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:
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