DUANJU  NEWS

A familiar figure to 1980s TV viewers, Michel La Rosa made his mark as a host before turning to fiction. His unique journey resonates today with the revival of a series he proudly leads. Michel La Rosa established himself on television thanks to his ability to unite audiences and highlight prominent guests. His memorable interviews, now preserved at the National Audiovisual Institute (INA), demonstrate the diversity of the personalities he hosted: Jean Rafa, Isabelle Aubret, Odette Joyeux, Jacques Demy, and Darry Cowl. He then went on to popular programs: Tremplin on FR3 Méditerranée (1985-1987), then in 1990 on Antenne 2 with Matin Bonheur, Été Show, Villa de star and Ça va tanguer. A trajectory marked by success, abruptly interrupted in 1990, when he left television at the request of President François Mitterrand, at the time of the announcement of France's entry into the Gulf War. This decision pushed him to reinvent himself, cultivating a fresh perspective on creation and sincerity in his profession. The fame he acquired quickly opened up new horizons for him: he returned to the microphone on France Inter, then returned to TF1 as host of Shopping Avenue Matin and Télévitrine (1998-2013). Michel La Rosa joins the " King Gandolfi " series Under its former name, Draculi & Gandolfi, the series made its mark on cable and regional TV channels in the 2010s with its quirky tone and deep roots in medieval heritage. Regional and national press, from Var-Matin and Sud-Ouest to La Provence and including Télé-Loisirs and Premiere, extensively covered its spectacular film shoots. These productions were notable for their costumes, casting, and the large number of extras, particularly in Marseille, Les Goudes, the Frioul islands, the Gaou peninsula, the Château de Tarascon, and various other historical monuments in the south of France. In 2020 on Radio Maritima, Michel La Rosa talked about the series on the occasion of screenings in the South of France. The same year with Benjy Doti, Michel La Rosa discussed the success of the series on social media. June 14, 2025 Screening Michel La Rosa is participating in a screening organized by the Studio Phocéen association on June 14, 2025, in Paris. On this occasion, he spoke about his meeting with Guillaume Sanjorge, the director of the series King Gandolfi which was shown that evening. Their meeting was not a recent one, dating back about fifteen years, thanks to Frédéric Perrin, the director of the Le Prado cinema in Marseille. Michel La Rosa recalled being struck by the young director's passion and conviction: "This young man spoke to me with an obvious passion, with a desire, and I sensed talent." Convinced, he agreed to play King Gandolfi, the central character of the series' medieval universe. Discover Michel La Rosa's speech from the June 14 screening: Roi Gandolfi, a Saga Reborn Today, the story is being reborn under the title "King Gandolfi," adapted for current technology and the Duanju format: vertical, short, and fast-paced episodes designed to be watched on a phone. More than just a simple comeback, this project embodies the dialogue between television history and digital innovation, driven by the commitment of an actor, Michel La Rosa, who has successfully spanned the eras. Source : VarMatin , Auguste 26, 2020 Southwest , September 10, 2019 All Culture , April 28, 2016 Télé Loisir , Télé 2 Week on February 17, 2016 Provence , July 3, 2012 Premiere , August 20, 2010

During his opening speech at the 2025 La Rochelle Fiction Festival, Gaëtan Bruel, president of the French National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), addressed the phenomenon of micro-dramas, better known in China as duanju. Rather than seeing it as the emergence of a new audiovisual language, he described it as “the perfect counterexample” of what a national screen culture should defend. That reaction reveals a deeper confusion between a format and the commercial content that happened to accompany its first wave of international circulation. Judging a format by the earliest titles to travel is like judging cinema as a whole by its blockbusters. Fear of change rather than a real debate Duanju is neither an economic model nor a fixed aesthetic movement. It is a format, just like the short film, the series, or the feature. Ignoring it or dismissing it will not prevent it from becoming a social phenomenon. This kind of rejection says a lot about an industry that struggles to face the shifts in attention, viewing habits, and distribution. Months earlier, Gaëtan Bruel had already spoken about the format in a fatalistic tone, referring to a “prescriptive effect coming from Asia” without imagining a creative response. Instead of pitting models against each other, the better question is a creative one: how can duanju become a new showcase for storytelling, for authors, and for ideas across languages and markets? Here, we choose to shed light on, analyze, and highlight the artistic forms emerging around this format, rather than stoking fears or discouraging the people who want to engage with it. Article written by Guillaume Sanjorge #GuillaumeSanjorge #Duanjuphobia Sources : • CNC , September 19, 2025

