How Geoffrey Calhoun Developed Elsy as a Vertical Series


InkTip: Can you tell me about the story of Elsy and what drew you to tell it as a vertical series?

Geoffrey Calhoun: I was actually going to make Elsy probably ten years ago or so, when web series were just starting to come out. I initially was going to do that as a web series where they were going to be longer episodes, three to five minutes. That all kind of got cold, so I put it away. I kind of missed that window and just continued on my career.

Then I started to notice verticals were coming out and getting really popular, and also noticing that they're all very limited in how they're shot. It's all close-ups, medium close-ups. It's all very soap opera-like, so it's werewolves and billionaires and love triangles.

But I was seeing it as an opportunity to really become more cinematic in the approach of shooting. I thought, this is an untapped potential, because no one's really doing that.

Verticals came along, and I thought, this is my second chance to really take advantage of it. Visually, verticals are not very cinematic in their approach. It's usually a plain background with medium close-ups or close-ups. And I thought, man, we can really do a lot with this.

I pitched a couple of friends of mine who are really talented, Kristy Leigh Lussier and Lee Vander Boegh, and I was like, “Hey, this is my pitch. I think I want to make a show that will be the standard in five to ten years, whereas right now no one's doing it.”

So we wanted to really come at it with interesting framing and compositions, with a cinematic quality, and how to take advantage of a vertical frame in doing that. We spent weeks creating storyboards and stuff for that to really make it happen, and I think we did.


InkTip: How do you structure a story across twenty-one episodes, and what did that teach you about pacing for a vertical audience?

Calhoun: Vertical episodes tend to all be about leading toward that cliffhanger, right? You want that cliffhanger to bring them into the next episode because you're fighting the mighty thumb swipe. That's the easiest aspect to look at it.

But I really looked at the entire story, the entire twenty-one episodes, as a macro arc. Then I have all these little mini episode arcs that are leading toward that climax.

So ending episodes not just on a big, shocking moment, but ending episodes on an emotional moment, or a suspenseful moment, or a thriller moment, or an action moment. Really finding whatever character development I can create within that structure of, “I've gotta have this cliffhanger, and I also have to have an emotional arc each episode.”

I don't like episodes structured that are just completely flat emotionally. I want you to have that kind of rhythm, that musical rhythm, going through each episode, leading to that big moment.

Some of my arcs are purely emotional. Some of them are suspenseful, of course. Sometimes I even end them in silence because you want to know what's going on, and then bringing them into the next moment, the next episode. It's a series of moments.


InkTip: How did writing for a phone change the way you thought about the production?

Calhoun: Definitely in paring the production down, because I knew that I was going to self-fund it. So then it came down to: what is my budget, and how do I write toward that budget?

Cutting out a lot of extra things I didn't need in there. At one point I had her repairing a generator, and that's just extra stuff I need to repair that generator. How can we make that slightly different and within budget?

And really finding the bones of the story, but still staying true to what I'm trying to say with the story and keeping the emotional impact.

Really finding the relationship between the two people, focusing on that, but still building out that set as a character itself, because it's so prominent on frame.


InkTip: With so much of Elsy dependent on one actor in a contained setting, how did you approach performance?

Calhoun: We had limited shooting days, so we had to really get through all of those episodes. We were shooting nine to ten pages a day sometimes.

We put out an open casting call, and I was surprised at how many people we had. I thought that it would be hard to find cast and crew. It was easy. People were excited about the project.

So it came down to finding not just someone who can embody the character, but someone that could really perform emotion in that silence, because we're doing a thriller.

It's not just going to be talking heads, and not overly dramatic. I wanted someone that could really show their emotion in their face subtly.

I would watch self-tapes and auditions, and I would shut the sound off and just watch it to see how their face was performing, how they were using their body, if they were able to convey what they're experiencing emotionally, internally, without it being overacting and with it feeling authentic.

Then, if I liked that, I would play only the sound and listen to how they sound. How are their intonations? How are their tones? And then finally listen to it all together, and I would pare that down.


InkTip: You also wanted the shelter itself to function almost like another character. How did you create that sense of space inside such a narrow frame?

Calhoun: I always wanted to create depth and find compositions that were interesting to look at.

So we were building things that we could put in the foreground, then putting stuff in the background, and figuring out how we can create depth there and create what feels almost claustrophobic by controlling the lighting.

We used a lot of practical lighting, and then where we couldn't use practical lighting, of course, we used our lighting kit.

But we wanted everything to feel as real as possible and to make her feel closed in, and to show that set as a character itself because she had been living in it for 186 days.

So we were designing it: where is she eating? Where is she sleeping? What is it like where she's sleeping? What kind of supplies did they have? What has she lost? What is she clinging on to?

When I set up her radio table, I carved in 186 days on it, that she was keeping track, and then randomly carved in her initials on it too, because I was kind of just bored. And it came out really great.

We have a wall of conspiracy theories because her dad was a conspiracy theorist. We have a wall of conspiracy theories of all the ways the world could have ended, and they don't know how.

And then, as the articles of the conspiracy theories, the people who we put as the journalists were actually crew. So crew had their name on all of these different articles, and people would keep the articles with them as a keepsake. So we built a lot of life into that set.


InkTip: Did releasing Elsy episodically on social media change the way you thought about audience engagement?

