In this episode of Inside Content, I sat down with Candace Mizga (co-founder, executive producer, and actor) and Calvin Singh (COO and founding partner) from Chera TV - a vertical streaming platform focused on premium micro dramas. They shared how Chera TV is building a “creative-first ecosystem” designed to elevate storytelling in the vertical space, prioritise ethical production, and still deliver highly bingeable series.
We discussed why vertical storytelling is gaining momentum now. Candace noted that audience behaviour has already shifted to phone-first viewing, but much of the current vertical landscape has been “volume driven versus quality driven.” Chera TV’s approach is to combine the addictive pacing of vertical formats with stronger writing, better production value, and more diverse storytelling - at a time when many platforms rely on familiar tropes and optimise for immediate returns rather than long-term audience trust.
Genre-wise, the platform is leaning into romance, young adult, and female-driven coming-of-age stories, with diverse casting as a key priority. Candace described the creative vibe as “CW meets A24.” Calvin also explained that Chera TV is expanding beyond scripted micro dramas with an unscripted docu-soap reality project releasing with the app launch, designed to encourage audience engagement through cast-facing social storytelling.
A major theme was sustainability and production standards. Candace contrasted typical vertical schedules, described as intense, with Chera TV’s model: roughly 70 pages in eight days, supported by longer development and pre-production so teams can work safely and effectively. Calvin emphasised that internal preparation and early production planning help maintain budgets without compromising the working environment.
On monetisation, Chera TV is launching with a pay-per-view model per show, with plans to introduce subscriptions once the content library is large enough. And on AI, both were clear: no AI actors or synthetic replacements - AI is viewed strictly as a back-end tool to support scheduling, budgeting, and workflow, not to replace jobs or creativity.
Key topics
● What Chera TV is building and why vertical now
● Micro drama structure: hooks, cliffhangers, and pacing
● Scripted + unscripted expansion (docu-soap in vertical)
● Ethical production standards and realistic timelines
● Monetisation: pay-per-view first, subscription later
● AI as a tool vs. AI as replacement
● The future of audiences, genres, and trust in vertical storytelling
.jpg)
.svg)
