Hey everyone, welcome back to the screenwriting life. I'm Lorian McKenna. And today we're going to be

talking about what a lot of people in the industry are a bit skeptical of, curious about, and probably

don't know a lot about vertical micro dramas. And our guest today is Shelby Farrell. Shelby is a screenwriter

from Memphis, Tennessee with over 10 years of storytelling

experience spanning several formats. After graduating from the American Film Institute with an

MFA in screenwriting, her first film, Netflix's Deidre and Lainie Rob a Train, premiered at Sundance

in 2017. Her skills as a writer, director, and producer can also be seen in the short films, Hit It and Quit It, starring Mia McKenna Bruce, and her body, which she collaborated on with her husband, Venezuelan writer-director Juan Avela.

While building a career developing features and television for Netflix, Sony, Lifetime, Fabula, and many others, she continuously experimented

with other formats.

She wrote for mobile games, numerous shorts, developed a vertical series for Snap Originals,

and recently developed several vertical projects in the emerging micro-drama market.

Now she's using her array of experience to teach other writers how to bridge the gap between

traditional film and television writing and the vertical space through her program flipping

the screen. Right now the industry is at the sort of major inflection point. Writing jobs are

becoming more and more scarce and verticals seem to be a potential solve for those looking for work.

And I think this is a very important conversation

that I'm really excited to have. Shelby, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm

really excited to talk to you. Oh, good. Yeah, and I was survived till 25 and now reinvent 26

and whatever catchphrase we're going to come up with next year for this ever shifting

industry.

Yes, it's super fun, right?

Yeah, it's great.

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