Knockout Shorts
Key facts
- Operator / parent
- Independent
- Origin
- United States
- Headquarters
- Not disclosed in the cited reporting
- Launched
- Not disclosed
- Category
- Production / IP
Knockout Shorts is a United States producer of vertical drama. It made Love, Lies & Frank for the platform Shortical, with Peter Gold of Gold Films, a title Variety reported on 12 August 2026 as headlined by James Franco and counted among the first series produced under SAG-AFTRA's Verticals Agreement. Variety states the production did not use AI-generated performances or digital replicas, which makes it one of the few named productions in the category with an explicit position against synthetic performance.
Reported figures
| Metric | Figure | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI use | no AI-generated performances and no digital replicas in Love, Lies & Frank | reported | Variety, 12 August 2026 |
| Labour framework | counted among the first series produced under SAG-AFTRA's Verticals Agreement | reported | Variety, 12 August 2026 |
| Episode count | not stated by Variety; figures of 50 episodes appear only in secondary reports | no basis given | — |
Profile
- Markets
- United States; distribution through Shortical.
- Content
- Live-action vertical drama working within CEO-romance conventions, with crime and supernatural elements.
- Genres
- Romance, crime, supernatural.
- Monetisation
- Production for platform; no direct consumer monetization.
- Profitability
- Not disclosed.
- Backers
- Not disclosed.
People
- Matthew Ko, co-founder and chief executive
- Peter Gold of Gold Films, co-producer
- Eric Wang Schwager, director
- Melissa Lynn Moore, writer.