Wattpad and ReelShort team up to turn three web novels into vertical dramas

Who this is for, and what it helps you decide

Writers serialising English-language romance on Wattpad and similar platforms, and small vertical-drama teams looking for ready-made IP. It helps you decide whether chapter-by-chapter momentum and end-of-chapter hooks are worth treating as an adaptation asset, and whether to follow the next two releases in this deal. It is not a basis for budgeting adaptation income: the announcement includes no contract terms.

What Wattpad's announcement says

Wattpad's company blog announced on October 15 a three-title partnership with ReelShort to adapt popular Wattpad stories into live-action vertical drama series.

The first is Emily Jean's Just One Kiss, which premiered on ReelShort on September 27. Wattpad says it has passed 30 million views and calls it a top-performing title; the announcement does not say how views are counted.

The announcement also says ReelShort has more than 75 million monthly active users worldwide. These figures are the publisher's own, and we have not verified them.

Wattpad's stated reason for the fit: its stories are written chapter by chapter, so they are naturally serialised, with high-stakes drama and cliffhangers that carry over to ReelShort's episodic format.

The slate and release dates

Second is Worth the Chase by FLEURNJARDIN, which the announcement dates to October 27. When we read it, ReelShort's title page showed "Coming Soon" and "Available on Oct 27". Its synopsis: an ordinary, nerdy young woman becomes pregnant after one night with her best friend, a football prodigy about to leave for NFL training, and does not tell him.

Third is Annica Dahl's Taming The Playboy Boss, which the announcement says will premiere in early 2027, with no exact date.

What the announcement leaves out

The announcement does not say how the three titles were chosen, what authors are paid or whether they keep other adaptation rights, whether a submission or selection route will open to more writers, or whether the deal will extend beyond three titles.

We found no public way to apply. If you write on Wattpad, rely on future official notices from Wattpad or ReelShort.

What it may mean for creators (editorial inference, not tested by us)

Of the three, the one with a readable synopsis, Worth the Chase, follows a secret-pregnancy, celebrity-meets-ordinary-person romance line; Taming The Playboy Boss reads, from its title, as boss romance. Three titles are far too few to conclude that ReelShort only wants these genres.

If you serialise, check whether every chapter moves the story and ends on a hook. That is Wattpad's own stated reason for the fit, not a selection standard we have verified.

For drama teams, a web novel with an existing readership plus a platform partnership is one source of IP. But views are not revenue, and the announcement gives no revenue or cost figures.

This week: ReelShort moves into telecom distribution (October 12-18, media reports)

In the same week, Ecofin Agency and other outlets reported that ReelShort and Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) announced a multi-year partnership on October 15 to offer ReelShort content through Max it TV, part of Orange's Max it super-app, across 17 markets in Africa and the Middle East. The reports say four markets launch first in 2026, and that buying a dedicated data bundle gives unlimited viewing while the bundle is valid.

The reports quote Joey Jia, founder and CEO of Crazy Maple Studio, as saying ReelShort's reach through telecom operators has grown to nearly 450 million mobile subscribers in under a year. We could not find Orange's own press release, so we treat this part as media reporting.

Editorial observation: in one week, ReelShort both took adaptation IP from a web-novel platform and used operator data bundles to enter new markets. Two public announcements are not enough to say whether this is a lasting strategy.