While much of Hollywood was consumed by the streaming wars, Issa Rae was studying a different mode of entertainment thousands of miles away: microdramas.

No stranger to creating a successful online series, the Emmy-nominated actor and producer became intrigued by China's booming market for the short, mobile-first soap operas, seeing its potential to build audiences and intellectual property.

In May, Rae's Hoorae Media released the thriller Screen Time, one of the first major studio-quality microdrama projects developed by an established Hollywood production company. The TikTok-backed series drew nearly 75 million views during its first week.