Tribeca and TikTok vets built vertical a festival

Vertical drama has had markets, conference panels and festival sidebars. As of May 27, it also has its own dedicated US festival, and the address is New York.

Alza Festival was unveiled through Deadline on May 27 as the first premium US festival dedicated to microdrama and vertical storytelling, with vertical video series premieres, creator spotlights, live conversations and immersive brand activations on the bill. The fest debuts in New York in fall 2026, venue and lineup still under wraps, with the founders openly flagging that they could expand to other markets after the first edition lands.

The bench is fully credentialed. Pete Torres, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Tribeca, is founder. Rita Vinnik, former creator initiatives lead at TikTok, runs Content and Creator Strategy. Former Tribeca Festival Vice President of Development Katie Korfhage is COO of Torres Live, the events platform producing Alza. Tribeca's bench, TikTok's algorithm, pointed at a format Deadline now pegs at USD 20B to USD 30B in annual global revenues by 2030.

Torres put the pitch plainly. "Alza is where creators move from algorithms to audiences, and where brands can participate in culture in a more meaningful way." Vinnik added that Alza will give creators "who have made mobile their canvas a first IRL stage."

Sources: Deadline EXCLUSIVE · Yahoo Entertainment

There is more underneath the lead, US column up first.

1. Sunset Studios just opened a Hollywood lot full of microdrama-ready standing sets. Sunset Studios unveiled a new group of premium standing sets at its Sunset Las Palmas Studios lot in Hollywood on May 27, built in partnership with vertical media outfit Knockout Shorts (co-founders Matthew Ko and Chris Crema) and aimed squarely at microdrama productions. The 8,000-square-foot soundstage carries a pre-lit grid plus built-out courtroom, apartment, bar, restaurant, hospital and office sets, most repurposed from previous major studio productions. Knockout is currently shooting one of the first series on the lot under the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) Verticals Agreement. Walk on, shoot today, no permit needed, that is the pitch. → Deadline

2. A USD 2K artificial intelligence film just landed a Tribeca premiere date. Tribeca added Dreams of Violets to its June 10 lineup, a 95-minute feature-length narrative produced entirely with generative artificial intelligence (AI) by Iranian-born brothers Ash and Pooya Koosha, founders of new AI prodco Fountain O, with former National Broadcasting Company (NBC) chief Tom Rogers serving as executive chairman and executive producer. Ash Koosha told Deadline the film took about two months and roughly USD 2K to make, and Fountain O has two more films in the pipeline plus an open invite to top writer and director talent. Two months, USD 2K, a 95-minute feature, and Koosha is openly framing the model as the answer for "the many independent filmmakers... whose biggest barrier is access to money to make their films." The cost math just walked itself onto a Tribeca screen. → Deadline

3. SAG-AFTRA just put two USD 5K prizes on the table for short-form work. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation relaunched its Shorts Showcase this month with City National Bank as presenting sponsor and two new USD 5K grand prizes, one for Excellence in Performance and one for Excellence in Creativity, the latter specifically reserved for shorts produced under the SAG-AFTRA Micro-Budget Agreement (productions under USD 20K). All projects must have been made under a SAG-AFTRA contract and completed between January 1, 2025 and June 22, 2026, with submissions open through June 22 and the bi-coastal showcase running in September. Verticals Agreement is its own paper, but for any crew that has already shot something under the SAG-AFTRA Micro-Budget Agreement, that is now a paid stage with two USD 5K trophies waiting at the end of it. → Television Asia Plus

1. Spain put vertical and artificial intelligence on trial, literally. The Conecta Magaluf-Mallorca content market, which ran May 25 to 28 at the Meliá Calvià Beach Hotel for its tenth edition, staged a mock trial on May 27 titled "AI and Vertical Microdramas on Trial," led by Omdia analyst María Rua Aguete, with the audience cast as both jury and interested party. The setup asked whether microdramas mark a natural shift in viewing habits or a break with traditional media models, paired with a hands-on May 26 workshop where Spanish creator Paco Torres produced a full vertical-series episode live in front of the room using only AI tools. Variety calls the mock trial "the program's potentially most significant debate" inside an edition that director Géraldine Gonard says runs more than 40 activities and nearly 100 speakers. Vertical's AI argument is officially in the marquee slot now. → Variety

2. Rio2C just gave vertical its own programmed hour at Latin America's biggest content meet. Rio2C, the largest creative business gathering in Latin America (running May 27 to 31 in Rio de Janeiro), added a panel titled "New Ways of Telling: Fast and Vertical Narratives," with Thiago Teitelroit, Head of Content and Development at Brazil's incoming microdrama platform Tele Tele, on the speaker bill. Brazil's vertical scene is no longer an aside, it has a Globo microdrama (Quando o Coração Entra em Campo, 50 episodes, August launch via Estúdios Globo), Tele Tele's app debut in June, and its own programmed panel at Rio2C this weekend. Three real beats, one quarter. → Variety

3. Shanghai built a curated micro-drama incubator with a theatrical-film exit at the top end. The Shanghai TV Festival (STVF) and Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) are running the 2026 Multiverse Micro-Drama Project together with ByteDance-owned Fanqie Novel. Per the SIFF/STVF regulations, projects must adapt original IPs from Fanqie Novel (live-action, 2D/3D animation or AI-generated content all qualify); selected projects are invited as official guests to the SIFF/STVF International Film and TV Market in June, with trailer screenings and pitch slots; and works that hit S+ tier in annual viewership are eligible to be developed into theatrical films by Fanqie Novel, with Dreamina AI on as exclusive AI technology partner. Hit S+ tier and Fanqie Novel will turn your microdrama into a theatrical feature, that is the carrot Shanghai just hung at the end of the swipe. → SIFF

Actress, producer and Vertical Film & Short Series Alliance co-founder Alicia Read sits down on Inside Vertical Short Dramas, hosted by Short Drama Alliance founder Maggie Han, to discuss the physical and emotional demands female microdrama leads face on set, including crying, screaming, fighting, stunts and emotional trauma under extremely fast shooting schedules. → Listen on Spotify

The format just minted its own carpet, walk it like it was built for you.

Until tomorrow. Stay Vertical.