Google is making microdramas

YouTube doesn’t do much (if any) original content production these days, but that isn’t stopping parent Google from getting into an uber-trendy format through another of its arms.

If you haven’t heard of 100 Zeros, you’re probably not alone. It’s a production company Google quietly launched in May of last year. Born of a partnership between Goog and talent management firm/production studio Range Media Partners–which had a hand in Osgood Perkins‘ much-talked-about Longlegs–100 Zeros aims to make both scripted and unscripted films and TV shows.

But it wants to do more than that. Per Business Insider, one of the ultimate goals with 100 Zeros is to get more creatives using Google’s tech products (including its increasingly dogged push into generative AI), and get more young people thinking those same products are #cool.

Riding that coolness wave, 100 Zeros’ latest project is a slate of microdramas with big talent attached.

Google and Range Media Partners have agreed to produce “dozens of projects” in the bite-size category, Variety reports, including series from American Idol‘s Simon Fuller, Charlie’s Angels director McG, Saturday Night Live‘s Kenan Thompson, and The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss.

• Fleiss is putting out Dateable, a self-shot reality romance show
• McG is doing Newport Beach
  , an Orange County-set drama
• Fuller’s project will focus on youth culture and breakout talent
• and Thompson, with longtime creative partner John Ryan Jr. and their co-founded production studio Artists for Artists, will make a 90s-inspired kidnapping comedy/drama

Per Variety, 100 Zeros plans to support these shows with financial, production, distribution, and monetization infrastructure.

Obviously, with Google involved, signs point to these shows probably releasing on YouTube Shorts, but there’s no official confirmation of that yet. All we know is that 100 Zeros plans to publish them across a number of platforms, but (of course) will offer exclusive first looks on the Google TV mobile app on Android phones.

Are we surprised Google is going for microdramas? Not at all. It knows exactly how much attention short-form content is eating up, and wants to capitalize on media consumers having shorter attention spans.

Do we think this will go well? Maybe! But Quibi tried the ultra-produced short-form thing before and it did not go well, while millions of creators make their livings filming lo-fi, heartfelt videos and do just fine. Can Google–and the other Hollywood moguls, tech giants, and brands trying to cram themselves into this latest trend–compete?

We’ll see.