In a landscape where smartphones already dictate the pace of consumption, Nigeria appears as a natural candidate to bring duanju to Africa. However, Lagos-based project manager and producer Ajibola Olayiwola cautions that enthusiasm alone is not enough: without a method, the format will remain just a promise. Nigeria, a critical mass to transform. For Olayiwola, the potential is real, but contingent on industrial development. He states it clearly: “Nigeria can also get on board. I think it’s feasible, but there’s still a lot to be done.” His central point: structuring the entire chain, from scriptwriting to post-production, with investments and planning capable of supporting high production rates. Duanju isn't arriving in a vacuum: attention is already being captured by TikTok, Reels, and continuous vertical video. The difference, therefore, lies in the organization and editorial approach, not just the format. Olayiwola advocates a pan-African approach: "If Nigeria and Africa as a whole can collaborate, put this structure in place, and raise the funds, I think it's feasible." The goal: to pool resources, expertise, and distribution to produce identifiable vertical series that transcend the social media feed. Interview conducted by Blessing Azugama #BlessingAzugama

For a long time, duanju seemed like an anomaly. A vertical stream of very short fictional stories, saturated with close-ups, immediate plot twists, and promises of sequels at the click of a button. A grammar of urgency, designed for the phone, that might have amused streaming professionals. Except that, since the end of 2023, the “anomaly” has started to appear where it hurts: in the download charts, and then in the revenue. Figures that are changing scale The shift is first and foremost quantifiable. Appfigures estimates that 66 short-drama apps generated $146 million in consumer spending in the first quarter of 2024, compared to $1.8 million in the same period a year earlier. This acceleration isn't simply a passing fad, because it's accompanied by a change in status: these apps are no longer simply "copying" TikTok; they're capturing entertainment budgets and purchase intent that video platforms hadn't necessarily converted. ReelShort, often presented as the standard-bearer of this wave in the US market, offered the clearest illustration of it. On November 11, 2023, the app briefly overtook TikTok to become the most popular entertainment app on the US App Store, a rare occurrence in a market where TikTok is usually untouchable in terms of mainstream downloads. References to this event subsequently circulated in several industry analyses, demonstrating that it resonated with observers as a significant market moment. A model that eats up screen time The competition isn't head-to-head on usage, but rather on the scarcest resource: time. Where TikTok wins through variety and endless content, duanju apps win through continuity. Everything is designed to transform curiosity into a series. And above all, acquisition is industrialized. Adjust describes strategies where the share of paid downloads for market leaders (ReelShort, DramaBox, GoodShort) can reach very high levels, a sign of growth driven by media buying and optimized like a traditional mobile product, not like a "social" platform that relies on organic traffic. This is where the comparison with major streamers becomes relevant. Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video compete on catalog size and content budget, but they sell a longer, often more established, ritual. Duanju apps, on the other hand, sell impulse and seamless streaming. They don't necessarily replace a full evening of binge-watching; they replace fragments of the day—the very fragments TikTok has captured. When these fragments become monetizable on a large scale, duanju ceases to be a novelty and becomes a category competitor. The challenge for 2026 is therefore not whether these apps will “hold up” against TikTok or streamers, but how far they can extend their reach: more genres, more locations, and economic models capable of financing more ambitious production without losing the speed that is their strength. On this point, cases like DramaBox or Stardust TV count as much as ReelShort: the story is no longer that of a single application, but of a format that has become an industry. Sources: • The Economist – November 23, 2023 • 36Kr Global – March 3, 2025 • Global Times – November 26, 2023 • Appfigures – 2024 • Adjust – June 4, 2024

