2026 Microdrama Forum Speakers
Racheal Leigh
Screenwriter – Producer – Director
Racheal Leigh is a Tasmanian creative with over 25 years involvement with film & theatre productions. Racheal started writing in the vertical microdrama format in late 2025, and has sold several microdrama screenplays to overseas independent producers. She filmed her first written micro-vertical series, The North Pole Affairs – The Naughty List Bureau, in Jan 2026 (currently in post-production); and wrote & produced The Circle of Secrets – The Curse of Evelyn as an AI animation as the first Australian microdrama writer & producer to be part of the Anamana 100 Creators Program. She also wrote an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart as a 10-episode micro-vertical series, which she produced as an AI Vertical Short, that has been nominated in several Film Festivals worldwide.
Microdrama Credits
Kasiani Koutris
Producer – Director
Kasiani Koutris is the Founder and Creative Director of Dingo Drama, established in early 2024 and now evolving into VertiTainment™, a female-led creative studio developing premium, mobile-first entertainment and vertical storytelling. The studio produces AIGC and live-action content, as well as hybrid productions combining both approaches when it best serves the story. Kasiani focuses on vertical micro-drama, exploring new ways to combine storytelling, emerging AI technology and innovative production.
Kasiani is developing a slate of original vertical series and has been developing an international network in the global micro-drama space. Her work focuses on creating commercially driven content for new audiences while challenging familiar storytelling tropes.
Richard Fricker
Producer – Production Manager
After a varied career in film and video production for feature films, TV commercials, factual television and corporate communications, in early 2024 Richard Fricker was approached to production manage the microdrama The Heiress Returns, to be shot in Sydney for Shanghai-based producers creating a title for Shortmax.
This experience of the specific microdrama demands for everything from script & scene breakdown and finding locations to crewing on a budget, and crushing deadlines for speedy delivery of materials was an education on how microdramas differed from standard television or feature film production. A microdrama Richard co-produced, Shock Horror, received the award for “Best Experimental Short” at the 11th NEZ International Film Festival 2026.
Richard is currently in discussions with a generative AI production company to produce Australian originated stories blending real actors and live action with AI.
Microdrama Credits
Sky Dominic
Director – 1st Asst. Director
Sky Dominic is a Sydney-based filmmaker with 20+ years across nearly every department of film and TV production. In the vertical microdrama space, he has directed three series and AD’d six, including directing The Heiress Blacklisted Her Husband (ReelShort — currently the leading vertical drama platform), which has reached 118 million views, and AD’ing Return of the Racing King, the biggest-budget vertical drama series to date — an epic racing drama featuring real drifting stunt driving, which reached the top 5 in the Chinese Weekly ranking across all streaming platforms
Microdrama Credits
Jon-Claire Lee
Producer – Director
As a dynamic Screen Producer, Director and Creative Executive at InterludePix, Jon-Claire Lee specialises in the rapidly evolving global microdrama and vertical video industry, delivering premium short-form narratives optimised for mobile-first monetisation and algorithmic retention. Jon-Lee possesses a proven track record of managing lean, high-velocity block-shooting schedules, integrating high-yield commercial sponsorships, and leveraging AI localisation workflows to scale content internationally.
His key production credits include the flagship 70-episode series How to Become a Female Billionaire, where he directed the end-to-end development, engineered lucrative brand placements, and successfully delivered high-end cinematic value within strict budgetary parameters to capture the lucrative 25–55 female demographic.
Additionally, on the innovative short-form thriller ShockHorror, Jon-Lee served as producer and director, pioneering a dual-tier compliance filming model that captured distinct scenes for both vertical and horizontal platform regulations simultaneously on set.
Highly adept at balancing creative ambition with rigorous financial controls, Jon-Lee excels at negotiating flat-rate crew buyouts and block-booking studio agreements to safely insulate production budgets while securing exceptional viewer loyalty. HIs expertise spans the entire lifecycle of next-generation digital entertainment, making me uniquely equipped to drive high-ROI, culturally resonant content that disrupts traditional media spaces and engages premium global audiences.
