The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to explore creating a $5 million subsidy for microdramas, the short-form vertical videos enjoying a surge in popularity. The council voted 14-0 to direct city staff to come up with public or private funding sources to support microdrama production. In an interview, Jay Blumenfield said that the genre has offered a ray of hope. “I think that’s been completely hollowed out by mergers and moguls and stupidity.”But he said that tiny microdrama budgets — about $200,000 apiece — make it difficult to shoot in Los Angeles. “It’s pretty new here, but there’s a lot of American players getting in,” Jay Blumenfield said.