Nick Ritacco sees a long career for himself in new short-form programming.
The actor, who has made a name for himself in recent years as a star in so-called “microdramas,” or short-form programs with episodes just a few minutes long that can be consumed on-the-go via a mobile screen. Now one of the nation’s biggest advertisers is taking a sizable interest in the small-scale content.
“The product is in there throughout,” the actor says. “And like, some of it’s like fun and campy.”
Ritacco has one of the lead roles in “The Golden Pear Affair,” a “microsoap” romantic adventure told across 55 short-form episodes totaling just under 80 minutes. The plot centers on a mystery related to an international jewelry heist and a missing sister. Individual episodes range from 60 seconds to 2 minutes and 45 seconds, and in addition to featuring Ritacco, Aloyna Real, and Cody Sean Morgan, also star Native, the Procter & Gamble personal-care brand that includes deodorants and body wash.
“This type of storytelling is fun, and it’s not meant to be Shakespeare. It’s not meant to be some Oscar award-winning film,” says Ritacco. “But it is an antidote to a lot of what’s going on. A lot of times you take up your phone right now, bad news is on it most of the time. And this is a way to use your phone that isn’t bad news.”
Procter & Gamble has been producing soap operas — originally for radio, then television — since the 1930s. With “Golden Pear Affair,” it is taking a big step into emerging consumer behaviors that others have also been monitoring. Disney, for example, has begun offering short-form content on both ESPN and Disney+. The series features regular cameos by Native’s ‘Global Flavors” collection, a series of fragrances from around the world. The scents help inspire the overall plot and key moments in the story.
Native may have more room for such play. The brand was founded in 2015 with a commitment to clean formulae for its products. P&G acquired it in 2017 — a nod, perhaps, to the growing clout of start-up consumer brands such as Dollar Shave Club, Honest Co. or BodyArmor. Native is no Tide or Old Spice, which are instantly recognizable and potentially harder to slip into a piece of programming without distracting the viewer.
For Ritacco, who has played a vampire, some werewolves and a billionaire CEO in various microdramas, weaving the product into the plot required some new skills. ” The product is what sort of takes us on this journey, which is fun. It’s not overt. It’s quite covert,” he says. “We ended up building it into storytelling. and sort of married the message that Native was trying to get across: choosing a better adventure, exploring things outside of just your sort of immediate present.”
Audiences can view the trailer and the first five episodes for free on Native’s YouTube channel
and across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and additional social platforms. The full series and
official trailer are now live on thegoldenpearaffair.com. Audiences will be able to unlock the remaining chapters of the story by interacting with the series’ site. Fans can also buy the full series for $9.99, as well as individual episodes.
Cast members will promote the series across their personal social platforms, encouraging their individual fan bases to sample “Pear.”
The series is produced by P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble, and dentsu Entertainment, a division of dentsu, along with Pixie USA. If big advertisers are going to get more involved with microcontent, says Ritacco, “the sky’s the limit” for the format.