WHEN film, TV and social media collide, what do you get? Vertical dramas. Fast-paced, attention-grabbing, and typically told in minute-long episodes, these mini-series have surged in popularity, raising the question: how can Scotland’s screen industry get involved?
ReelShort, DramaBox, GammaTime; these are just a few of the platforms that are raking in millions of viewers who are becoming hooked on bite-sized vertical stories.
Vertical dramas, which get their name as they’re filmed in 9:16 format, taller than they are wide as they are aimed for viewing on a smartphone, are growing rapidly in popularity.
Revenues in the sector were up 8000% year-on-year in 2025, with Deloitte, a world-leading audit and advisory firm, projecting the industry to be worth $7.8 billion in 2026.
With exploding demand in the United States and China, questions are being raised about where Scotland fits in and how its creative industries can get ahead of the curve.
“At the moment, there's definitely opportunities emerging, and I want Scotland to take its place as well and not be left behind,” director of Firewalker Pictures and leading voice in vertical dramas in Scotland, Maureen Hascoet, told the Sunday National.
With hundreds of original scripted microdramas on ReelShort alone, its top show, The Double Life Of My Billionaire Husband, has pulled in 494 million views.
According to industry analyst Omdia, ReelShort in America gets 35 minutes of use per day, per user. Netflix, meanwhile, comes in at 24 minutes, Prime Video at 26 minutes, and Disney+ at 23 minutes.
Hascoet explained that despite growing demand from audiences, there has been some pushback from within the screen industry due to its similarities to social media content.
“With any new format, the instinct is initially to be laughed at because the quality is poor, because it's never gonna work, who wants to watch something vertically, all of that,” she said.
“I think there's a lot of snobbishness towards it, but we need to look at it from a different angle because this industry is currently not working for everybody.”
Hascoet added: “People like to sneer towards the fact that it's marketed on social media so it doesn't feel legit or serious, but that's where people are.”
With each episode moving along at a ferocious pace and typically ending on a cliffhanger, it's easy to assume vertical dramas are geared towards Gen Z.
However, according to Ampere Analysis, a data provider for global entertainment business, more 35 to 44-year-olds watch mini dramas than 18 to 24-year-olds, with the format most popular with 25-34-year-olds.
Women also make up the majority of viewers, sitting at 75%, according to ReelShort.
Hascoet believes one reason why vertical dramas are popular among women is because of the “escapism” the programmes on the platform offer.
She added that Scottish productions geared towards vertical dramas could be well-suited to “fill the job gap,” which has widened with BBC Scotland moving out of Dumbarton Studios in September with the axing of the long-running production of River City.
“I think the vertical game is a volume game and I think the audiences are potentially similar,” Hascoet said.
“I'm hoping it can basically sustain careers and create new opportunities for new voices.”
Hascoet added that vertical dramas are “launching careers” as the new format could help provide an “ecosystem” for Scotland’s screen industry, which includes her launching a new initiative, Vertical Scotland.
Her campaign to save Dumbarton Studios, the home of BBC Scotland for 24 years, which ultimately failed after the site was sold to a housing developer, included a designated space specifically for vertical dramas.
Hascoet said following the campaign, two US studios reached out to her as they are interested in creating a facility specifically for micro-dramas in Scotland.
“It's very much US, but you're finding that even that being the case, there's still US production companies that are really interested in commissioning in the UK,” she said.
One Scot who has already found success in vertical dramas is Graham Forbes, creative director of the Glasgow-based Up Next Studios.
The veteran filmmaker and documentarian's No Mercy For My Scottish Stepmom series was picked up by ReelShort.
Forbes's vertical drama crime series follows the story of an American detective who comes to Scotland to solve a “dodgy crypto dealing” which took place in Dubai.
With more than 20 years of experience working in the industry with the likes of STV and BBC Scotland, Forbes said the change of pace of filming vertical dramas was a refreshing challenge for him.
“Filmmakers are kind of being allowed to make these without the shackles of traditional broadcasting,” he explained.
Forbes added: "I loved filming it. It was great fun.
“The people I was working with were just lovely. Everybody understood the assignment, it's soapy, but it's almost to the point of pantomime at times, and there are internal monologues going on, which are great fun.
“It's just kind of ridiculous, but at the same time it's just fun.”
Forbes explained that he is not surprised by the rise in vertical dramas, as it was a format he had been tracking for a couple of years, and has seen an uptick in his own business with work geared more towards “content” rather than traditional broadcasting.
He said that when Up Next Studios first opened in 2019, they were working around 80% on TV series with production companies and broadcasters, with around 20% of their work being for YouTube content and for companies.
However, fast-forward to 2026, the numbers have flipped.
“We are easily 80% content and 20% TV, which would be adverts and the very occasional TV show,” Forbes said.
“I think that's just a reflection of the industry as it is right now.”
Forbes said a defining theme for vertical series is the ramped-up dramas, which are keeping audiences hooked with their “over the top” acting and editing, but added they aren’t too far away from a classic TV genre – soap operas.
“What we all used to get from soap operas has become what you're seeing now online, and it's what young people are watching instead of soap operas.
“I would say that everything has been, to use a horrible phrase, dialled up to 11.
“So if there was a relationship drama on River City, it might play out over a couple of months, and there might be an argument, there might be a kiss behind the curtain.
“But now you can take that exact relationship and condense it down into six minutes on a ReelShort, which you can watch maybe on the train on your way to work or before you go to sleep.”
He added: “It's a fight, it's a push, it's more than that, it's the girl's sisters all ganging up on the guy, and then it's a really steamy adult scene and it takes everything and just dials it right up and any sense of moderation that you would have had from a BBC exec is thrown out the window.”
Forbes said vertical series are taking the lessons that have been learned from social media and putting them into drama.
He added that you don’t have to look far to see how concepts developed on the likes of YouTube have been able to grip audiences, with Backrooms being the top movie in cinemas right now.
“It's made by a 20-year-old director who made the original Backrooms on YouTube, and that's somebody who understands the modern audience,” he said.
Adding: “I love seeing people do new things. I absolutely love it when a new format comes out and you can give it a try and now everybody can make high-quality content and it's a lot of fun.”
