Bradley Bell, the longtime executive producer of The Bold and the Beautiful, is already planning a second season of his new microdrama Hollywood Starlet before the first season has even premiered. The series will debut in mid-August on aTwist, a microdrama studio and platform founded by Jana Winograde, Susan Rovner and Lloyd Braun. Produced by Bradley Bell and his son Oliver Bell through their Red Flair Entertainment banner, the first season will include 44 short episodes, each running between 90 and 120 seconds.
Oliver Bell said at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival that pre-production on Season 2 is already underway, with the goal of building Hollywood Starlet into a serialized vertical drama franchise. He said the production team expects much of the cast to return, including vertical drama performers Bella Mraz, Molly Anderson and Eric Guilmette.
The project will not include any crossover from The Bold and the Beautiful or The Young and the Restless, but Bell said the new series is intended to capture the spirit of classic daytime soap operas while avoiding some of the more problematic elements often seen in microdramas. He said he was inspired by watching ReelShort and other Chinese-made vertical dramas, which he found compelling but sometimes offensive in their treatment of women. Bell said he wanted to create an American version that features strong women and family-centered storytelling.
Bell is attending the Monte-Carlo TV Festival alongside several stars from The Bold and the Beautiful while also filming for the soap. Katherine Kelly Lang, Thorsten Kaye, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, Tanner Novlan and Kimberlin Brown are all in Monte Carlo for both the festival and the production schedule. The team has done the dual festival-and-filming routine several times before.
The move highlights Bell’s growing interest in the fast-expanding vertical drama format, which delivers serialized stories in very short episodes designed for mobile viewing. With Hollywood Starlet, Bell is aiming to blend the pacing of microdramas with the character-driven, emotional storytelling associated with traditional soap operas. The early development of a second season suggests confidence in the project and a broader ambition to turn it into a lasting digital franchise.
