Upscale Media Films
Key facts
- Origin
- United States
- Headquarters
- United States
- Launched
- Formally launched as a full-service microdrama production company on 9 September 2026.
- Category
- Production / IP
Upscale Media Films is a United States production company for the microdrama market, which formally launched on 9 September 2026 in a Deadline exclusive. Chief executive and founder Malik Davis described a model based on controlling a portfolio of published book properties and pairing them with a standing in-house crew that develops, casts, shoots, edits and delivers, which he said removes development and packaging spend. The company is producing a slate with Kevin Hart's Hartbeat, adapting novels by Blake Karrington for the microdrama platform aTwist; Karrington now works inside the company on the adaptations. Deadline reports the catalogue has sold more than 16.5m units and generated more than 271m page reads, figures attributed to the company. No funding, investor or valuation was disclosed. The same report refers to the company both as Upscale Media Films and as Upscale Productions, and earlier coverage of the Hartbeat slate called it Upscale Promotions and Entertainment; the naming is unsettled across and within reports.
Reported figures
| Metric | Figure | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karrington titles set for adaptation on aTwist | 20 | company | Deadline, 9 September 2026 |
| Karrington catalogue units sold | more than 16.5m | company | Deadline, 9 September 2026 |
| Karrington catalogue page reads | more than 271m | company | Deadline, 9 September 2026 |
| Exotic Foods episode count | ten | reported | Deadline, 9 September 2026 |
Profile
- Markets
- United States
- Content
- A slate of Blake Karrington book adaptations for aTwist, covering 20 titles. Exotic Foods, a ten-episode horror anthology made with what the company calls a hybrid AI-assisted production workflow. Trapstar and The King of the South are in development; Single Ladies and Scandalous are set for production. Blindsided by Love, from rights secured from actor Quinton Aaron, is in development for Hartbeat. The Brown Family carries original music from Organized Noize, with an album released through Universal Music Group's Chamber Studios. R.I.C.O. ATL is the only project not beginning as a microdrama.
- Genres
- Urban Southern drama; horror anthology
- Monetisation
- Production company; titles distributed through aTwist. No terms disclosed.
People
- Malik Davis - chief executive and founder
- Blake Karrington - novelist, working within the company
- Tiffaney Collins - chief financial officer and executive producer
- Rhavynn Drummer - casting director
- Liana Mendoza - executive producer, Latino division
- Delmone Rivers - chief AI officer
- Kareen Oda - director and director of photography