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The Vertical Reach Podcast
Hosted by Pauline Gray, an award-winning screenwriter and narrative strategist with over thirty years in commercial production, this podcast brings together the creators, innovators, and visionaries shaping the future of vertical film and microdrama.
As a Marshall Scholar with dual master's degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Bristol's Film & Television program, Pauline brings both academic depth and industry insight to every conversation. Through her studio, Pauline Gray Studios, she has championed vertical storytelling as a powerful medium for brands, streaming platforms, and cultural institutions — proving that short-form content can deliver cinematic precision and emotional intelligence.
Each week, Pauline sits down with directors, writers, producers, platform executives, and creative leaders who are redefining how stories are told in a swipe-up world. Together, they explore the craft, strategy, and future of vertical content — from the creative process behind compelling microdramas to the business of building audiences in the mobile-first era.
Whether you're a filmmaker looking to expand into vertical formats, a brand seeking to understand the power of short-form narrative, or a storytelling enthusiast curious about where the industry is headed, The Vertical Reach Podcast offers the insights, inspiration, and connections you need.
Because great stories deserve to reach everyone — one vertical frame at a time.
Episodes
26 episodes
Episode 27: Mysti Cozart Smith: Building Faith & Family Films Her Way
What do you do when someone offers you $2 million to change what your story stands for?Mysti Cozart Smith walked away.In this episode of The Vertical Reach Podcast, Pauline Gray sits down with the award-winning writer, producer, d...
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Episode 26. Pankaj Uniyal: What the Data Really Says About Vertical Dramas
What does "data" actually mean in the world of vertical dramas, and how do the apps behind these short, addictive video dramas decide what to make, where to launch, and how to get paid?Pankaj Uniyal is the Business Development Lead for I...
Episode 25. Dana Protsyshak: From a 15-Person Mixer to LA's Vertical Drama Market
Heading to LA this November? LAVDM 3.0, the LA Vertical Drama Market, runs November 5 to 7, 2026 in Los Angeles. Get your tickets here: https://ticketbud.com/events/48d...
Episode 24. Jen Parkhill: Poolboy & Breaking the Mold as a Queer Vertical Director
From swinging a dolly on theater sets to directing some of the biggest vertical dramas on ReelShort — Jen Parkhill's path into this industry wasn't planned. It just took off.In this episode, award-winning filmmaker Jen Parkhill (JP, they...
Episode 23: Chris Wicke on Ember: 22 Films, 2 Billion Views, and AI's Shake-Up
Chris Wicke, founder and CEO of vertical drama studio Ember, joins The Vertical Reach Podcast to talk about vertical drama, micro drama, and how generative AI is reshaping the vertical storytelling industry almost overnight. Chris built Ember f...
Episode 22. Grace Gao's Permission Slip: Risk, Persistence & the Rise of Micro Drama
Grace Gao graduated film school the same day a major industry strike was announced. Two years later, she runs her own studio.In this episode, Grace — founder of Celestine Pictures — talks about what it was like to watch her career stall...
Episode 21. Scott Di Lalla | From Chopper Town to Vertical Drama's Front Lines
What does it actually take to shoot 15–20 pages a day?Scott Di Lalla started out making backyard documentaries, directed a Super 8 horror thriller, and spent years as a reality TV camera operator — then walked into vertical micro-drama p...
Episode 20: Married on Set: Quinn & Morgan Gardner on Building Verticals Together
What does it look like when a husband-and-wife team runs a set together — and runs a household together, too?Quinn and Morgan Gardner are that team. Quinn is a Showrunner and Director ("Bound by Blood"), a Producer and 1st AD (PocketFM's...
Episode 19. From Disney Sets to Vertical Empire: Austin Herring's Snow Story
What happens when the biggest brands in the world hand you their playbook — and then you take it somewhere they never expected?Austin Herring did. As CEO of Snow Story Productions, the largest vertical-focused production company in North...
Episode 18. Charismatic AI's Guy Gadney on the Future of Story in the AI Age
What happens when the biggest technology shift in history collides with the way we tell stories?Guy Gadney has spent his career at that intersection. He's the CEO and Founder of Charismatic.ai, a company at the forefront of Creative AI f...
