Dhar Mann is getting into microdramas.
His production company has signed a multiyear deal with Fox Entertainment that’ll have Dhar Mann Studios producing 40 “narrative-driven” vertical titles for My Drama, the microdrama app owned by Ukraine-based tech firm Holywater.
Holywater, as you may know, sealed its own deal with Fox this past October. Fox invested an undisclosed amount of cash to take an equity stake in the firm, plus agreed to create and produce an “ongoing” slate of more than 200 microdrama titles for debut on My Drama. This set of titles seems to be part of that slate.
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The content Dhar Mann Studios creates for this deal will have an exclusivity window on My Drama and on distribution platforms owned by Fox Entertainment Global. It’s not clear if the shows will later come to platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, where Dhar Mann collectively has over 160 million followers, but Variety did report that his agreement with Fox includes provisions that give Dhar Mann “ownership and creative independence over his original content.”
The 40-program slate will be led by Erin McFarlane, whom Dhar Mann Studios recently tagged in as Head of Vertical Content. Per Variety, McFarlane is an experienced producer, showrunner, and development executive who previously led programming development/production for vertical video platform SaltyTV.
“Dhar Mann’s inspiring, undeniable storytelling excellence and passionate audience have made him one of the most powerful and consequential voices in entertainment today,” Rob Wade, Fox Entertainment’s CEO, said in a statement. “As leading partners to creators exploring this growing ecosystem, we’re primed to expand Dhar Mann Studios’ reach by super-serving his new and existing fans everywhere with this all-new, original vertical content.”
While the content may be “all-new” and this may be his first formal deal in the vertical space, Dhar Mann is far from new to vertical as a media form. He has 18 million followers on TikTok alone and has posted hundreds of short-form clips there and across YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
Anyone familiar with Dhar Mann’s didactic social content will likely see this deal as an obvious move. His main fare–the stuff that brings in over 200 million views a month on YouTube alone–is arguably macrodramas, with titles like JEALOUS TWIN Destroys Her Sister’s Looks, Billionaire Family Jet STRANDED ON CHRISTMAS, and Poor Girl Is SHAMED For FAKE BAGS By Rich Girl.
Just like in microdramas, plots in Dhar Mann videos are fast-paced, with exaggerated scenarios and cliffhangers from clip to clip, designed to keep viewers watching. There’s also always an obvious villain who gets put in their place by the moral main character(s), something that will probably translate well for the sect of microdrama viewers who want neatly sewn up stories with happy endings.
There’s another angle to this: That Fox, instead of tapping traditional Hollywood for its Holywater slate, is going creator-first. It’s the smart move. Over the past five years, creators made short-form, shaped its visual language and style, and now dominate across every platform with their unscripted vertical. (We saw how well scripted vertical worked out when it was run by Hollywood execs.)
Will creators’ scripted vertical catch on as strongly? That remains to be seen–but lots of people are betting the answer is yes.
