For creators looking to bypass Hollywood’s development process, Eavesdropping offers a test of whether a scripted series can find its audience on social platforms.
The project grew from Nicolas Alayo’s effort to combine traditional storytelling with lessons from social-media marketing, its creators said. They built it to be inexpensive and nimble enough to produce themselves, rather than pursue conventional Hollywood development.
Nicolas Alayo, Kaleigh Howland and Christian Sullivan created Eavesdropping and all act in the series. Alayo is a co-creator, writer, actor and director. He graduated from JPCatholic in 2018 and worked as a Commercial Video Director at True Classic for five years, leading 11 campaigns that helped generate over $450 million in sales before leaving in 2025. Howland is a co-creator, writer and actor, while Sullivan is a co-creator, writer and actor who contributes to the writing and performance.
“We wanted to be where the people were. We didn't want to wait for permission,” Alayo said.
The result is a romantic comedy built around recurring characters, serialised storylines and a will-they-or-won't-they relationship. It follows two former high school classmates who reconnect after 10 years and work through their renewed friendship as adults. The series draws inspiration from films including When Harry Met Sally and Before Sunrise.
Its episodes run for 1–3 minutes and are released twice a week, primarily on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Eavesdropping is now in its third season, with more than 700,000 followers and 282 million lifetime views across those platforms. Its audience also has an active Discord following, where fans share comments, theories and debates.
The creators have added paid access through Patreon, where nearly 1,000 subscribers pay for early access to content, and they have secured brand-integration deals. They also held a sold-out live screening for 250 people for the Season 2 finale in downtown Los Angeles in October 2025. The screening was hosted at the end of 2025, according to the creators.
Howland said social platforms give creators a direct way to establish a voice and an audience. “The barrier for entry is close to zero for posting to social,” she said.
The group is exploring licensing opportunities with vertical streaming platforms and the prospect of adapting the property into a more traditional format. For now, the experiment remains on the platforms where its audience already gathers, asking whether short social-video episodes can sustain a continuing scripted story.
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