Fox Entertainment CEO Claps Back at Vertical Dramas’ Bad Rap and Looks to the Future With Dhar Mann | Video

Even in today’s ever-shifting Hollywood landscape, the vertical microdramas business doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. Fox Entertainment and Dhar Mann are here to change that.

“Shorter form narrative storytelling gets negative press. I think some of that is defensive. I think it’s from a lack of understanding,” Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade said during TheWrap’s Creators x Hollywood Summit, held Wednesday in partnership with Whalar and The Lighthouse in Venice Beach, Calif.

“But those who are more open-minded and really see the potential are now embracing short-form storytelling, and that’s certainly us at Fox,” Wade added, admitting that “Hollywood isn’t always known to move quickly” when it comes to upstart forms of entertainment.

That open-mindedness is what paved the way for a successful, self-starter creator like Dhar Mann Studios founder Dhar Mann to partner with Fox Entertainment earlier this year on a 40-title deal to expand its microdramas slate.

“Fox moves quickly,” Mann said, detailing his first meeting with Wade on Christmas Day before sealing the lucrative deal just two months later.

“I think the numbers speak for themselves — this isn’t ‘the next thing,'” Mann said. “This is already an $8 billion global industry. It’s set to double in the next five years, and it makes sense — 75% of users currently are already watching videos on mobile.”

Joining Wade and Fox Entertainments SVP of Operations and Strategy Tony Vassiliadis for TheWrap’s “The Next Wave of Short-Form Storytelling” panel, Mann broke down why vertical dramas are the perfect blend of long-form dramatic heft — “Long-form, I still think, is king,” he said — and the need for quick bites of immediate satisfaction from a scrolling audience.

“It really combines the best of both worlds,” Mann said. “Our storytelling, from a traditional standpoint, starts with some sort of inciting incident, then you have rising conflict, you have climax, you have some sort of turn, and then there’s resolution. That’s the classic story arc. Now with vertical dramas, you have one minute. So you don’t have time for that. It’s setup-twist-cliffhanger, setup-twist-cliffhanger all within a minute. So you’re almost telling a complete story and then leaving room for the audience to want to get to the next episode while still building character arcs and story arcs over the whole 90-minute full episode or series.”

Of Fox Entertainment’s investment in short-form storytelling, Vassiliadis said that he values the ability to act with the muscle and practiced industry know-how of a studio while entrusting creators like Mann to merge those capabilities with what’s previously worked for the art form.

“That’s what’s been most exciting for me, is even as we have creators and writers come and talk to our team about what could be and actually thinking, ‘OK, how do we actually learn from what has worked elsewhere and not think that Hollywood has all the answers?'” the SVP said. “But by incorporating what we’re seeing in the world at large in vertical storytelling, there’s a way to actually move things forward.”

Watch the full “The Next Wave of Short-Form Storytelling” panel, moderated by TheWrap senior reporter Kayla Cobb, in the video above.

TheWrap’s Creators x Hollywood Summit is an invite-only gathering of the top creators, entertainment leaders and brand partners who are shaping the future of storytelling and the new entertainment economy.

The event is presented in partnership with global creator agency Whalar and The Lighthouse, both part of the Whalar Group. It is sponsored by City National Bank, Fox Entertainment, Lionsgate, Loeb & Loeb LLP and Webtoon. 

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