As smartphones become the primary screen, part of the audiovisual battle is now being fought on ultra-short formats, consumed in binge-watching, but produced with premium fiction ambitions. It is in this context that Holywater, the Ukrainian company behind the My Drama app, announces a strategic alliance with Elefantec Global, a studio founded by Pepe Bastón, a major figure in the Latin American industry and a specialist in serialized storytelling. A partnership tailored for mass production, Elefantec Global's telenovela expertise is being combined with My Drama's duanju distribution and monetization mechanisms. Based between Los Angeles and Mexico City, Elefantec boasts a "premium" focus and a history of producing content for international platforms. In terms of volume, the stated objective is ambitious: up to 70 vertical series aimed at the Spanish-speaking public in 2025 and 2026. The average production budget mentioned is between $80,000 and $140,000 per series, a level that signals a desire to industrialize without falling into ultra low cost. The conquest strategy: distribution first, catalog second Behind the announcement, the central issue is access to the Spanish-speaking market, conceived as a combination of Spain and Latin America, where mobile consumption is already massive and where serialized dramas are culturally ingrained. Holywater highlights the traction of My Drama and its ecosystem: the company speaks of a global audience of tens of millions of people, with monthly usage metrics for My Drama. The economic rationale is clear: quickly establish a foothold through a stream of localized titles, then convert that distribution into recurring usage. Some sources indicate a Spanish-language market for the video vertical estimated at $2 billion annually, a potential audience of up to 290 million users, and a target of 10 million monthly active users as part of the expansion. Implicitly, this alliance illustrates a broader trend: duanju platforms are now seeking partners with established local industries (in this case, the Latin American telenovela industry) to accelerate production, artistic validation, and distribution. Several industry observers cite this Spanish partnership as one of the key drivers of Holywater and My Drama's international expansion. Sources: • Holywater.tech - September 17, 2025 • dev.ua - September 30, 2025 • The Odessa Journal - October 1, 2025 • Real Reel – November 10, 2025

Duanju continues to gain traction in Europe, and Portugal is now launching its own industrial project. At the end of October 2025, RTP, the Portuguese public broadcasting group, announced a partnership with SPi, a local production company, to launch what is being presented as Portugal's first vertical micro-drama project. Production: a clear package, an identified team The project is structured as a series: five series, 20 episodes per series, approximately 1 minute 30 seconds per episode, promising a variety of genres ranging from thriller to comedy. The original idea is attributed to Pedro Lopes, and the writing is entrusted to three screenwriters: Inês Gomes, Susana Romano, and Marina Ribeiro. The production team is also named: Manuel Amaro da Costa is listed as the project coordinator. Schedule: Filming announced over two months, start date confirmed Filming is scheduled to take place between December 2025 and January 2026. In early December, SPi confirmed the move to the studio phase, indicating that they had started filming the first of the five micro-dramas. Distribution: social media first, then the platform The distribution plan is explicitly mobile and social oriented: TikTok and Instagram are cited as distribution channels, with RTP Play, the RTP group's streaming and replay platform, as a third access point. On the editorial side, RTP1 speaks through its director José Fragoso, who presents the operation as a fiction project designed for vertical digital distribution, which signals a “platforms” logic rather than a simple marketing supplement around a classic TV series. Against this backdrop, international pressure is mounting: according to Sensor Tower, cumulative downloads of short drama apps are approaching 950 million by the end of March 2025, an order of magnitude that explains why public broadcasters are now testing native network formats in professional production. Sources • SPi , 30/10/2025 • SPi , 10/12/2025 • SATURDAY , 04/01/2026 • Sensor Tower , July 2025 • ECO , 04/11/2025

In the vertical drama ecosystem, Uganda sees the circulation of ultra-short series from Asia and the United States, but the founders of Binyuma TV, Edwin Ryonga and Ivan Kasagama, start from a local observation: African audiences are already watching, while a structured pan-African offering remains to be built. Their project positions itself as a platform response, designed with the continent's viewing habits in mind, with the ambition of expanding beyond the Ugandan market. From observation to platform: why Binyuma TV The starting point is very concrete. Observing his surroundings, one of the co-founders describes a format already ubiquitous in Kampala: "It seems like everyone I know, at least in Uganda, watches them, but nobody creates them." The idea for Binyuma TV was born from this asymmetry between consumption and production, and from a simple cultural conviction: "Africans like to watch their own content. That's really where the idea for Binyuma started to take shape." In their view, the timing is favorable for a structural reason: Africa is a phone-first market. If vertical drama has taken hold elsewhere, it's also because it aligns with the fast-paced, fragmented, and repeatable nature of mobile consumption. In the interview, they connect this shift to what they've observed in other markets: in China, and then in the United States, the format has reportedly surpassed traditional consumption patterns, prompting them to take the phenomenon seriously and adapt it to local offerings. The challenge isn't simply to replicate a model. They emphasize the need to "localize" vertical drama, both narratively and culturally. Their interpretation of the format's success rests on dramatic intensity, expressiveness, and immediately accessible narrative devices. They cite archetypes of romance and social contrast, a fast pace, and above all, a central promise: what happens next, right now? This global “grammar,” they argue, only has value if it is reframed by African codes. In their formulation, it's about respecting what works in the vertical space while adding “the African touch.” The platform is designed with this logic in mind: to give a stable form to a demand already visible on social networks, but by transforming it into culturally grounded content and a catalog. Binyuma TV presents itself from the outset as a project with broader ambitions than its point of origin. They explain that they began by exchanging ideas with tech professionals, then formalizing an approach that could “introduce this to not only the people in Uganda and in Africa.” In other words: a Ugandan base, but a continental horizon. Regarding the signs of growth, they remain cautious but optimistic. They mention encouraging feedback from discussions with vertical content stakeholders, and a positive perception when the argument for African localization is understood. They also point to a simple on-the-ground indicator: the already strong performance of non-fiction vertical content on TikTok and Reels, seen as proof of appetite, even before the rise of scripted vertical dramas. Interview conducted by Blessing Azugama #BlessingAzugama

