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

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

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.

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.

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

He wrote the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign. Now he's one of the most interesting people writing verticals.

Thom Woodley has spent twenty years showing up early — to scripted web series, to interactive mobile, to branded content, and now to micro drama. In 2006, he created The Berg, one of the first scripted online sitcoms. He wrote hundreds of episodes for Episode Interactive. He ran branded content at CollegeHumor/Dropout. He was the first writer signed to the WGA's New Media Caucus.

In this episode, Thom and Pauline get into the consultancy he co-founded, Hudson Vertical (https://hudsonvertical.com/), which now sits at the intersection of apps, brands, streamers, and investors trying to figure out where this space is going. They talk about why an advertising background may be better training for vertical writing than traditional Hollywood. They unpack burnout as spiritual misalignment, not overwork. They reframe disappointment as just an appointment that didn't happen.

And then comes the sea change: Thom shares why he was wrong about AI in verticals — and what shifted in the last few months that's made him a hesitant futurist.
In this conversation:

Why being early to every new medium has been Thom's accidental specialty
What the Dos Equis campaign taught him about writing for a three-second scroll
How Hudson Vertical works with apps, brands, and investors entering the space
The honest reversal on AI: why he no longer thinks audiences won't watch (or pay) for AI-generated shows
Burnout, stoicism, and the Buddhist case against expectation
His clearest advice for anyone hesitating to take a vertical leap

Connect with Thom Woodley:
Hudson Vertical: https://hudsonvertical.com/
Whether you're considering the jump yourself or trying to understand where this industry is actually going, this is a conversation worth your full attention.

What does it take to direct a feature film's worth of pages in a single day?

Thalia Kent-Egan would know. As one of London's earliest directors in the vertical drama space, she's been shooting at breakneck speeds since the format began booming in the city — where productions have tripled since January.

In this episode, Thalia takes us inside the chaotic, bonding, sometimes brutal world of vertical production. We talk about the technical adjustments — why mid-shots beat close-ups, how data shapes every creative decision, and the craft of shooting two cameras with no time for second takes. She also speaks candidly about the harder realities: industry instability, the sexism in director hiring, and how she protects her own creative voice while taking on client work that doesn't always reflect it.

As an intimacy coordinator turned director, Thalia brings a rare dual perspective — one focused as much on actor care as on craft. She shares why building lasting relationships with cast and crew matters even more in a format this fast, and how she stays grounded inside an industry that runs on adrenaline.

Plus: her own short films in development, a moment with Eve Ensler (V), and where she hopes vertical storytelling goes next.

Connect with Thalia Kent-Egan
Website: thaliakentegan.com
Instagram: @thaliakentegan

🌐 PAULINE GRAY STUDIOS
Where storytelling meets strategy.
paulinegraystudios.com | hello@paulinegraystudios.com

Carin Smolinski didn't wait for permission.

She self-funded, wrote, directed, and produced Tides of Desire, a 50-episode vertical series shot on location in Costa Rica — making her one of the few women in the world independently bringing vertical microdrama from concept to distribution.

In this episode, the WEC Films founder and ThirdWave Entertainment co-founder talks about rewriting the rules of vertical drama from the inside — reinvention at 53, the ethics gap she's pushing back against, and what she calls "the third wave" of independent, cinematic, story-first verticals.
A conversation about building something different in a space still being written.

🎬 CONNECT WITH CARIN SMOLINSKI
Website
Instagram
TikTok: @microdramamama
WEC Films: @wec.films
ThirdWave Entertainment: @thirdwaveentertainment

🌐 PAULINE GRAY STUDIOS
Where storytelling meets strategy.
paulinegraystudios.com | hello@paulinegraystudios.com

Let's tell stories that connect.