EXCLUSIVE: BuzzFeed Studios and vertical video firm MuVpix are going big on microdrama production.
The pair has entered into a partnership to produce more than 100 titles over the next two years and launch them with a cross-platform distribution strategy. First up on the slate will be Romeo & Juliet, Reimagined, the retelling of the Shakespeare classic that we told you about last month.
U.S.-based MuVpix launched in March as the vertical entertainment platform of BlackForge Distribution with two original shows, Whispervale and Swipe Left, and added Romeo & Juliet, Reimagined, which stars Gabrielle Faith Brown, Clayton Carrozza and Yolanthe Cabu, in June.
The plan is to use MuVpix’s platform, wider distribution capabilities and tech and mesh them with BuzzFeed Studios’ vertical storytelling operations, production infrastructure, marketing arm and cultural reach.
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They will co-create original IP, reimagined classics, and “shoppable” formats built “natively for TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, FAST/CTV platforms and the muVpix Originals platform.”
Richard Alan Reid, President of BuzzFeed Studios, will oversee the partnership, alongside BuzzFeed executive producers Mike Aho and Dan Katt and muVpix’s Head of Creative Content, Erik Heintz, with Ben Asaf Jehoshua and Harris Levinson as co-executive producers.
Romeo & Juliet, Reimagined, the first show from the partnership, will launch in August. Carrozza and Brown will play Romeo and Juliet, respectively. The series transplants the iconic blood feud between the Montagues and Capulets into the criminal underworld of modern-day Los Angeles. As we reported, it was shot in both horizontal and vertical formats. Further cast includes Mustafa Speaks and Jordan Barrett.
It comes from Latino filmmakers Max Decker and Dario Herrera, who co-wrote the story. Decker directs, while Herrera serves as creative director. BlackForge Distribution, which owns muVpix, is attached as the production company and co-financier alongside executive producers Speaks from Blue Meridian Studios and Liz Fuller of ST8RM.
“Through our partnership with BuzzFeed Studios, we are reaching even broader audiences, while raising the bar in creativity and production quality,” said John Lewis, founder of muVpix. “This partnership allows us to bring premium storytelling to a format that audiences are already showing up for in massive numbers, and to do it at a scale and quality level the space hasn’t seen before.”
For BuzzFeed Studios, the MuVpix pact comes nearly two months after Byron Allen closed a deal to acquire its parent, digital publishing pioneer BuzzFeed. Part of Allen’s plan is to split BuzzFeed Studios and food-focused digital brand Tasty into independent entities, though they will remain wholly-owned subsidiaries of the main company.
BuzzFeed Studios is currently attached to the likes of Natalie Morales movie The Girlfriend, holiday romcom The Twelve Dates of Christmas and Whodunnit, a romcom starring the likes of Jack Whitehall and Lizzie Broadway. This is among its biggest microdrama plays to date.
“BuzzFeed Studios is uniquely positioned in this partnership as a distributor, a production services company, and a marketing and PR powerhouse, with an expansive social media reach,” added Aho from BuzzFeed Studios. “BuzzFeed Studios has always been at the forefront of content and culture, and in this new medium, BuzzFeed Studios is leading the way.”
