Ukrainian film and TV streaming service Kyivstar TV has started production on Just Sat Down (Tilky sila in Ukrainian). The satirical sitcom is being shot for a vertical smartphone screen from day one. It’s a co-production with 2Brave Productions, backed by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, according to a Kyivstar TV press release.
This is the platform’s first Original made specifically in vertical format. Episodes are short and fast-paced, with the action kicking off in the first few seconds, and they’re built to be watched on a phone. Kyivstar TV’s previous originals used a conventional format: in early September, the police drama The Brave Girl opened the fall season of the platform’s premieres.
The lead role goes to Rymma Ziubina, a Ukrainian stage and screen actress, TV host and activist. Among her many awards, she is a two-time winner of Ukraine’s Kyiv Pectoral theater prize and the Golden Dzyga film award. Viewers know her best from the film The Nest of the Turtledove and the series Lyusya the Intern and Editorial Office.
Ziubina plays Halyna, a Kyiv woman who knows exactly what she wants from life. She teaches music, tutors kids in math and has plenty of other talents, so boredom is not on the agenda. She shares her home with a dog named Kuchma and a cat named Vitalik, and all she really wants is a few minutes to herself. The moment she finds them, something ruins it: the doorbell, a phone call, the neighbors, her ex, a courier or some new absurd situation. Every episode kicks off with the same line: “Well, I just sat down.” Through these everyday comic scenes, the creators say, the show tackles relationships, personal boundaries, stereotypes and the desire to live on your own terms.
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Kyivstar TV CEO Pavlo Rybak explained that vertical video has long been the everyday way millions of people watch content, and the platform can’t ignore that shift. He says Kyivstar TV is the first Ukrainian streaming (OTT) platform to make an Original series specifically in this format. “We’re not afraid to experiment with new formats if they help bring Ukrainian stories closer to today’s viewers,” Rybak added. American TV veterans are betting on the same format: in early September, former Showtime, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Television and ABC executives launched aTwist, a platform built for vertical microdramas.
Just Sat Down is directed by Alina Rudia, who also came up with the idea, with Bohdan Haidash as director of photography.
