Directing
Verticals
A Practical Guide to Microdramas
The only book written from inside the vertical drama industry. Everything a working director needs to know — from landing the gig to delivering the final episode.
Whats inside?
Welcome to Vertical
It's Not Film — It's Vertical
Getting the Gig
01
Why vertical drama is the fastest growing format in entertainment — and what it really feels like to walk onto your first set.
03
Where the jobs are, how to apply, what they're looking for, and how to make yourself impossible to ignore.
Contracts, Money & Protection
04
Flat fees, payment terms, the red flags to watch for, and how to protect yourself in a fast-moving industry.
Prep: Making the Most of What You Get
05
How to prep fast, prep smart, and arrive on set ready for anything — including the things that definitely won't be ready.
Framing for the Phone
06
9:16 composition, close-ups, depth, movement, and the shots that work — and the ones that don't.
A Day on Set
07
What a real vertical shoot day looks like from first call to wrap. The pace, the pressure, the decisions.
Directing Tips
08
Performance direction, hooks, episode breaks — plus how to handle action, stunts and sensitive scenes safely.
Stunts, cars & Intimacy
09
How to handle some of the more challenge aspects required on vertical sets. Stunts, cars and intimacy.
Working with your team
10
How to work with your extended vertical team, handling producer - director relationships and working as a leader.
02
The complete mindset shift you need before you shoot a single frame. Everything that's different. Everything that stays the same.
Post-production & Delivery
11
Looking ahead to the post-production aspect of a vertical and what to expect once you deliver.
The Future of Vertical
12
Insights into what the future of vertical might look like and how you can best position yourself for what’s to come.
"The cameras were sideways, the monitors were sideways — but the fundamentals hadn't changed. Block the scene, find the shots, tell the story. The rest is just logistics."
— From the Book
About the author
S.T. Griffiths
Director · Author · Industry Insider
S.T. Griffiths is a professional director with extensive experience in vertical drama production, having worked across multiple series for leading platforms. With a background in traditional film and television, they bring a unique perspective to a format that most of the industry is still figuring out.
Directing Verticals is the book they wish had existed when they started. It didn't, so they wrote it.
WHY GET THIS BOOK?
The vertical drama boom has no rulebook. Until now.
The microdrama industry is generating billions of dollars and growing faster than any format since the early days of streaming. Production companies are hiring. Platforms are commissioning. The work is there.
But almost nobody is talking honestly about what it actually takes to do this job well. The online articles cover the numbers. The podcasts cover the platforms. Nobody has sat down and written a clear, practical, experience-first guide to directing vertical drama from the inside.
That's what this book is.
It's Written From Set. Not From the Sidelines Every chapter comes from real experience directing real productions for real platforms. The mistakes, the workarounds, the things nobody warned you about — it's all in here because it all actually happened.
It Respects Your Existing Skills. This book isn't written for beginners. It assumes you know how to direct. What it gives you is the translation layer — the specific ways vertical drama differs from everything you've done before, and exactly how to adapt what you already know to a format that plays by different rules.
It Covers the Whole Job. Not Just the Creative Getting hired. Reading contracts. Protecting your fee. Managing a set at speed. Working with stunts, intimacy, and impossible scripts. Most books about directing stop at the creative. This one goes all the way through to getting paid — because that's what the job actually involves.
The Market Won't Wait For You to Catch Up Vertical drama is moving fast. The directors getting hired right now are the ones who understood the format early, showed up prepared, and made themselves impossible to turn down. The window to get ahead of the curve is open. This book is how you get through it.
$3B+ — Global microdrama revenue outside China in 2025. The directors working in this space right now are building careers in real time. This book is your fast track in. Other books like this exist. No other working director has written a practical, honest, experience-first guide to this format. You're holding the first one.
Paperback & Kindle available · Worldwide shipping