Chris McGurk, Lloyd Braun, Jana Winograde Launch MicroCo Venture

Micro-dramas playing out on the endless scroll of social video platforms across Asia. A group of Hollywood veterans are diving in to bring this form of content U.S. audiences.

Chris McGurk, chairman and CEO of Cineverse, and Lloyd Braun‘s Banyan Ventures have teamed to launch MicroCo. Jana Winograde, former Showtime president and former head of ABC’s business operations, will serve as CEO of MicroCo. Susan Rovner, former president of Warner Bros. TV and former head of programmig for NBCUniversal TV and Streaming, will sign on in October as chief content officer. Erick Opeka, chief strategy officer for Cineverse, will also work closely with the MicroCo team.

“MicroCo will combine a new style of storytelling that engages fans and creators alike, with state-of-the-art technology that we have spent years developing, and an elite leadership team that includes some of our generation’s most successful media and content executives,” McGurk said. “The end result will be a category defining studio and platform. Early results in the space have underscored the massive strategic upside of this new format, including the opportunity to build an original IP engine with global monetization opportunities, to integrate brand partnerships, and support a robust creator economy flywheel.”

The plan is to use Cineverse’s streaming platforms and its content library to launch MicroCo’s slate of series that will feature episodes running 1 to 2 minutes in length. The micro series trend emerged a few years ago in Korea, China and other influential territories.

“The average person scrolls through hundreds of feet of content a day, but almost none of it is built to last,” said Braun, whose long career as a producer and executive includes stints as chairman of WME and ABC Entertainment Group. “We’re merging the storytelling rigor of series television with the pace, energy, and intimacy of short-form—creating addictive, emotionally…