Kristen Brancaccio To Direct Microdrama & Feature Adaptations Of Claren Hammond’s Short Story ‘Summer Session’

EXCLUSIVE: Clarence Hammond‘s romantic short story Summer Session is in development as a microdrama and a feature film.

Microdrama veteran Kristen Brancaccio will direct both versions, and will develop the story in vertical format, with Hammond adapting the script for the feature. Plot details are under wraps for the moment.

Hammond will produce alongside Ancora Entertainment‘s Maria Frisk and Michael Napoliello, Artists First‘s Katie Zipkin-Leed and Select Management Group‘s Matt Shepley.

Brancaccio has directed more than 20 microdramas for TikTok, ReelShort, NetShort, DramaShorts and other services, but is best known for directing Issa Rae’s microdrama, Screen Time, which took more than 250 million views in its first month on TikTok. She also directed Audible series Southern Belle Insults, starring Keke Palmer, while her series Hollywood Starlet launched on microdrama app aTwist launched in August.

“I’m thrilled to be bringing Clarence’s beautiful world of Summer Session to life for both traditional and digital audiences,” said Brancaccio. “I’m passionate about the unique storytelling possibilities within the rapidly-evolving vertical format and am excited that Maria and Michael at Ancora share that vision. Matt and Katie have been on the forefront of bridging the gap between vertical and legacy entertainment, so having them on the team is the perfect fit.”

Hammond is an experienced writer and producer and a film executive who was most recently at Paramount Players. He began his career at Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, where he produced the likes of Sprinter, Life in a Year, Hala and Charm City Kings.

Since joining Paramount Players in 2020, he has sold his short story Final Boarding to Screen Gems, as we reported in August, with Christopher Landon adapting it and directing. He has also set-up a “high-concept comedy short” with Todd Garner’s Broken Road, and has a sci-fi spec in production at Parker Finn’s Smile producer Bad Feeling. Hammond is also writing two separate horror films based on “original ideas from two global music superstars.”

Brancaccio is represented by Select Management Group, Artists First and Myman Greenspan. Hammond is represented by Jon Huddle and Max Gonzalez at Fourth Wall Management and Farhad Amid at McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP.