ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how short series have evolved from grassroots web-based experiments into a recognised subsector of the European audiovisual industry. Drawing on a new database of 205 acclaimed series produced between 1998 and 2024, the analysis combines interviews with creators, producers, and festival directors, ethnographic observation at five short series festivals, and desk research. The findings highlight a hybrid ecology based on YouTube as a launchpad for creators and a European festival circuit as a legitimising platform, often repurposed from cinema theatres. This ecology has fostered the rise of creative start-ups and studios, enabling producers to hold culturally sovereign intellectual property, while also exposing them to appropriation by global streaming services. Short series thus embody both innovation and precarity; they disrupt legacy television development, diversify representation, and contribute to a renewed European public sphere, even as ownership struggles shape their future sustainability.
