C21
As featured in C21 International’s Fall 2025 issue, Monika Dalman was profiled in the “Ahead of the Curve” feature on microdramas.
The piece highlights how vertical microdramas have evolved from experimental indie content to a format now attracting serious network interest.
Monika emphasized the format’s potential as a testing ground for new talent, fresh storylines, and audience engagement strategies, all within a professional, filmmaker-led production environment.
This article helps educate the industry at large that verticals are no longer niche; they’re the next frontier.
Business Insider
As featured in an Oct 2025 Business Insider article, Alicia Read was highlighted for her pioneering role in vertical microdramas.
The article underscores how she’s leveraging over twenty years of luxury-brand and executive experience to bring brand management into this creative space. It describes her dual role - on set as a performer and behind the scenes as producer - and how she moves fluidly between both modes.
It also frames vertical microdramas as more than short-form novelties. These series are becoming a sustainable “affordable, scalable future of entertainment”: ways to keep actors working, crews employed, and storytelling alive amid industry disruptions. This piece helps position vertical microdramas not as a fringe experiment, but a serious, professional medium: a new entertainment frontier that combines agility, reach, and creative economy.
CMF Now & Next
As featured in the CMF Now & Next article “Verticals on the Rise” (Oct 2025), Monika Dalman was highlighted for her leadership in shaping the emerging vertical production landscape.
The piece credits her with co-founding the Vertical Film & Short Series Alliance (VFSSA) in June 2025 to support fair, safe, and professional practices across the fast-growing vertical microdrama industry. It describes the VFSSA’s launch of the “V Seal”: a forthcoming certification to identify productions that meet professional standards for crew, talent, and compliance.
Through the VFSSA, Dalman has become a key advocate for education and ethical standards in vertical filmmaking, helping to formalize what was once a fringe space into a credible, organized production ecosystem.
