The Vertical Reach Podcast

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 sh...

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. Tod...

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 dir...

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 E...

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 wo...

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 rul...

What does it take to become the go-to voice for an entire industry — right as the rest of the world is just catching on? Jen Cooper found out. What started as writing reviews over Christmas break has grown into Vertical Drama Love — a platform that now includes a website, YouTube channel, international fan awards with over 16,000 votes from around the world, and VertFest, a full online festival br...

What do psychology, video games, and vertical dramas have in common? Rachel Zilberg. Rachel is the Lead Writer at Shorts, where she develops and oversees original vertical drama series with a global team based across the US and France. But her path to becoming one of the format's most prolific voices started somewhere unexpected — a college psychology lab and a job fair that led her into narr...

What happens when a filmmaker stops waiting for Hollywood to call—and builds her own lane on a phone screen? Kristen Brancaccio found out. In just 18 months, she's directed 19+ vertical micro dramas, landed the #1 show on Shorts for all of 2025 with Surrender to My Ex's Dad, and built a reputation as one of the most in-demand directors in the space. In this episode, Kristen breaks down h...

Dana Protsyshak is the founder of Dana Productions, the LA Vertical Drama Market, and Vert-I-Go Media, and co-founder of the International Academy of Vertical Arts, introducing the Apollo Awards — the inaugural industry awards dedicated exclusively to vertical storytelling. With 30+ vertical projects across writing, development, and production, Dana is one of the leading voices shaping vertical dr...