For a long time, the notion of "China Speed" was established as an economic and industrial marker of China's acceleration. It referred to China's ability to build, produce, and deliver more quickly: a speed emblematic of its economic boom and manufacturing power. In recent years, this concept has extended far beyond the realm of factories and infrastructure. It now permeates the cultural sphere, finding its most accomplished illustration in duanju, the ultra-short mini-series originating in China. Through duanju, China Speed no longer simply shapes the economy: it redefines cultural forms, narratives, and the relationship to time. China Speed: From an industrial slogan to a worldview Originally, China Speed was a concept coined to describe a tangible reality: construction projects completed in a few weeks, cities emerging in a few years, production lines capable of moving from idea to market at very high speed. Behind this performance lies a philosophy of time. In China today, economic time is not a space for contemplation: it is a strategic resource. Optimizing it means producing value, gaining power, and remaining competitive in a globalized world. This approach has gradually spread to the digital sector (e-commerce, fintech, social platforms), and then to cultural industries, long considered secondary to economic priorities. Duanju emerged precisely at this tipping point. The duanju: a narrative at the speed of the Chinese era Duanju is based on simple principles related to lifestyles and customs, which influence the relationship to time: episodes of 1 to 3 minutes, broadcast on smartphones, often in vertical format, immediately readable plots and constant twists in each episode. Where traditional series slowly establish their characters and narrative arcs, duanju condenses. It doesn't tell less of a story; it tells it faster. Each scene is conceived as a unit of maximum efficiency: to capture attention, evoke emotion, and entice viewers to watch the next episode. This format perfectly suits an urban Chinese society characterized by density, constant mobility, fragmented free time, and daily hyper-connectivity. Duanju thus becomes the cultural counterpart to China Speed: optimized storytelling for a compressed timeframe. Optimizing emotion: a new cultural value As in factories, speed here becomes a central value of creation. China Speed is no longer just a production rate: it becomes a cultural rhythm, revealing a contemporary relationship to time, attention, and narrative, where intensity takes precedence over duration. In the world of duanju, speed is not merely a formal choice but a cultural value, an organizing principle that prioritizes immediate impact. Speed thus becomes a criterion of quality. What is slow is perceived as weak, inefficient, or even obsolete. This shift marks a profound transformation of cultural industries in the age of platforms and mobile technology: time is no longer expandable; it is scarce, fragmented, and subject to constant competition. The cultural speed of China no longer seeks to hold the viewer's attention over time; it aims to capture them instantly. This fast-paced approach profoundly transforms narrative time. The story unfolds as a succession of intensified presents, where waiting is minimized. The duanju becomes less a linear narrative than a narrative flow, aligned with contemporary digital practices. Contrary to a common criticism, duanju does not necessarily signify the impoverishment of culture. Rather, it reflects a shift in the hierarchy of cultural values. In the classical Western model, cultural value is often associated with duration, slowness, and psychological complexity. Duanju offers something different: immediate emotion, rapid identification, and deliberate dramatic effectiveness. This approach does not negate depth; it reconfigures it. The viewer is no longer invited to immerse themselves for extended periods, but rather to consume successive micro-shocks of emotion. The value lies in the ability to evoke feeling quickly, rather than in the time spent feeling. A cultural industry aligned with the logic of China Speed The success of duanju lies not only in its format but also in its production methods. Filming is quick, crews are small, and creative cycles are short. Platforms test, adjust, abandon, or relaunch narrative concepts at a speed comparable to that of tech startups. Major players in the Chinese digital ecosystem have understood that duanju allows for maximum responsiveness to trends, rapid monetization, and large-scale storytelling. Here we find the fundamentals of China Speed: test fast, produce fast, correct fast. Creative content then becomes a field of constant experimentation, subject to metrics of attention and performance. Towards an exportable Chinese cultural model? The question of exporting duanju is now a pressing one. Like European art-house cinema or American television series in their time, duanju could become a form of Chinese cultural soft power. Its export implies a shift in the Western perspective: accepting that cultural value no longer necessarily lies in length, slowness, or classical narrative sophistication. Duanju offers an alternative model, based on intensity, accessibility, and adaptation to global digital practices. In this sense, duanju is not an anomaly or a low-cost form of culture: it may well be the vanguard of an accelerated global culture. China Speed: A New Relationship to Time and Narrative Duanju is more than just a new audiovisual format; it acts as a cultural revealer. It shows how China applies its logic of time optimization, productivity, and efficiency not only to the economy, but also to storytelling, emotion, and cultural consumption. Duanju extends the concept of China Speed to the contemporary Chinese cultural model. It demonstrates that Chinese acceleration is not merely a matter of productivity, but a worldview where time becomes a space to be structured, controlled, and monetized, including in artistic creation. By transforming the way stories are told, China is not simply following digital shifts; it is proposing a cultural model consistent with its social trajectory. Duanju is therefore not just a trendy format; it is the cultural symptom of a China that is moving fast and now intends to tell stories quickly. Article written by Maëlle Billant #MaelleBillant