Microdrama Credits
Amelia Conway
Vertical Actor
Amelia Conway is an Sydney actress with experience across film, television, commercials, and the rapidly growing vertical drama market. She has appeared in The Crown, Divorced Queen, Seven Days & Seven Nights to Seduce a Billionaire (filmed in China), No Mercy from My Cowboy Daddy (filmed in Melbourne), and A Matter of Sin and Love.
Known for bringing warmth, emotional depth, and strong screen presence to her performances, Amelia enjoys portraying characters ranging from sophisticated professionals and romantic leads to emotionally layered dramatic roles. Her international experience working across Australian and overseas productions has made her adaptable, professional, and confident in fast-paced filming environments.
With a background in acting, presenting, and modelling, Amelia continues to build an international career, bringing authenticity, versatility, and charisma to every project
Microdrama Credits
Gabriel Robinson
Producer – Director – Screenwriter
Gabriel Robinson is a Sydney-based director, writer, and producer working across narrative film and select commercial projects, with a growing focus on microdramas and vertical storytelling. He recently directed his first feature-length vertical action-microdrama series, Royal Flush, currently being distributed by AMO Pictures in Ukraine.
Microdrama Credits
Maria de la Ossa
Director – Cinematographer – Producer
Maria is a Gen X self-taught filmmaker, Director, Cinematographer & Producer, born in Panama to a very multicultural and artistically family. Her experience in the vertical microdrama world includes Directing Daddy’s Best Friend Made Me His Billion Dollar Wife (DramaBox) and Alpha King Your Luna Has Escaped (ReelShorts) – both of which have had great success worldwide.
Maria is a recipient of the 2023 Blackmagic Emerging Directors Fellowship, The inaugural PANAVISION attachment program, and also a talented cinematographer, having worked on several high-profile screen productions.
Microdrama Credits
Sophia Xing
CEO of Plot Party – Producer – Distributor
Sophia Xing is an Australian creative based in the USA, and the CEO of Plot Party, an agentic platform for creating AI-native and hybrid AI microdramas.
Plot Party helps studios and platforms produce microdramas with greater speed and control, as well as setting up distribution and advertising opportunities.
Alison Stanton-Cook
Producer & Director
Alison Stanton-Cook is a director, writer and intimacy coordinator based in Nipaluna / Hobart, working across screen and stage. Her independent vertical series Just Jump has been licensed to the DramaLove app and picked up nominations across the Vertical Drama Love Awards and LA Vertical Awards, including Best Director and Best Independent Series. Season Two is currently in development, alongside a slate of new vertical projects.
Before she was directing, Alison trained as an actor, and that training still shapes how she works. As Program Director for Screen Acting Crew Hobart, she has spent the last five years teaching actors craft, confidence and camera technique. Her short films, including the award-winning ROE and LOOP, have screened at festivals across Australia. She brings the same care for actors, on set and in the room, to every vertical she directs.
Dan Jongma
Actor
Daniel “Dan” Jongma is a Sydney-based vertical actor known for his roles on A Matter of Sin and Love (2023) and Accelerating Love (2024).
He is founder of Acting Vertical, a podcast for the vertical actor community that provides relevant insights, updates, and advice on the vertical industry,
Anthony Darvall
Actor & Producer
Anthony Darvall is a British-Australian actor, producer and creative developer working across feature film, theatre and international vertical microdrama. A graduate of ACTT’s three-year conservatory, he has worked in lead and antagonist roles across Australian and international productions, including the feature film Algorithm and the vertical drama Vampire’s Forbidden Kiss, with Best Performance (Male) recognition in 2025. He is represented in Australia by Crème Artist Management and in the United States by Untamed Artists, and is also developing original vertical drama projects alongside his acting work.