The Vertical Reach Podcast

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, P

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 h

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/48dd3

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

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 reshapin

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 Celesti

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

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 Showrunn

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

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

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

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 ques

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

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: Build

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 wo

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 a

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&apo

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 sher

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 Pre

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 ye