A proposal for Bully Pulpit International · November 3, 2026

Nine episodes. Nine scams. One pause.

VERT will develop, shoot and finish a 9-episode vertical microdrama that makes the 9-second pause feel like the most natural thing in the world, because the audience has already lived every scene.

9 × 60-second episodes Vertical 9:16 Sandwich Generation, 35 to 55 Launch February 2027
The insight

Scams aren't an event. They're the background noise of a parent's day.

Our audience isn't being scammed once. They're fielding attempts all day, while running a household for their kids and their parents.

58%

of US adults get suspected scam attempts every day.

AP-NORC poll, February 2026
~100

scam calls, texts and emails reach the average American every month. That's 3 or 4 a day.

Talker Research for Ping Identity, 2025
$15.9B

lost to scams Americans reported in 2025, a record. Text was the most common first contact.

Federal Trade Commission, 2026

How we work: we listen first

Every VERT project starts with the audience, not the script. Before we write a word, we run a quick pulse survey and sit down with real people, and what we hear becomes the story. For this bid, we started early: here's our first read on parents 35 to 55, including how often scams reach them, which ones, and where they watch vertical stories.

PULSE RESULTS · add top 3 findings and number of respondents before sending

So why does the generation running everyone's digital life still get caught?

In this day and age, three things are true for them at once.

Their kids spot the fake. They don't.

Teens call out a deepfake in a second. Their parents hesitate, and that hesitation is where the con lives.

They're everyone's tech support.

The Sandwich Generation guards their kids, their aging parents and themselves at the same time.

Scams follow their life.

A job change, dating again, a worried parent: every pressure point is a door a scammer can knock on.

The audience

One audience, two generations.

At 35 to 55, Take9's audience is really two generations: older millennials and Gen X. They grew up differently, laugh at different things and think about scams differently. A series that only speaks to one of them loses the other.

35 to 45

Older millennials

Grew up with
AIM, MySpace and the first iPhone
Their humor
Self-aware and a little chaotic
On scams
"I'm online all day. I'd spot it."
Where it gets them
Speed and multitasking: the text tapped between a Zoom call and school pickup
46 to 55

Gen X

Grew up with
Landlines, MTV, mixtapes and latchkey afternoons
Their humor
Dry, deadpan and sarcastic
On scams
"I'm too skeptical to get fooled."
Where it gets them
Confidence and trust: "I've handled this for 30 years."
The bridge

We build on what they share, not on their age. Both run a household for their kids and their parents, and both are sure they're too smart to get scammed. That confidence is exactly where every con lands.

So what do we do about it?

We write one series that speaks to both generations at once. Here's how.

Cast across the range

A lead in her 40s sits right where the two generations meet, with a younger sister and an older Gen X friend, so everyone sees themselves and gets to laugh at each other.

Two ways to get got

The younger character falls for the fast scam. The older one falls for the trusted voice.

Shared nostalgia

The '90s belong to both: Gen X as teens, millennials as kids. Saturday-morning reruns, TGIF and the "very special episode" are common ground.

Humor from the situation

A mom who's sure the deepfake is real lands with everyone. Generational slang only lands with one.

Our approach

We hide the lesson inside the laugh.

We know people learn more when they're entertained than when they're told. So the lesson in this series isn't a lecture. It's tucked into the laugh, the cringe, even the moment of fear when she almost clicks. This generation grew up on it. Nobody remembers the After School Special, but everybody can still sing "Conjunction Junction." That's what we're making: Schoolhouse Rock for scams. You come for the story, and you leave knowing to take nine seconds.

Here's our early thinking, which we'll develop with our writers and the parent think tank. We're bringing a point of view, and we'll stay open on the final story.

The tone

A grounded romantic comedy with real stakes

Funny and warm, never a scary PSA. The scam works because she wants something, which is exactly why the audience will see themselves.

The engine

How many times in one day can you get scammed?

Every episode, life hands her another scam built on what she's actually dealing with: work, dating again, teens, aging parents.

The season thread

The one scam she wants to fall for

Building on BPI's Count to Nine: a dating-app match with a celebrity she's sure is a deepfake. It gives the celebrity lead a real role across the season.

The pause

A signature moment, not a lecture

The 9-second pause becomes a recurring beat viewers learn to expect, and by episode 9, to do themselves.

0 to 3 secondsThe hook

A line or image that stops the scroll.

The middleThe con in motion

A real modern scam, played out the way it really happens: on phones, apps and texts.

9 secondsThe pause

The beat where she slows down, or doesn't.

The last beatThe cliffhanger

An unresolved turn that earns the follow.

An illustrative season

To be built with the writers, the think tank and Aspen Digital's scam references.
01The toll text

An "unpaid toll" text lands mid-school-run.

02The perfect job

Her role just got cut. A recruiter's offer is too good to be true.

03The match

A dating app. A celebrity. It has to be a deepfake. Doesn't it?

04Grandma's call

Her mom gets a "your grandson is in trouble" call.

05The school app

A message from her kid's team app asks her to "verify."

06The video call

The match finally gets on camera. Something's off, or is it?

07The fraud alert

Her "bank" calls about a payment she didn't make.

08Screen access

"Tech support" just needs access to Dad's computer.

09Nine seconds

Everything comes due. She pauses, and the season's biggest con unravels.

How we make it

We listen before we write.

Most bids start with a script. Ours starts with the audience, so the scams, the jokes and the stakes are ones real parents recognize.

Pulse survey

An online panel of about 300 parents 35 to 55: what reaches them, what fools them, what they watch.

