The Brief

When Lilly Lion graduated from the prestigious American Film Institute in June 2024, she was anxious about her prospects.

“It was pretty rough,” Lion said. “The job options were bleak.”

She had enrolled in film school because she wanted to be a director. The movies that inspired her were independent dramas like the films of acclaimed French director Céline Sciamma. But leaving film school, she needed to take whatever job she could find.

“I needed work fast or else I was going to move back to Oregon," Lion said. "And I knew a lot of people working in the vertical world, a lot of the AFI producers.”

That’s how Lion found herself doing second assistant director and script supervising work on sets for micro dramas like Flash Marriage to Mature Tycoon and Pregnant Heiress Pampered by Five Uncles.

Lilly Lion, 30, graduated from the director’s program at American Film Institute in June 2024. In a tough job market for film production, she found regular work in the emerging market of vertical shorts.

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James Chow

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What is a micro drama or vertical short?

Vertical shorts or micro dramas are shot vertically to be optimized for watching on a phone. Each episode is usually one to two minutes with a series lasting 20 to 100 episodes.

These shows are available on specific micro drama apps like Reel Short or Drama Box, and they’re designed to be binged.

“The best way I can describe them is basically soap operas for the TikTok era,” said Robert Steiner, media analyst for Luminate, an entertainment industry analytics company. “Very low budgets, huge episode counts, and  the most common subplots of these shows are ‘I secretly married a billionaire’ or ‘my secret life as a werewolf.’”  

Vertical shorts first took off in China around the beginning of the pandemic and have since spread globally. The growth of revenue for the industry has been massive over the last year. In January of 2024, micro dramas made $23 million; this January, $122 million.

What's the impact on the job market in L.A.?

According to Rolling Stone, there are an estimated 30 to 40 vertical shorts productions a month in L.A. These jobs are not as coveted as union jobs. They pay less and can have grueling shooting schedules.

But for Lilly Lion, the recent AFI directing grad, she’s been really grateful to have work at all.

“The benefit of working on a vertical is that they're happening all the time,” Lion said. “They're always employing. As a director and as a writer, I'm able to keep really fresh.”

Lion says most of the people she works with on these shoots are also recent grads who are trying to get their feet in the industry's doors.

And Lion is feeling more hopeful about her career now than she was a year ago.

 “ I'm in a place where I can shoot my next short film, and I'm currently editing a music video,” Lion said. “I feel a lot better now than when I graduated on an independent level. I can't speak for the industry though.”

Are micro dramas the future of Hollywood?

“I don't think micro dramas are going to be winning Emmys anytime soon,” said Steiner, media analyst for Variety. “But I do think it would be unwise for the mainstream industry to look down upon this corner of the industry. If this growth continues, it's only up from here.”

Norway’s historic World Cup performance has brought together Southern California’s relatively small, but spirited Norwegian community.

They’ve been packing into a San Pedro Church, a Westside Irish bar and have taught people to row like a Viking at watch parties throughout the region, after Norway qualified this year for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

Several Norway soccer watch parties, including the one at Joxer Daly's in Culver City, promise waffles.

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“This whole experience also just reminded me of why I'm proud of being Norwegian and all of these values that the society and my parents instilled upon me from a young age,” said Vilde Vevatne, who was born and raised in Oslo, but now lives in L.A.

She’s proud of the team’s performance on the pitch, but also their attitude outside of the matches.

“  How kind and humble the team are being … They're not bragging unnecessarily,” Vevatne said. “They're genuinely just excited to be there. They're doing their best job and not thinking they're better than anyone else.”

Vevatne says it’s the embodiment of the Law of Jante.

“That's like an unwritten rule in Norwegian culture where we're taught from a young age ‘Don't think you're special. Don't think you're better than everyone else,’” Vevatne said. “Just be part of the pack and just be a nice, genuine person."

Norway's Erling Haaland has scored seven goals in the World Cup as of July 8. “ I think he has just exploded as a superstar coming out of the game,” said Erik Steigen.

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And now SoCal’s Nordic community has an open invitation for anyone looking for a team to support during the quarter-finals.

Row with us. (The practice of imitating a Viking longboat of warriors rowing into battle started within the last year, but quickly became a viral phenomenon.)

“ We're a small country. We need every fan we can have,” said Petter Isaksen, who helped organize the watch parties at the Norwegian Seaman’s Church in San Pedro.

Waffles, rowing and Norwegian soccer

The Norwegian Seaman’s Church or Sjømannskirken was founded in 1941 to serve the community of Nordic sailors in San Pedro.

