What if Quibi, with AI? MicroCo thinks it can be Hollywood’s minidrama king for cheap

We just said it last week: Quibi had all the components to make bite-sized premium content the next big thing in entertainment. Its elevator pitch was on point: celebrity- and creator-led narratives delivered in Hollywood-polished vertical format, designed for people to watch on the go. And even as Quibi failed, TikTok took off. It was a case of short-form ships passing in the night–except one of those ships paid $100,000/minute to produce its shows, and was waterlogged by a fatal lack of audience preferences.

MicroCo thinks it can do things better…by using AI.

A venture co-launched by Terrifier distributor Cineverse and former ABC, Yahoo, and WME exec Lloyd Braun‘s venture firm Banyan, MicroCo is going all-in on vertical short-form. It’s betting its success on a few key factors, including the aforementioned AI, which it says is essential for keeping production costs low. (“We will make entire shows for what Quibi spent on limos,” Erick Opeka, Cineverse’s President and Chief Strategy Officer, quipped on LinkedIn.)

Braun told The New York Times he and his MicroCo partners see minidramas as “an emerging global format with no clear leader here in the U.S.”

We’re not sure that’s accurate. ReelShort, operated by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Crazy Maple Studios, has successfully amassed an audience of over 10 million viewers with its romance minidramas, which it promotes on TikTok and YouTube. In 2023, it produced one of the most popular minidramas across both platforms, The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband. There’s also My Drama, which distributes minidramas from U.S.-based studios like Second Rodeo Productions.

ReelShort’s productions are clearly inspired by Asian minidramas, which also tend to be romances, and have become multibillion-dollar businesses by appealing to viewers of long-form C-dramas and K-dramas, and by capitalizing on the short-form boom.

MicroCo’s aim is to do the same thing here, translating the vibe and appeal of American shows into minidramas. Its Chief Creative Officer is former Warner Bros. exec Susan Rovner, who oversaw development of Ted Lasso, Gossip Girl, The Flash, and more.

Opeka told the Times that MicroCo thinks its content will be “more refined” than other minidrama companies’, and that it can build a viewer experience that is “more consistent with the entertainment experiences Americans are accustomed to.”

That experience includes cliffhanger-heavy episodes, with a formula where each installment will have plot tension with 3 seconds, and a dramatic hook within 23 seconds, MicroCo CEO Jana Winograde said.

While the vast majority of genre TV adheres to certain formulaic elements, the mention of a to-the-second, formulaic timeline combined with generative artificial intelligence is likely to set some people–both creatives and viewers–on edge.

MicroCo didn’t say exactly how it plans to use AI in its production process, but Braun’s Banyan VC has also backed Intelligent Animation, which uses a so-called “AI-assisted” animation process to make videos for around $1,500 a minute.

“With today’s technology, we can tell quality stories at an exceptionally attractive cost,” Braun said.

“Everything will have a human touch, but technology is going where it’s going, and we hope to use it in the best way possible to scale our business and do great storytelling at a reasonable cost,” Winograde added.

Cineverse is currently building the MicroCo app, using the work of over 100 engineers in India.