VERT addition
Parent think tank

A 90-minute session with 8 parents. Their real "closest call" stories go straight to the writers.

VERT addition
Writers' room

Series bible, season arc and 9 scripts, with 2 rounds of BPI and Aspen Digital notes and a fact check on every scam.

One-day shoot

Written to shoot in a single day in Los Angeles, with two locations and a small cast. The texts, DMs and scam alerts appear as on-screen graphics added in the edit, so they're easy to read and easy to update.

Post & delivery

Edit with 3 rounds of notes, color, mix and graphics. Clean and captioned versions, plus stills.

The team

The credits.

A producer who built her career on social-first work, a director with 830M+ microdrama views this year, and network TV comedy writers who now live in vertical.

Hope Dotson Farley
Produced by

Hope Dotson Farley

Founder & Executive Producer, VERT

Hope built VERT to bring craft and director- and creator-first authenticity to the vertical space, backed by the client services a brand or cause needs to trust it with their message. Her goal is simple: elevate the medium. She brings 25+ years of producing commercials, music videos and social content, starting at Radical Media, and co-founded and led Adolescent Content, one of the first social-first production companies, for over a decade. Her work spans Meta, Google, Nike, Tinder and Target, plus public-interest campaigns for Power to Decide and the States of California and New Mexico. Shorty Award, 6x ADDY Awards, Webby nominee, Inc. Female Founders 500.

Kristen Brancaccio
Directed by

Kristen Brancaccio

Writer-director · 18+ microdramas
830M+views across her last two microdramas, in 2026

Kristen Brancaccio is a writer-director who has directed more than 18 microdramas and is set to direct her first feature-length film for Dolphin Films in early 2027.

She most recently directed Issa Rae's debut vertical series Screen Time, which garnered over 250 million views in its first month on TikTok. Her Audible series Southern Belle Insults, starring Keke Palmer, Phaedra Parks, and Zachariah Parks, premiered in August 2026.

She also wrote and directed Hollywood Starlet for the new app aTwist, produced by Bradley Bell (The Bold and the Beautiful). Her series Heartstrings and Lies for Shorts won a Telly Award for Best Vertical Video Series this year. Her vertical work spans ReelShort, NetShort, and DramaShorts, among others. She is attached to direct both the microdrama and feature length adaptation of Clarence Hammond's original short-story Summer Session with Ancora Entertainment.

Before verticals, Kristen was a top-10 directing finalist on HBO's Project Greenlight for her short Day One, and wrote and directed the action-romance pilot Resistance for SYFY. She also has extensive music video credits.

KG
MG
Written by

Katy Garretson & Micah Goldman

TV comedy veterans turned vertical writing team

Together, Katy and Micah sold their first five vertical series, then two more, including YA series for Shorties and Chera TV. Their work is grounded, funny and character-driven: the opposite of billionaire-and-mistress verticals. CONFIRM · credits they're OK naming

Katy Garretson spent two decades as a half-hour comedy director, including Frasier and 2 Broke Girls, after coming up through the DGA training program. She is a former professor of directing at USC and former CEO of an educational nonprofit for at-risk youth. DRAFT · swap in Katy's bio

Micah Goldman started on the production staff of The Office, wrote a pilot for Fox, and worked as a development executive before producing a comedy feature. He now writes vertical series full time. DRAFT · swap in Micah's bio

Timeline

Scripts locked before the holidays. Delivered February 5.

Week of Nov 16Kickoff

Pulse survey and parent think tank.

Tue Nov 24Season arc

Series bible and 9 episode beats to BPI.

Wed Dec 9Scripts

All 9 scripts, then 2 rounds of notes.

Fri Dec 18Scripts locked

Cast and locations approved.

Thu Jan 7Shoot

1 day in Los Angeles. Backup Jan 8.

Jan 11 to 29Edit

3 rounds of notes, picture lock Jan 29.

Fri Feb 5Delivery

Finished episodes, captioned and clean, plus stills.

Week of Feb 8Launch

Episode 1 live, then weekly.

Investment

Union or non-union, both fit the budget.

You asked whether both are doable. They are. Since the lead is expected to be SAG-AFTRA, the union version is our primary bid. A detailed estimate is attached.

Union (primary)$100,000

All-in, with SAG-AFTRA supporting cast. To bring the union version in on budget, VERT has reduced its standard 20% production fee to 13.7%.

Non-union$92,436

All-in, with non-union supporting cast.

Assumptions

  • The celebrity or influencer lead's fee is handled by BPI and isn't included.
  • Talent usage: 1 year, US only, on Take9's owned social channels plus paid social. Longer terms or other media quoted separately.
  • Union talent rates are estimates, to be confirmed with a SAG-AFTRA payroll company.
  • Not included: Craig Newmark appearance costs, travel outside Los Angeles, paid media, cutdowns or translated versions.
  • VERT production fee: our standard 20% of production and post on the non-union version, reduced to 13.7% on the union version. No fee is charged on talent, pension and health, or payroll.
  • Payment: 50% on award, 25% at the shoot, 25% on delivery.
Aligned work

Series that hook people. Campaigns that move them.

Series from our director and writers, and campaigns led by VERT's founder. Tap a tile to play. VIDEO LINKS · Compatibility Experiment, Heartstrings and Lies, Micah & Katy, Zero Proof

Next steps

Let's make the pause everyone's habit.

We'd love a follow-up call this week to walk through the approach. On award, we're ready to kick off the week of November 16.

Hope Dotson Farley · Founder & Executive Producer
hope@vert-tv.com · vert-tv.com