“Now there are almost no Norwegian sailors left, but there's still a lot of Norwegians in L.A. and in SoCal,” Isaksen, who works as a host at the church, said. “We're there for them as a church and as a cultural center,”

There are about 42,000 people who reported Norwegian ancestry in L.A. County according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey estimate.

The church hosts groups for toddlers, knitting and Norwegian language classes in addition to a Sunday Lutheran service that welcomes all faiths.

And five days a week, there are waffles for sale— always heart-shaped and with your choice of goat cheese, jam or sour cream.

“We can eat several,” Isaksen said.

The Seaman's Church in San Pedro has long been a gathering place for Southern California Norwegians and has hosted watch parties since the World Cup qualifying matches.

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Isaksen has followed Norway’s football team “since I was born,” and started organizing the watch parties at the church during the qualifying matches.

He said dozens of people, including several new to the church, have attended each watch party for communal singing, waffle-eating and rowing.

“Everyone, whether they're, like, 12 weeks or 99-years-old, they're in on it,” Isaksen said. “It's so much fun, and it brings so much togetherness.”

Cathrine Chiaro, left, and Petter Isaksen, right, both work at the Norwegian Seaman's Church in San Pedro.

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‘Where are all the Norwegians at?’

A Culver City Irish sports bar has become another bastion of Norwegian pride during the World Cup thanks to Erik Steigen.

When he first moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago to work in the music industry, he didn’t prioritize seeking out his countrymen.

“I'm not moving to the US… to hang out with Norwegians and eat lutefisk,” Steigen said, referencing the divisive dried, lye-soaked fish. “I'm here to try to build a career and pursue my own dreams.”

But that changed about a decade ago.

Petter Wichman, right, and his son Erik, left. During the knockout game against Brazil, they lead the whole bar in a session of rowing, despite the fact that most people were cheering for their opponents.

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“I started wondering, ‘Where are all the Norwegians at?’” Steigen said. He joined the board of the Seaman’s Church in San Pedro and today helps organize events through Peer Gynt LA, a cultural group that evolved from an early 20th century chapter of the Sons of Norway lodge.

“When you're from a different country — I've spent most of my life in the U.S. now — I think you become extra patriotic about your native country,” Steigen said.

So why organize a watch party at an Irish sports bar?

Steigen is a lifelong soccer fan, but when he first arrived in the U.S., the national team’s games didn’t broadcast in the states. So he adopted the Liverpool Football Club and often catches the games at Joxer Daly's in Culver City.

When people asked him where to watch Norway play, he defaulted to his home bar.

Steigen wasn’t sure if anyone would show up to watch Norway take on Iraq in their first match, but dozens did — and Norway won 4-1.

“ It's amazing how many Norwegians really exist in L.A. that you've never heard of,” Steigen said.

From left, Erik Steigen, Finn "The Viking" Orvin and Henning Gabrielsen are among the many Norway fans that have watched the matches at Joxer Daly's in Culver City.

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Elise Maeland, has attended several of the matches at Joxer Daly’s.

She’s made a handful of Norwegian friends since moving to Southern California more than a decade ago for grad school, but outside of May 17, Norway’s Constitution Day, she said there are few large Norwegian gatherings.

“I feel like that was what was really cool about the World Cup is that it really brought Norwegians together in L.A.,” Maeland said.

She hasn’t decided whether she’ll watch Saturday’s quarter-final at Joxer Daly’s or join a larger watch party in Venice Beach.

“ I'll go where the most Norwegians go,” Maeland said.

Where to watch the game

Saturday’s quarter-final game between Norway and England in Miami is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. local time.

The Seaman’s Church / Sjømannskirken

Joxer Daly's

Los Angeles World Cup 26 Fan Zone at Venice Beach

The San Gabriel Valley is heading into peak mosquito season. If a new program goes well, there'll be even more of the pesky fliers than normal — and that's a good thing.

The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District is releasing more than 480,000 mosquitoes over the next few months, with an aim to squash the invasive ankle-biters known as Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

What’s happening

The San Gabriel Valley is one of the L.A. County areas that regularly get a lot of mosquitoes, but every season can be different. As well as being a major outdoor annoyance, Aedes aegypti is the primary carrier of dengue, and while local transmission is historically very low, the species is tough to kill off because their eggs can survive in tiny amounts of water.

That’s why the district is using a technique that introduces sterile insects into the mix. The mosquitoes they’re releasing between now and October are males that carry Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria that makes them unable to have offspring with wild females.

Male mosquitoes don’t bite, so while residents may see more of them, they won’t leave a trail of those itchy bumps.

It’s a technique that’s been used elsewhere in SoCal, including San Bernardino County, with some success.

