when the cop arresting the actors becomes one? That's the story Kyle Maddox tells on this episode of The Vertical Reach Podcast. While working as a sheriff's deputy in southern Utah, Kyle spent a night on shift — in uniform, real handcuffs, real squad car — arresting actors for a feature film shooting in his city. Six months later, he'd moved to LA to pursue acting. Today he's an actor, writer, and police technical advisor who's been working in vertical drama since 2022. In this conversation, Kyle traces his path from law enforcement to celebrity bodyguard to vertical lead — and makes the case that the police genre is the format's most untapped frontier, one he believes will explode once it's done right. We get into what carries over from the badge (discipline, muscle memory, and the comfort of an on-set command structure), shooting The Duke's Obsession in Beijing, and why he's writing and developing a SWAT vertical with himself in the lead. We also talk about redefining success as fewer moves with higher leverage, and what it really takes to step outside your comfort zone. Whether you're eyeing your own reinvention or building in the vertical space, Kyle's advice is simple: trust who you've become, and just do it.

  8. Jun 2 ·  Video

    Episode 9. Paige Compton: From the White House to Vertical Drama

    Before she became one of the most in-demand directors in vertical comedy, Paige Compton spent the final four years of her US Army service as Audio Visual Director for President Barack Obama. In this episode, she traces an unlikely path — running live events for two administrations, graduating from AFI into the void of 2020, and arriving in vertical drama right as the format exploded. Paige has directed some of the biggest titles in the space, including Snatched a Billionaire to Be My Husband and Hold Me Tight, Mr. Firefighter — both #1 hits. We get into her “aha” moment watching Netflix, Warner Bros., and Fox circle the first LA vertical drama market, her surprise induction as a full voting member of the Television Academy, and her sharp, contrarian read on the craft: that right now, vertical isn’t really about storytelling — it’s about attention. She also gets candid about the realities of the work: pay, set safety, the unions she senses forming, why she turns down projects she can’t put her name behind, and how AI is reshaping the back half of 2026. Plus practical, no-nonsense advice for anyone trying to break in — pick one lane, show up, and start now. Whether you’re a filmmaker eyeing the vertical leap or just curious where this format is headed, this is a conversation about reinvention, momentum, and changing altitude. Connect with Paige: Website: paigecompton.com Instagram: @dudette.director

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About

Hosted by Pauline Gray, an award-winning screenwriter and narrative strategist with over thirty years in commercial production, this podcast brings together the creators, innovators, and visionaries shaping the future of vertical film and microdrama. As a Marshall Scholar with dual master's degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Bristol's Film & Television program, Pauline brings both academic depth and industry insight to every conversation. Through her studio, Pauline Gray Studios, she has championed vertical storytelling as a powerful medium for brands, streaming platforms, and cultural institutions — proving that short-form content can deliver cinematic precision and emotional intelligence. Each week, Pauline sits down with directors, writers, producers, platform executives, and creative leaders who are redefining how stories are told in a swipe-up world. Together, they explore the craft, strategy, and future of vertical content — from the creative process behind compelling microdramas to the business of building audiences in the mobile-first era. Whether you're a filmmaker looking to expand into vertical formats, a brand seeking to understand the power of short-form narrative, or a storytelling enthusiast curious about where the industry is headed, The Vertical Reach Podcast offers the insights, inspiration, and connections you need. Because great stories deserve to reach everyone — one vertical frame at a time.

Information

  • Creator
    Pauline Gray
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Vertical Reach Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Vertical Reach Podcast