Producer and filmmaker Antonio Morales is launching SlingShot, a new streaming platform based in Puerto Rico specializing in vertical micro-films, series and fiction content made for smartphones. In an interview with Primera Hora, Morales said the app aims to position Puerto Rico within the fast-growing global market for "micronovelas," known in China as "duanju," an industry valued at more than $7 billion. Beyond letting Puerto Rico export its own content, SlingShot will serve as a hosting platform for creators from other countries to produce 60-to-90-second episodes.
The app is set to launch on Android and iPhone in October 2026. Morales said the idea developed after his time at Televisa's Centro de Educación Artística (CEA), where he trained both on-camera and in executive production. A turning point came when he became director of Televisa's first vertical novela, "Destinada a ser la dueña," broadcast on ViX Micro.
That experience taught him the technical demands specific to the vertical format, which he described as a hybrid between television and film, requiring different framing and composition since viewers watch on a phone held in the palm of their hand.