They’re going to the unincorporated community of Basset, just south of Baldwin Park, because it historically sees more activity. The area averaged more mosquitoes per trap than the district’s service area between 2020 and 2025, according to Anais Medina Diaz, communications director for the district.

Over 16 weeks, these urban bloodsuckers will be released from cardboard tubes in a 25-acre area between the intersections of East Temple Avenue, Millbury Avenue, Moccasin Street and Vineland Avenue.

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They likely won’t travel much farther beyond that. Aedes aegypti populations are known for being short-distance flyers, covering about a tenth of a mile in their lifetime.

Why now?

Mosquitoes are becoming a year-around problem for Southern California, but there are still peaks to the season.

For the San Gabriel Valley, Medina Diaz said the higher Aedes activity happens between August and October.

The district’s program is also lasting longer than other programs in L.A. County for a specific reason. They want to increase the chances for sterile males to mate with wild females, which can live up to two months, according to the district.

By stopping new female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from being born, Medina Diaz said they hope residents won’t have to deal with as many bites.

Americans have a new way to invest in their kids' futures: Trump Accounts launched over the weekend. Congress approved them last year as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans' tax and spending law. They function similarly to retirement accounts, but instead of being for adults preparing for their senior years, they're for assisting kids with the start of their adult lives.

The money in these accounts will be invested in an index fund that broadly tracks the stock market. Any American citizen under age 18 can have an account, and once they turn 18, they can access that money for things like education or buying a house. (The money can also be used for other purchases, but that comes with a tax penalty.)

The accounts function as a kind of digital "donation bucket" that many people can contribute to — kids' families, but also philanthropists, their parents' employers, and even the government. Contributions from family and other adults in the children's lives are made in after-tax dollars; contributions from others, such as employers or the government, are pre-tax. The child will only pay tax on the investment's growth once they withdraw the funding.

But there are already plenty of other options for parents to invest in, from education saving plans to their own retirement accounts. So should you sign up your family for Trump accounts? Here are four things to consider.

Your child could get free money from the federal government 

If you have a child born between 2025 and the end of 2028, financial advisors say signing up for a Trump Account should be a simple decision for one reason: The child's account will automatically get a $1,000 seed contribution from the federal government.

Financial planner Michael Reynolds with Indiana's Elevation Financial did the math for Morning Edition and said that, even without any additional investments, that $1,000 would become almost $4,000 by the time a kid turns 18. (That's assuming an 8% rate of return and doesn't count the income tax that has to be paid on the growth and initial federal contribution.)

Your kid might be eligible for other donations

Kids born before that window are not completely out of luck. Millions of them under age 11 will still get $250. That comes from more than $6.25 billion donated by Michael and Susan Dell of Dell Technologies.

That money will only go to children who don't qualify for the federal contribution. To qualify, their families must also live in zip codes where the median family income is under $150,000.

And if your children don't qualify for the Dell donation, there are other options that could come your way.

Some companies are also offering contributions, like the memory chip maker Micron. It's giving $250 to up to a million children living near some of its worksites in states like Minnesota, California and New York, as a way to support the local workforce and community. Micron will also match employee donations to their own children's accounts, up to $1,000 per kid.

Other companies, including Mastercard, Uber and Visa, are also offering matches to employees.

That includes some small businesses, too. "We're going to try it out," said Luke Delorme, co-owner and director of financial planning at the finance firm Tableaux Wealth. "Maybe it'll fit into their financial picture in the future in some meaningful way."

Consider your own retirement funding first

Parents should also prioritize their own retirement before putting money away for their kids' retirement, said Carrie Joy Grimes, CEO of the nonprofit personal finance company WorkMoney.

She suggests parents max out their own retirement accounts before other options, "because what happens is we put money into our kids' stuff, and then we end up needing help in retirement — and that is a way worse financial stress on our kids."

Your kids may also benefit from a 529 education plan

Parents can already choose to invest for their children's futures through 529 savings plans. As with Trump accounts, family members can contribute to these plans with post-tax dollars.But there are differences. First, 529 plans allow kids to withdraw the money tax-free. And second, that money can only be used for education.

Parents can opt for both. Financial advisors say how families can benefit from Trump Accounts will depend on their financial situation. For wealthier families with parents who can already afford to max out their retirement accounts and put aside money in a 529, Trump Accounts are essentially an extra tax benefit for their kids.

Ray Boshara, a senior policy advisor at the Aspen Institute, says that lower-income families will primarily benefit from having that digital donation bucket that can accrue contributions for their kids. Those children might be able to start their adult lives with thousands of dollars they otherwise wouldn't have had.

"These accounts will be transformative for them," Boshara says.

Note: Dell Technologies is a financial supporter of NPR.

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