Hidden Legacy Goes Vertical: ReelShort

Art by Luisa Preissler We are delighted to announce a partnership with ReelShort, who has optioned the first three books in the Hidden Legacy series. The Nevada trilogy is coming to a very small screen. What is ReelShort? ReelShort is a platform that produces video designed to be viewed on your phone or tablet. The episodes are short, usually 1-2 minutes each, but there will be a lot of them, about 60-80 per book. This format is often called vertical drama, because you swipe up on the phone to get to the next episode. ReelShort is based in Silicon Valley with production hubs in LA, Atlanta, and New York. We are very excited about this development. We do not have a date for you at this point, so more to come. A small warning: screen adaptations often fall apart before ever getting released. We are, however, optimistic, because ReelShort reached out to us, and they seem to be very enthusiastic about this project. We expect this to be completely over the top in the most hilarious of ways. AI usage ReelShort is a wide platform. They produce their own content but they also license existing content from other markets. Some of these licensed dramas are AI. We have it in writing that ReelShort will be hiring all HUMAN talent for this production. Meaning no AI actors will be used for human roles in this adaptation. Explanation of AI usage and Ilona Andrews, Inc. stance Everything that follows in this section is our opinion and views and does not reflect ReelShort’s policies. Vertical dramas are very popular in China. It is a $15 billion dollar market. According to China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) and the China Netcasting Services Association, over 90% of recently released vertical micro-dramas rely heavily on generative AI. Here is a Youtube video from Today. This is Xu Peng, one of the talented Chinese actors who has now retired from acting at the age of 30. Image from iQiyi His roles dried up because China shifted to AI in a microdrama market. You can read the full article at CNA Lifestyle. He now sells vegetables, which is a great job as well, but that is not why he went to an acting college. We do not want to see it happen in US. Kid 2’s friend is an actress, who is currently in LA, and she says that a lot of studios drastically scaled back the number of projects. There are fewer and fewer roles available already. For these reasons, we strongly insisted on no AI replacement of human actors. Why the distinction of human? We have to be realistic. AI is horrible for environment, but right now it is a relatively inexpensive way to generate special effects. One instance where it can be used to a good effect is in potentially dangerous scenes featuring animals. We are not going to link it here, but one of the Soviet era films has a scene that deeply scarred Ilona as a child. The film was released in 1966, and in it, a horse attempts to walk down the stairs, falls, and breaks her leg. They left it in. We do not oppose the use of AI for scenes where animals could be potentially injured. The post Hidden Legacy Goes Vertical: ReelShort first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.