American producer Chris Wicke, who leads Embr Entertainment, is clear about the next milestone: developing their own platform and releasing an app. He says they already have what he calls a minimal viable product, but it still needs work before a public launch and before they can build a content slate designed specifically to feed the app. In the meantime, Embr continues producing for existing platforms, including a project completed for ReelShort and another script now moving into budgeting. In this short statement, Wicke adds a point that is rarely framed so directly: despite platforms relying more and more on data, it remains hard to predict what will become a hit in duanju. His reasoning is straightforward. Performance is too often attributed to a single variable, when success is usually the result of a complex mix that is difficult to isolate, casting, writing, music, and directing. For him, data can create a sense of control, but it does not replace experimentation. He also describes genre evolution as cyclical. Certain genres rise, peak, and fade, making continuous testing essential for both studios and platforms. He notes, for example, that action can be harder to translate on a small screen, while horror can land effectively if the direction focuses on actors’ reactions in tight close-ups. In his view, experimentation remains the core engine of vertical fiction, even as the industry professionalizes and more players try to become platforms rather than simply content suppliers. Interview conducted by Wenwen Han. Check out her YouTube  channel. #WenwenHan

Ifeoma 'Oma Areh is working from a straightforward idea: if Africa is already consuming short-form mobile stories at scale, it now needs a method and an organization to produce, structure, and monetize that energy. Alongside Elijah Affi, she co-founded Digital Creator Africa Academy, a pan-African platform designed to train the next generation of digital storytellers specializing in microdrama and to fill a critical gap in Africa’s creator economy. Her starting point is personal, almost trivial, yet revealing. She says it plainly: “I’m addicted to these stories.” In other words, this is not an isolated taste, but an audience behavior that can become market data. For her, the goal is not to “prove” that duanju can work in Africa, but to turn an existing habit into a production pipeline with cadence, standards, and a viable business model. Adapt without copying Oma Areh rejects a mechanical import of Chinese or Western formulas. Microdrama mechanics work, but execution must align with African storytelling codes: rhythms, references, and a serialized approach that resonates with local audiences. Her logic is to adapt the method, not replicate the form. Digital Creator Africa Academy fits into this approach: industry-ready training, storytelling frameworks that can be replicated at scale, and market-driven business models. Their shared ambition is to position Africa not only as a source of creative talent, but as a global engine for original digital IP, equipped to compete, scale, and lead in the future of short-form and emerging screen storytelling. The hard part remains monetization. Oma Areh describes a persistent imbalance: African audiences are real, sometimes massive, but platform confidence and revenue-generation capability remain points of friction. She sums it up as: “I get the audience, but when it comes to making money…” In other words, the economic value of African audiences is still underestimated, and imported models do not automatically fit local realities. In that context, training becomes a business lever as much as a creative one. It is not only about learning to tell stories in 9:16, but about producing with scalable frameworks, thinking market-first, and building a pipeline that makes microdrama viable, sustainable, and monetizable. Registration: https://www.digitalcreatorafrica.academy/ Interview conducted by Blessing Azugama #BlessingAzugama