Screenwriter and director Salvador Paskowitz and business partner Timothy “Timo” Nelligan have formed LA-based Super Punchy Studios, a new narrative-driven production company focusing on vertical media targeting the growing vertical microdrama industry. Super Punchy Studios’ first vertical title, Step by Step, stars top short-form drama talent, and the first of 60 episodes is set to premiere in May.

“At Super Punchy, we’re not chasing the evolution of vertical storytelling, we are actively shaping it,” reports Paskowitz, who is known for writing The Age of Adaline, producing Ms. Purple and directing The Big Everything. He and Nelligan, a professional civil and environmental engineer and artist, designed Super Punchy Studios to move faster than legacy studios and smarter than volume-driven competitors through their creative leadership, institutional production expertise and owned distribution infrastructure.

“The future of this medium belongs to those who prioritize originality, ownership and efficiency,” adds Nelligan. “We have this and represent a new mindset in the industry that will resonate most with global audiences. We are not volume-driven; we are artist-driven.”

Super Punchy Studios has the backing of Nicole Mattox and Seth Edeen, two vertical media actors and leaders in the creative revolution of vertical storytelling. Mattox works in short films, television and film and has earned the moniker “Vertical Queen 2025.” Edeen is an actor who has starred in over 20 microdramas and gained prominence among global audiences that binge mobile-first media. Mattox and Edeen are also the stars of the aforementioned Step by Step, which is a full feature script written by Kristin Monroe Paskowitz and Halo Gracey and will be produced and distributed through a proprietary Super Punchy app platform.

In terms of tools used on Step by Step, the team shot with two Sony FX6 cameras with Sony G Master lenses. Editing was via Adobe Premiere.