Hollywood reinvents itself — Don Benjamin bets big on tiny dramas

By Stephen Witt, Los Angeles County Politics

While elected officials from Sacramento to Los Angeles City Hall scramble to keep film and television production from fleeing the state, actor and entrepreneur Don Benjamin is betting that the next chapter of the entertainment capital’s story will be written one minute at a time — and shot right here.

Last month, Benjamin launched Dramatik, a Los Angeles-based vertical micro-drama streaming platform positioned as one of the first Black- and Latino-led companies in the fastest-growing format in global entertainment. The launch offers a counterpoint to the doomsaying about Hollywood’s decline: a new mobile-first industry is taking root even as traditional studio production contracts.

“We are shooting in LA, employing LA production teams and talent,” Benjamin told Los Angeles County Politics. “We’re keeping everything home base for the most part, other than a department we have in Miami as well.”

Benjamin, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles entertainment scene who most recently starred in the film HIM, founded Dramatik alongside three of the creator economy’s biggest names: DeStorm Power, the Wild ‘N Out star and digital content pioneer who helped launch the subscription streaming platform Zeus Network; Antonio Ramos, the Miami-based comedian known professionally as Tonio Skits and one of the original architects of Latin social media comedy; and Cristian Gutierrez, known as Concrete, whose following in the Mexican-American community numbers in the millions. Together, the four bring a combined social audience of more than 50 million followers. 

The venture began when Benjamin was approached to act in vertical micro-dramas and noticed that most parts offered to Black and Latino actors in the format were secondary. “Most of the roles that were given to Black or Latino actors in this vertical space were all just co-star roles,” he said. “It wasn’t a lead role in a project.” It was Power who pushed the group from acting in the format to owning a piece of it.

For readers still asking what exactly a vertical is: micro-dramas are serialized shows shot in portrait orientation — no turning the phone sideways — and chopped into roughly one-minute episodes engineered to end on cliffhangers. The format exploded first in China and is now sweeping the United States.

The Wall Street Journal reported in October that the global vertical-video market is estimated at $8 billion, with research firm Media Partners Asia forecasting annual micro-drama revenue of more than $25 billion worldwide by 2030. Hollywood heavyweights from Fox Entertainment to former Miramax chief executive Bill Block have rushed into the space in recent months, and SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, recently released a contract covering short-form productions budgeted under $300,000 — union recognition that the format is now a genuine source of Los Angeles jobs.

Dramatik launched with 12 original series, leaning toward romance, drama and thrillers. The app is free to download on the App Store and Google Play, with the first few episodes of each series free; viewers then buy coins to unlock episodes or, with a monthly subscription, bypass the coin system. Outside creators can pitch series through the company, which offers revenue-sharing deals.

“We’re telling stories that can relate to everybody, but we’re letting Black and Latino actors lead these series,” Benjamin said, noting the casts also include Asian, Filipino, and white actors.

The politics of the moment are not lost on him. California more than doubled its film and television tax credit cap to $750 million last July, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has rolled out discounted parking for production vehicles at more than 100 city lots — all in a bid to reverse a production exodus that has alarmed officials at every level of government.

“I moved to LA to be an actor, but the majority of the roles that I book as an actor are shooting in other states,” Benjamin said. “California has to get more competitive if they want more people to stick around and film here.”

In the meantime, he is building his audience where it already lives. “The whole goal here is to give people some content that’s easily digestible,” Benjamin said.

Consumers can download Dramatik free on the App Store and Google Play. Creators and producers can reach the company through @dramatikapp on Instagram and TikTok, or at dramatikapp.com.