New WWE Entertainment Partnership Announced

WWE

Three WWE stars have been named as being involved in a new live-action drama venture which promises a “new storytelling experience”.

WWE has partnered with ReelShort, according to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, with vertical microdrama at the heart of the arrangement.

‘Vertical microdrama’ describes content produced in short form, typically under three minutes in length, in a 9:16 format, as opposed to the more familiar landscape format one would see on television or the cinema screen.

According to the report, Drew McIntyre, Joe Hendry and Jacob Fatu have been attached the project, with “others promised to materialize in the drama as well.”

The WWE stars will feature alongside “two well-known vertical actors”, although there is little in the way of details as to what the story being told will entail.

Speaking on the collaboration, WWE head of original content and development Ben Houser stated:

“By bringing WWE Superstars into the ReelShort cinematic world, we are creating a new storytelling experience for the WWE Universe, while reaching a fresh audience with premium content on ReelShort’s innovative platform.”

Filming will take place next month with the drama currently set for its premiere in the fall.

Microdrama? It’s What WWE Do

A microdrama is typically a few minutes long and follows a format similar to that seen in soap operas, offering a cliffhanger ending for the characters to be continued in the next episode.

Soap operas, cliffhangers and short content sounds very much like what WWE does on the regular, because it largely is.

Every week, be it on Raw, SmackDown or NXT, outside of the matches themselves, drama is built in short segments, whether that be a promo, backstage segment on post-match beatdown, leading to whatever is to come on the next show.

While some promos may be lengthy affairs, with just the highlights of the war of words between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins stretching to close to six minutes on YouTube, the rationale is very much the same. What was said during that segment was to build up to their match at SummerSlam on August 1 & 2.

There’s a clear line between soap opera and what WWE has to offer when it comes to the type of drama that is seen on screen. Family feuds, friendships turned into rivalries, unrequited love and stars seeking to be top of the mountain; it all happens on WWE television.

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• microdrama
• wwe
• Drew McIntyre
• Joe Hendry
• Jacob Fatu
• ReelShort

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