Calhoun: We did an A/B test. Our first A test, we cut it specifically and colored it specifically for how traditional verticals are done—very fast-paced cuts, very high-key, very bright—and we put that out to see how that looked.

Then we put out our B test of the vision of it: a darker color palette, a darker tone, lots of heavy, inky shadows around the frame to make it feel claustrophobic, some amber lighting to create a softer mood, and longer cuts.

So instead of quick cuts, we hang on her for a few moments to really let the performance come out. And those have had better engagement.

So we're actually going with the original thought of it being a suspenseful thriller taking its time, instead of trying to be that kind of frantic, fast cut that normal verticals are.


InkTip: How did making a vertical differ from working on a conventional feature film?

Calhoun: We shot it like an indie micro-budget film, so our budget was about ten K. You'll see budgets for verticals anywhere from one hundred to two hundred thousand, and we're shooting it at ten K.

So the whole thing came into: let's shoot this as a micro-budget short or film.

We had multiple people doing multiple jobs. I was in there. I was doing costuming. I was helping out with background. I spent three days in my garage painting foam panels so they looked like concrete walls.

We were just very indie, very gritty. Everybody was paid, and they were paid fair wages, and that was really important to me.

I think my learning curve was directing, because I always thought directing was just about control: running the set, controlling how your actors perform.

I quickly realized that directing is really more about bringing everybody together, finding the same vision, and being the guy to help people understand what they need to do in order to achieve their job, whether that be sound or talent.

So I really became that guy of: how do we get to this point, to where we need to be? And I think it created a wonderful, wonderful experience.


InkTip: How do you think verticals are changing the opportunities available for writers and filmmakers?

Calhoun: I think it's approachable now. I think it's early in the process to where you can be an indie guy and get out there and start doing it.

But you do see a lot of consolidation. You do see a lot of bigger streamers getting into it. You do see a lot of bigger production companies starting to invest a lot more in it.

So will the little man get squeezed out? I don't know, but there is still opportunity for you to get out there and start making your stuff vertically.

Vertical has kind of a bad reputation. People kind of look at it as cheaper film, and I think that's the wrong way to look at it.

I think people should really consider looking at vertical as a different canvas. It's a different canvas. The way you set up your shots is completely different. The way you dress the set is completely different.

We had to dress our set. We had background going up ten feet, and normally you would have background seven feet, eight feet tops.

We had background going almost all the way to the ceiling because you're shooting that way and you're angling your shots. So you need the set.

The set felt like a complete set. It felt like a shelter because we had to go so high with all of the background. I would treat it as a different canvas.


InkTip: A lot of vertical productions are being created with AI. What are your thoughts on the sudden explosion of AI in the industry?

Calhoun: I think AI is everywhere. I don't think it should replace the writing process.

I absolutely agree with the idea that for writers—it's important for us to stay connected to the script.

I also think that AI can be used as an assistant. I think it can be something you can bounce ideas off of, but I wouldn't use it to be creating original work.


InkTip: Do you think verticals are here to stay?

Calhoun: I don't think verticals are going anywhere. I think it's going to mature. I think it's going to evolve.

And that's what we were trying to do with Elsy, to show, “Hey, this is where it can go.”

It doesn't just have to be extreme close-ups and high-key lighting and very flat backgrounds. You can make this thing visually appealing.

And we have some incredible shots I'm very proud of. They really help deepen the atmosphere and even show more about who she is as a person.


InkTip: Is there anything you know now about making verticals that you wish you had known before you started Elsy?

Calhoun: I think I just needed more shooting days. We worked so hard, and everybody was pushed to their limits.

And I think if I had one extra shooting day, it would have allowed us to have a lot more fun creating newer stuff that we might not have been able to get to.

So we had to lose a couple of scenes, but I think in the end it worked out. I think a couple more shooting days would pull some pressure off and allow for a little bit more play.


InkTip: How can people see Elsy?

Calhoun: Elsy right now, you can get it on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. @ScreenwriterPod is my handle on Instagram and TikTok, and @TheSuccessfulScreenwriter is it on YouTube.

And we're drip-feeding it, so one episode every few days.

We're also approaching some apps, some vertical apps, and even some networks have expressed some interest, so we're approaching them as well. We have twenty-one episodes total.

What Screenwriters Can Learn From Elsy

Calhoun’s experience with Elsy shows that writing a vertical series involves more than shortening scenes or turning a camera sideways.

For writers and filmmakers exploring the format, his approach emphasizes several principles:

  • Build each episode around its own emotional or dramatic arc, not just a cliffhanger.

  • Think about the complete season as a larger macro arc.

  • Write toward the realities of your production budget.

  • Use the vertical frame intentionally rather than treating it as a limitation.

  • Let performance, production design, lighting, and composition do storytelling work.

  • Test assumptions about what audiences expect from vertical content.

As Calhoun puts it, vertical filmmaking is “a different canvas.” For screenwriters entering the format now, learning how to use that canvas may be just as important as learning how to keep viewers from making the next thumb swipe.

 

Thomas Blakeley is a screenwriter, playwright, and musical theatre bookwriter based out of Los Angeles and New York City. A graduate of NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, he is passionate about the arts, social justice, and all things nerdy. He can usually be found scouring the horror section of a local bookstore.