China pioneered the microdrama industry as we know it, with the duanju format exploding in popularity during the pandemic. So when AI-generated verticals began flooding the Chinese market and reports emerged that production workers were scared for their jobs, it was an ominous sign for the burgeoning industry in the U.S.

Now, it's become clear that companies serving the American market are very much testing the appeal of these bite-sized, AI-generated stories. Not every firm is going the route of My Muse or Inkitt Ironblood, apps that exclusively release AI verticals, often fantasy, period and action stories that would require some serious budgets if they were filmed in live action. But some major players, including DramaBox, DramaWave and FlareFlow, have increasingly been embracing synthetic actors and settings and showering their apps with prompt-generated, sometimes uncanny fare, no human actors required.

For entertainment workers in the Los Angeles area, that shift has come with consequences. In the wake of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, verticals became a lifeline for cast and crew as traditional jobs evaporated. Now, L.A.-based microdrama workers tell The Hollywood Reporter that jobs in the once-reliable industry have become scarcer, while unscrupulous use of the tech on the work of creatives is on the rise.

It's a tough pill to swallow for an underemployed Hollywood workforce that once saw the field as a job-saver.  People who've been working full-time in this space for years are going back to their day jobs, going home, and that's cast, crew, producers,  says Candace Mizga, an actor in the vertical space and co-founder of the microdrama platform Chera TV, which does not use AI.  It has been a huge, huge jump, especially this past couple of months. It's been pretty wild to see. 

It will come as no surprise that AI microdramas can individually be made cheaper, faster and with fewer workers. While budgets for live-action microdramas tend to fall in the $100,000 to $300,000 range, pro-looking, feature-length AI microdramas can cost $60,000 to $100,000, according to AI verticals produ

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