MACRO and MANSA Are Developing Vertical Series Together. What Will They Actually Make?
Updated: Oct 9
MACRO Television Studios and MANSA Studios announced in late September that they are working together on vertical entertainment. It is easy to turn a partnership announcement into a headline about an inevitable hit. There is no title, cast or release date in MACRO's public announcement yet. The actual news is that two companies with established screen ambitions are treating phone-first scripted storytelling as something worth developing together.
That alone makes the deal interesting to a writer. The practical question is not whether a recognizable studio can shoot in 9:16. Of course it can. The question is whether its development process makes room for the part of vertical drama that is hardest to fake: a story that changes every episode, visual information that reads on a phone, and enough emotional payoff that the cliffhanger feels earned.
What the companies have said
MACRO says its collaboration with MANSA will explore what premium storytelling can look like in vertical entertainment and create opportunities for its creative community. MANSA has also publicly described the partnership as developing, financing and producing vertical series. The announcement does not identify a finished show or a job opening, so anyone circulating a title, casting call or application deadline should be checked against the companies' own channels.
MACRO brings television development experience. MANSA has been building a platform and production work around culturally specific stories for mobile audiences. Put together, those strengths suggest a potentially interesting experiment: can a vertical series be built with both the pace needed for small screens and the depth that makes viewers care about its characters beyond a single twist?
The part that matters to creators
A new partnership does not automatically mean more paid writing work next week. Development can take time, and many announced projects never reach a screen. It does show where decision makers are looking. When studios ask for vertical ideas, a writer who arrives with a conventional pilot cut into tiny pieces will miss the point. The pitch needs a central relationship, a repeatable conflict, several clear episode turns and a production plan that can survive the schedule and budget.
I would also want to know who owns the underlying story. “We will develop it together” can mean very different things depending on whether a writer created the IP, is adapting somebody else's material, or is hired for a fee to write episodes. Credit, revisions, rights and payment should be discussed while everyone still likes the project. They become harder conversations after a pitch has turned into weeks of free rewriting.
What to watch next
The first concrete signs will be a named series, a team, distribution details and an actual release. Until then, the honest headline is a partnership, not a hit. If the resulting work is strong, it could broaden the idea of which stories belong in this format. If it looks like television footage cropped for a phone, the audience will notice that too.
Sources:MACRO's announcement;MANSA's announcement.
Thinking of entering vertical drama?
It is not too late to start. The format is still being shaped by the people making it. If you want to understand the writing, pitching, production and business side, browse myVertical Drama articles. Start with the practical guides, then come back to the news as the industry changes.
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Viola Musaraj is a writer, novelist, micro and vertical drama producer, and interactive narrative designer with more than 140 million reads worldwide.
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