LOS ANGELES — Writer Joel Stein was so sure that Quibi would love his show idea. He's written columns for Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, and has written for several sitcoms.

He saw a lot of friends of his getting their shows easily picked up by the then ever-promising new app, so he too went and pitched Quibi.

“It’s not good for my career that I’m the only person who didn’t get money from Quibi. If I couldn’t sell a show to them, what chance do I have at Netflix?” he said.

What You Need To Know

  • Quibi, the short-form video app, launched in April of 2020

  • The app lasted only six months shutting down in October

  • The service struggled to reach viewers, despite a 90-day free trial

  • The money from its sale will go toward paying off liabilities and whatever remains will be returned to investors

As the story would go, it was a short-lived life for the short form video app. Now the question remains, with a plethora of content slated, in the works, in the can, or already on the app is there life after Quibi?

“It’s hard to sell a show once it’s out there. That’s sort of changing, we saw You get picked up by Netflix after no one watched it on Lifetime. Things can have a second life more than they used to,” he said.

When asked what other platform would want a 10-minute show, as Quibi is known for its short form content, Joel said,  “The ownership rights were very gracious to the creator. If you go back in and take out the chapter breaks you have a full movie or TV show."

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What’s next for these shows, only time will tell, but their success may lie in what new home they get.

“If you put something good out there it has a chance, but if it's on a platform that has a good algorithm like Netflix, it helps a lot,” he said.

Though all these shows had a short first life, there seems to be hope that they can have a successful second one.