RoseBerry Media is recutting episodes of the long-running Australian soap Neighbours into vertical short-form videos for the Epis platform. The launch includes two storylines from the late 2000s centered on Margot Robbie's character. CEO Guy Hameiri says the company's AI-powered production workflow will help demonstrate that "premium vertical television" can become a significant new entertainment category.
The Verge is skeptical of calling the result a microdrama. Microdramas, as popularized by ReelShort and DramaBox, are cheap, melodramatic, mobile-first series built around cliffhangers; Neighbours had a sizable budget and professional acting. The piece compares the recut to other repackaged legacy content, such as Tattle TV's version of Hitchcock's The Lodger and Snips' vertical cuts of reality shows.
The article also notes the broader business context: microdramas originated in China and grew into a market projected to reach $16.2 billion by 2030. But generative AI is reshaping production—95% of Chinese microdramas in the first three months of this year were AI-generated, reducing jobs for actors. The Verge raises unresolved questions about whether RoseBerry's Neighbours recut will pay royalties to the show's original cast and crew.