Filming Wraps On ‘Rags 2 Richmond’ As The Hit Microdrama Becomes A Movie

EXCLUSIVE: From microdrama to movie. Filming has now wrapped in Canada on Rags 2 Richmond, a feature-length adaptation of the hit vertical drama of the same name.

Jonathan Wong, Justina Shih and Simon Yin created the original series, with 28 vertically-formatted eps made for social platforms. The feature builds out the universe created in the series.

The musical dramedy stars Wong as Nathan, who enters Canada’s first-ever Asian male beauty pageant in hopes of making it in the entertainment biz. He and a ragtag group of contestants rise up against the odds in a world of music and mayhem, spanning Hong Kong and Vancouver. A song from the original show’s soundtrack, ‘Low Key’, was released and became a hit, with Wong performing on Korean TV and at festivals.

The movie project came to pass after the shortform drama took off, notching 9M views in its first month. Doors then started to open and the Rags 2 Richmond team partnered with social media content and talent agency Viral Nation and its Head of Programming, Paul Telner.

The movie adaptation has now completed filming in Richmond and Vancouver, with Vancouver-based Tesh Guttikonda (Lowlifes) directing from a script by Wong, Patrick Do and Aaron Sprecher. Octagon Metatainment is the prodco.

Wong stars in the film, reprising his earlier role, and the film also introduces a central female character, played by Jennifer Tong (Fakes). The cast also includes established Hong Kong stars Nancy Sit (The God of Cookery) and Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs). Vancouver-based Shannon Kook (The Conjuring: Last Rites), and newcomer Yasmine Ross also star. The team behind the film tells us distribution talks are underway and the aim is for a theatrical release.

There is a lot of buzz around vertical drama with frothy forecasts for viewing numbers and revenues for the ultra-shortform series, which started out in Asia and are taking root around the world. Rags 2 Richmond is an interesting a case study as a microdrama that has spawned a full-length movie.

Viral Nation’s Telner spoke to Deadline about the microdrama-to-feature model. “The trajectory of the Rags 2 Richmond IP signals a viable new content loop: incubate IP on social media through engaging formats, collect data, then tailor make a theatrical-ready film that reliably plays to an existing fanbase,” he said.