Artist Spotlight: Melissa Heads to Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival in Ottawa

2024 through 2025 was the year of the vertical drama series across indie film in North America, and they show no sign of stopping. Having been hugely successful in Asia, their migration into the US and Canadian markets came with a bit of a boom. A genre made for quick production, and even quicker consumption, Melissa’s team has crewed up for a total of 8 separate vertical drama titles to date. 

Starting with the release of My Ex Boyfriend’s Uncle Gone Wild at the end of 2024, Melissa got her first taste of what would shockingly make up most of her 2025 income. She went on to key another 4 vertical drama titles and assist on 4 others across a total of 3 production companies, each demanding a highly-visual, full feature-length production shot in as little as a week.

Arguably one of the most experienced makeup artists of the Vertical Series Genre in Toronto, Melissa has been invited to speak on them at the upcoming Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival Panel entitled Vertical Short-Form Drama Series. Kicking off the final afternoon of the Festival, Melissa and Producer James Micolta will share tales of intense shooting schedules, wild budgeting, and touching trauma bonds, working both together and apart. 

The panel takes place at 2:30 pm on Sunday, December 7 at Club SAW, and will be hosted by Producer Sabine Daniel. This will be Melissa’s second such invitation as a sub-genre expert, having spoken on SFX Makeup at TIFF NextWave Film Festival’s Young Creators Co-Lab in 2024.