Paddy Ma Wendi, a director of vertical dramas since 2023, has had a front-row seat to how fast and hard artificial intelligence has affected the mobile-first entertainment genre in 2026. Digital content farms have started churning out short productions – serialised stories made for smartphones and usually watched in portrait mode – using the latest AI technology. “When I was in the US [for a live-action vertical drama], I usually hired about 20 to 30 people, including the actors,” says Ma, who...