Women-Centered, Artist-Owned: A Q&A With Chera TV
Streaming Media has been tracking the trend of vertical microdramas (aka vertical dramas), with a recent conference session focusing on them. There are multiple companies gaining traction in the space, and now there’s a new entrant, Chera TV, hoping its unique approach of being what it calls “the first artist-owned vertical streaming platform” can entice viewers to give it a try as it introduces its dramas this spring.
Chera’s easy-to-navigate app convinced me, for one. There isn’t much to the platform yet because Chera is just starting to roll out shows, but so far I haven’t experienced any glitches or dead ends. I watched one of its inaugural dramas, which debuted April 27: To Her Beat, a coming-of-age romance and friendship story set at a dance academy, which costs $14.99 to buy. (I appreciate that Chera didn’t push a subscription on me, unlike many streaming services.) I found it engaging even with the simple sets and script, and it had high production quality and passable-to-good acting throughout. The group dance scenes didn’t suffer from the restrictions of a vertical frame. Perhaps a big draw for audiences will be that the story is told through the female gaze, which is always good to see. To Her Beat even passes the Bechdel Test despite its love-triangle plotline. (Most romances don’t.) It handles what could be a tired trope in a refreshingly mature way.
The app’s gamification was distracting at first—I earned 10 “cherry points” for every segment of show I watched—but by the halfway mark, I was looking forward to the ping notifying me I had earned more points. About 15,000 points earns the viewer a free show. Chera premiered another original series on April 27 called Legal Queens, which is a reality series set in a Los Angeles law firm featuring female lawyers. A Shot at Love (a fake-dating romance set at a couples’ retreat) will debut on May 18. The app is also advertising psychological thriller Ashton Heights as coming soon.
I asked questions of the three partners leading Chera, all of whom contributed to the answers:
Left to right, Chera TV execs Calvin Singh, Kylie Carson, and Candace Mizga
Brandi Scardilli: Chera calls itself the first artist-owned streaming platform. What does that mean for how rights to the content and profit sharing are determined?
Chera: Being artist-owned means the people actually creating the work—writers, directors, actors, producers—aren’t just hired hands, they’re stakeholders. At Chera, we structure deals so creatives retain meaningful participation in the upside of their projects. Instead of a traditional buyout model where a platform owns everything, we prioritize shared ownership, backend participation, and transparency in how revenue flows for above-the-line talent. The goal is simple: If a show succeeds, the artists who made it successful benefit from that success.
How is Chera able to maintain fair pay standards and to pay residuals while still scaling its business?
We’ve built our model around volume and efficiency, not excess. Instead of putting tens of millions into one project, we fund multiple low-budget shows. That allows us to employ more people, maintain fair pay across the board, and still build in residual structures. For us, scaling isn’t about cutting labor, it’s about smart production and reinvesting back into the creative community.
What are some of the other ways Chera maintains ethical standards and protocols across its productions?
We think about ethics both on-screen and behind the scenes. That starts with creating safe and respectful sets. Clear communication, strong boundaries, and support for cast and crew, especially around things like intimacy and working conditions. We’re also focused on transparency and fairness, whether that’s compensation, crediting, or protecting people’s likeness in an evolving landscape with AI. And just as importantly, we’re intentional about who we bring into the process, making sure there’s real diversity of perspective, and that those voices are empowered to shape the work. We make it a priority to build a culture where people feel respected, protected, and creatively fulfilled.
What content guardrails are put in place to avoid the pitfalls of the romance genre, which is typified by poor representations of women? How have the shows’ creative teams been assembled to support that?
We’re aware of the history of the genre, and we actively push against it. That starts with who’s in the room; our teams are diverse, and many of our stories are shaped by women and people who haven’t historically had authorship in this space. On the content side, we look for agency, emotional realism, and relationships that feel earned rather than exploitative. We’re not interested in stories that objectify women, we’re interested in stories that center them.
The viewers of vertical dramas tend to be women. Why is that a valuable audience for Chera to appeal to?
Women are a hugely valuable audience because they’re deeply engaged and incredibly discerning when it comes to storytelling. In vertical drama especially, they’ve been driving viewership but often without being fully served in terms of depth and representation. For us, that’s an opportunity to build real trust through more intentional, thoughtful stories. At the same time, the vertical space is still so new. There’s a massive untapped audience, and we’re excited to connect with both the current viewers and bring in new ones who haven’t yet been reached by vertical storytelling.
Does Chera use AI? If so, how does it continue to center the human elements of production? If not, why was that decision made?
We view AI as a tool, not a replacement for human creativity. It can be helpful in certain parts of the process, like pre-production planning or post-production efficiencies, but it should never come at the expense of the people actually making the work. At Chera, we’re very clear about that line: You will never see us replacing actors, writers, or creatives with AI. Performance, storytelling, and artistic expression are inherently human. If something isn’t created by a human, it stops being art. Our focus is on protecting and elevating the people behind the work, not replacing them.
How does Chera approach visual storytelling and shot composition in the vertical genre? Does it require adaptation from traditional methods, or are creatives and camera operators already “vertical natives”?
We don’t approach vertical as a limitation, and we treat it as a different canvas for cinematic storytelling. At Chera, we’re very intentional about being cinematic-first. A lot of our directors, DPs, and crew come out of traditional film and television, so the foundation is still rooted in strong visual language including composition, lighting, lensing, and blocking. What’s changed is how we apply those fundamentals to a vertical frame. Where we’ve really leaned in is shooting both horizontally and vertically simultaneously is that it forces a higher level of discipline. You can’t “cheat” framing, it has to work in both formats. So yes, there is adaptation, but it’s not about relearning storytelling, it’s about reframing it.
And that’s where our crews stand out. They’re not “vertical natives” in the sense of coming up only in mobile-first content. They’re experienced filmmakers who’ve adapted their craft. That’s a big difference. We’re not chasing trends, we’re bringing the rigor and quality bar of traditional film/TV into a new format. Ultimately, our goal is to elevate the space. Vertical doesn’t have to feel disposable or low-fi. It can and should feel as considered, as emotional, and as visually compelling as anything you’d see on a traditional screen.
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