The Vertical Buzz

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Chase Mattson, actor, model, father of four, and one of the most recognizable leading men in vertical entertainment. Chase shares how he was discovered as a teenager while working at Hollister, how modeling took him around the world, and how early on-camera moments included Lady Gag...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Blair Bai, Head of Executive Producers for North America at DramaWave and one of the leading creative voices helping define the next stage of vertical storytelling. Blair talks about her journey from Beijing Film Academy and USC School of Cinematic Arts to early vertical hits and he...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Troy Brookins, actor, producer, former athlete, and one of the driving forces behind MicroHouse Films. Troy shares the origin story of MicroHouse Films, the new vertical platform he is building with Taye Diggs, Autumn Federici, and Shelby Stone, and why their mission is to create a...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Darren Darnborough, an actor, entrepreneur, and tech innovator helping shape the future of casting, auditions, and vertical storytelling. Darren shares how a Dr. Pepper commercial at 16 opened the door to acting, why he pivoted from acting school into film and media, and how his ent...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Nick Ritacco, a Chicago-born actor, athlete, baseball fan, and one of the standout leading men in the vertical drama space. Nick shares how a high school injury led him from baseball into theater, how New York and Shakespeare shaped his foundation as an actor, and how early TV roles...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Emmy Award-winning casting director Paul Ruddy, one of the most influential casting voices in the vertical space today. Paul is currently casting at DramaBox and has worked across more than 250 film, television, digital, and vertical projects for platforms including Netflix, Disney,...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Eric Guilmette, one of the most recognizable leading men in the vertical drama world, to talk about the unusual path that brought him from romance novel covers to nearly 50 vertical films, producing, poetry, and a rapidly growing fan base. Before vertical storytelling exploded, read...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where vertical entertainment finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Royce Lundquist, one of the most exciting new leading men in the vertical space, to talk about his fast rise as an actor, his creative roots, and the new ventures he is building beyond the screen. Royce shares his journey from being a homeschooled theater kid in a Navy family, to st...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where the vertical entertainment world finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with D'Arcy Smith from the University of Cincinnati to talk about a major shift for the vertical space: vertical storytelling is entering academia. D'Arcy is teaching vertical performance at the university level, which means this format is no longer just something actors stumbl...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz, where the vertical entertainment world finds its voice. This week, host Buzz Leer sits down with Felix Merback, one of the hottest leading men in vertical storytelling right now, to break down what makes this format so addictive, what acting for closeups really demands, and why the vertical boom is still wide open for creators who are willing to move fast. Felix share...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, Season 2 kicks off with the person who helped legitimize  the vertical space in Los Angeles. Host Buzz Leer sits down with Tina Contogenis, founder of Eris Talent Agency, to break down why vertical is no longer a trend, how the money and views proved the model, and what actors need to understand if they want to compete in the fastest-growing lane of entertainment. T...

Welcome to the Season 1 finale of The Vertical Buzz. This is a special edition episode and a full preview of the Vertical Drama Love Fan Awards happening this Thursday in Los Angeles. Vertical is moving fast, but the biggest story is even bigger: fans are not just watching anymore. Fans are shaping what wins, what gets made, and what becomes the next breakout. Buzz Leer is joined in studio by Sam...

Welcome to The Vertical Buzz. Host Buzz Leer sits down with actor, writer, and director Rick Shepherd to talk about what happens when a traditionally trained filmmaker jumps into vertical storytelling and has to rethink everything for the 9:16 frame. Rick shares his Cleveland performance roots, his training across Case Western Reserve University and grad programs in London and Columbia University,...

This week, Buzz is joined by Emma Reinagel, one of the most highly sought-after rising stars in the vertical entertainment world. Emma and Buzz break down what it really takes to act in 9:16, why the format is exploding, and how the next generation of actors is using verticals as a fast-track training ground. They also talk about their feature film The Abduction of Sal Bedford, a found footage doc...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Noah Fearnley, one of the most in-demand actors in vertical entertainment right now, to talk about what it takes to work at a high level in two worlds at the same time: vertical storytelling and traditional television. Noah opens up about the real grind behind the momentum, from juggling nonstop vertical shoots to stepping into major pr...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Danny Farber, a Chicago-born director, actor, writer, and producer who has been crushing it in vertical entertainment across multiple countries and platforms. They kick things off with a cold open on why vertical is not just a phone rotation, it is a storytelling shift that changes framing, blocking, pacing, and emotion. Danny shares ho...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Molly Anderson, one of the most dynamic leading ladies in the vertical space, to talk about what it takes to break through, stay relevant, and deliver real performances in a format where you are moving fast, learning tons of pages, and often getting just a take or two. Molly shares her journey from the pinky of Northern Michigan to Los...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Kylie Karson—actor, director, and co-founder of CheraTV—for a deep dive into where vertical entertainment is headed, what’s broken in the current ecosystem, and what it looks like to build something more ethical and creator-first from the inside. Kylie shares her unbelievable journey from growing up in a religious family to college, the...

This week on The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Cayman Cardiff—one of the leading male actors in verticals—to talk craft, career strategy, and what it really takes to become recognizable (and re-bookable) in a format where you only get seconds to connect. From a surprising pivot from pre-med to acting, to early bookings, joining SAG, and a breakout run that exploded on DramaBox, Caym...

Description In filmmaking, some of the most powerful moments can also be the most dangerous—or the most vulnerable. In this episode of The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Aaron Feder—one of the leading stunt + intimacy coordinators in the vertical film world—to break down the unseen work that keeps sets safe, performers protected, and stories honest. From the core principles of stunt...

Description In Episode 3 (Part 2) of The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer continues his conversation with Michael Naizu, an Asian American actor, writer, producer, and director whose work spans film, television, and vertical storytelling. Michael tells stories about his work in Vertical films and his own feature film, Bound for Glory. Sponsor: AEIRO AEIRO Air Purifiers identify, reduce, and monitor a...

Description What does it take to act in vertical films? In Episode 3 (Part 1) of The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Michael Naizu, an Asian American actor, writer, producer, and director whose work spans film, television, and vertical storytelling. Together, Buzz and Michael break down everything about acting and emoting on vertical film sets. Sponsor: AEIRO AEIRO Air Purifiers ident...

Description What does it really take to direct vertical films? In Episode 2 of The Vertical Buzz, host Buzz Leer sits down with Amber Neukum, LA-based director/writer/producer and a driving force behind Juice Box Films, to break down the pace, platform rules, and on-set realities of directing in the vertical space. From shooting 10 pages a day (and sometimes far more) to navigating coverage formul...

Description What is a vertical film? In the premiere episode of The Vertical Buzz, Buzz Leer sits down with Angela Liu (Head of Production at FlareFlow) to explain the rise of vertical dramas / micro-dramas and how mobile-first storytelling is changing the industry. In this episode: Defining vertical films and micro-dramas Where the format came from and why it’s booming Key production realities (f...

A glimpse into the world of Vertical Film with Buzz Leer and guest Angela Liu