Episode 17. Why Vertical Dramas Need More Chick Flicks
What does insurance and risk management have to do with producing hit vertical dramas? More than you'd think.Maryna Bogdan spent nearly a decade in insurance while writing scripts and shooting short films on nights, weekends, and vacatio...
Ep 16. AI, Brands & the Future of Vertical Drama: Bethany Thomson
What happens when the person integrating AI into an industry is also the person most worried about what it might replace?Bethany Thomson has been sitting with that question all year. As Creative Lead at Sea Star Productions, she's spent...
Episode 15. Vete Para La Calle: Angelina Barbieri's Vertical Hustle
Angelina Barbieri is a first-generation Latin American actress with a career spanning film, TV, and comedy, including Transporter 2, HBO's Ballers, NCIS: Los Angeles, Anger Management, NBC's The Night Shi...
Episode 14. Doug Vermeeren: Building the Cannes of Vertical Drama in Las Vegas
Here are the clean Buzzsprout show notes (matching the standard template format, with guest links kept as their own section rather than folded in):Doug Vermeeren: Building the Cannes of Vertical Drama in Las VegasWhat happe...
Episode 13. The Vertical Reach: How One Writer Moved UpUntitled Episode
Jessica Burkhart went from publishing 30 novels to writing full-time verticals in a year. She shares her pivot from books to games to screenwriting, how she learned to work within tight budgets, and why moving vertically—not horizontally—change...
Episode 12. From Shanghai to the Screen: Inside the Vertical Drama World the West Is Just Discovering
What does it look like to be inside a revolution before the rest of the world catches on?Daniel D. Newman found out — not by accident, but by spending 15 years living and working in China, where he watched vertical drama go from a niche ...
Episode 11. The Writer Is King: Adrion Trujillo on Who Really Runs Vertical Drama
What if the most important person in vertical drama is the one no one's putting in the credits?Adrion Trujillo would argue that's exactly the case — and he'd know. An award-winning writer, Adrion has shaped standout series and format-defini...
Episode 10. Kyle Maddox on Why the Police Genre Is Vertical Drama's Untapped Frontier
What happens when the cop arresting the actors becomes one?That's the story Kyle Maddox tells on this episode of The Vertical Reach Podcast. While working as a sheriff's deputy in southern Utah, Kyle spent a night on shift — in uniform, rea...
Episode 9. Paige Compton: From the White House to Vertical Drama
Before she became one of the most in-demand directors in vertical comedy, Paige Compton spent the final four years of her US Army service as Audio Visual Director for President Barack Obama. In this episode, she traces an unlikely path — runnin...
Episode 8. The Most Interesting Pivot: Thom Woodley on Verticals
He wrote the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign. Now he's one of the most interesting people writing verticals.Thom Woodley has spent twenty years showing up early — to scripted web series, to interactive mobile, to ...
Episode 6. 20 Pages a Day: Inside London's Vertical Drama Boom
What does it take to direct a feature film's worth of pages in a single day?Thalia Kent-Egan would know. As one of London's earliest directors in the vertical drama space, she's been shooting at breakneck speeds since the format began b...
Episode 5. The Indie Trailblazer Rewriting Vertical Drama's Rules
Carin Smolinski didn't wait for permission. She self-funded, wrote, directed, and produced Tides of Desire, a 50-episode vertical series shot on location in Costa Rica — making her one of the few women in the world independently bringin...
Episode 4. From Fan to Industry Voice: The Rise of Vertical Drama Love
What does it take to become the go-to voice for an entire industry — right as the rest of the world is just catching on?Jen Cooper found out. What started as writing reviews over Christmas break has grown into Vertical Drama Love — a pl...
Episode 3. The Psychology of Vertical Storytelling with Rachel Zilberg
What do psychology, video games, and vertical dramas have in common? Rachel Zilberg.Rachel is the Lead Writer at Shorts, where she develops and oversees original vertical drama series with a global team based across the US and France. B...
Episode 2. Kristen Brancaccio on Why Verticals Are Hollywood's New Playground
What happens when a filmmaker stops waiting for Hollywood to call—and builds her own lane on a phone screen?Kristen Brancaccio found out. In just 18 months, she's directed 19+ vertical micro dramas, landed the #1 show on Shorts for all ...