TikTok and Sundance team up for microseries writing program

Search traffic, restaurant discovery, travel booking, fintech . . . What isn’t TikTok into?

Add another one onto the pile: The king of UGC short-form is now planting itself firmly in the world of scripted microseries.

Following a partnership earlier this year that focused on TikTok’s influence in film fandom, the app and Sundance Institute this week announced they’re offering a microseries writing program. The program comes through Sundance Collab, the Institute’s digital learning and community platform.

This partnership also follows up on TikTok’s partnership with Issa Rae‘s production company HOORAE, where the duo will co-produce a number of free-to-watch microseries that’ll debut on TikTok and microdrama app PineDrama. The first microseries from HOORAE, Screen Time, debuted last month and snagged 75 million views in its first week

What will this program look like? It’s a four-week, live online writing course designed for TikTok creators and other creatives that zeroes in on scriptwriting essentials and development, specifically for episodic installments of 60 to 120 seconds. In a company blog post, TikTok explained folks who attend will be equipped with “the tools, frameworks, and industry guidance to develop serialized, story-driven content.”

Writers have to pass through an application process to be accepted, and the landing page for that process offers a more specific list of what benefits they’ll glean. According to Sundance, participants will:

• “decode the micro-series landscape, formatting rules, and emerging industry opportunities.
• explore how to bend traditional genres and inject your unique, original voice into the constraints of short-form storytelling.
• learn how your existing film or TV screenwriting skills seamlessly translate into short-form storytelling.
• discover how to create high-stakes character profiles that audiences bond with instantly.
• develop, write, and refine a high-impact first episode designed to capture immediate attention.
• [and] craft your logline and compelling pitch to move your series forward.”

TikTok said the program–and its partnership with Sundance–“reflects [our] continued investment in micro-series storytelling while aligning with Sundance Collab’s mission to support the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences.”

Dawn Yang, TikTok’s Head of Entertainment Partnerships, added, “TikTok has become a home for serialized storytelling, where original micro-series find audiences faster and more authentically than ever before. Following the success of Screen Time, produced by HOORAE Digital, we’ve seen how powerful community-driven discovery can be in helping stories break through, and we’re excited to partner with Sundance Collab in continuing to champion original voices.”

It’s not clear if folks who go through this program might get access to work with TikTok on production and/or distribution of microseries, but considering TikTok has made moves to be a distributor and promoter in the music space, we wouldn’t at all be surprised if it’s trying to get in early and lock down budding microseries talent before other platforms can.