It’s a Tuesday morning in late July, and at a gigantic warehouse-turned-production facility in L.A.’s Canoga Park, Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson are in one studio riffing on the Summer Olympics. On the other side of the building, comedian Earthquake is recording a podcast. Meanwhile, between that building, another nearby and a third in West Hollywood, teams of staffers are running around, working on one of the two dozen other projects across TV, film, audio, branded entertainment and experiential events that Hart’s entertainment company, Hartbeat, has in the pipeline.
You know Kevin Hart, the comedian and star of films like “Ride Along,” “Central Intelligence” and the just released “Borderlands.” But he’d really like you to think of him as Kevin Hart, production maven. This year alone, he’s produced Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady,” a revival of “Comic View” with BET and released films like the action thriller “Lift,” the comedy “Prom Dates” and the doc “Group Therapy.” Hartbeat also continues to expand its podcast footprint with new shows from Punkie Johnson, Yamaneika Saunders and others.
“Careerwise, I’m pretty happy with what I have achieved, but that star getting brighter isn’t an option,” Hart says during a break from shooting the Olympics show. “As far as becoming a bigger star, I think this is it. So the focus is about the entity. Creating what we would hope will be the pieces of IP that people will hold on from this generation, and refer back to in 20 years. That’s the priority. It’s not for me as a star. I think when that happens, then I’ll be at the happiest point of my career. Because building a business is hard. But building a successful business is harder.”
That entity, Hartbeat, was launched in 2022 through the merger of two companies — Laugh Out Loud and Hartbeat Prods. The combined Hartbeat quickly raised $100 million from investors like Peacock, where the multi-hyphenate’s talk show “Hart to Heart” just debuted its fourth season and his “Olympics Highlights Show” with Thompson is airing. (Hartbeat has between five to six more projects in development at the streamer.)
PEACOCK
All of that is setting the stage for something even bigger: “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,” a period drama set in Atlanta on the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight. Hart stars in the Peacock series (which debuts Sept. 5) with Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson and Terrence Howard.
“These are the types of projects that we as a company want to make,” Hart says. “‘Fight Night’ I truly do believe is going to blow people away. And leave people wanting more. Not just from the idea of ‘Fight Night’ but from us as a company.”
Variety has learned what some of that “more” is. The company has extended its relationship with Henson to develop “Moorewood Family Rules,” based on the novel by HelenKay Dimon. Justin Simien (“Dear White People”) will direct and executive produce, while Henson is set to star (and also EP) in what’s described as an “elevated, subversive family drama with comedic bite.”
The show expands Hartbeat’s relationship with Henson, whose TPH Entertainment will also produce, along with Culture Machine. Paramount TV Studios and BET Studios are behind the show; here’s the logline: “One day a con man met an heiress, wooed her, married her, had three kids…and kept on conning. Jillian Moorewood (Henson) is the oldest child from that meet-cute-gone-wrong marriage. The stable one. The sensible and dependable one. The one who took the fall and went to prison. Now, she’s out and finds the scheming clan in full family fleecing mode. But Jillian is done with the cons and familial deception, and this time she may have the leverage to make it happen. However, as Jillian attempts to clean up her family’s ways, she may end up getting her hands even dirtier and her plans may put those who she cares about in the crosshairs.”
Bryan Smiley, the president and chief content officer of Hartbeat (pictured above with Hart), says that “Comedy will always be in our DNA. But it’s not just comedy. Going forward, you’re going see a lot more of us leaning into cultural, broad-audience shows that reflect the premium nature of the stories we want to tell.”
Peacock
On the unscripted side, where Hartbeat has already produced documentaries like the mental health chronicle “Group Therapy” (which opened at the Tribeca Festival), the company is partnering with director Adam Bhala Lough (“Telemarketers”) on a docuseries that will explore artificial intelligence. The doc is based on New York Magazine reporting, will be fully funded by Hartbeat and produced with Vox Media Studios.
Per that project’s logline, the doc will serve as “a comedic exploration of the opportunities and limits of AI, the documentary seeks answers to the fundamental question of our time: Is this the end of humankind as we know it?” Hart, Smiley and Luke Kelly-Clyne will produce for Hartbeat; Scoop Wasserstein, Dana J. Olkkonen, Mark W. Olsen, and Elizabeth Weil serve as executive producers for Vox Media Studios.
That’s an example of Hartbeat’s expansion beyond just being a home for projects starring Hart. Smiley notes that 85% of the projects in development don’t have their founder in front of the camera.
“Anything that features Kevin is always going to be faster moving, because obviously a lot of the big buyers understand his star power,” Smiley says. “But the future of the company will be primarily not Kevin. Hartbeat as a brand, a media company and studio will be embracing the next generation of great talent, whether they’re comedy stars, or writers or filmmakers across format. And that’s what our development teams are focused on.” (Besides Simien, Hartbeat is also working with “Harlem” creator Tracy Oliver on new projects.)
Hartbeat’s varied deals include unscripted with Peacock, a feature first-look deal with Netflix (which is currently developing the third of four films with Hart), a radio and podcast deal with SiriusXM and a joint venture with Charlemagne tha God at Audible. Hartbeat also has a FAST channel business.
Next up is the annual “Hartbeat Weekend,” a Labor Day weekend event in Las Vegas (at Resorts World) featuring Hart and other comedians, as well as musical artists like Lil Wayne and Ludacris. Hartbeat plans to shoot several comedy specials there, as well as bring several of its audio and TV properties to the showcase.
“The reality is, we did so many amazing things in the past, and I’m not sure the market is asking for that anymore,” Smiley says. “What they are asking for, though, is high quality content, like ‘Fight Night.’ Everything we do going forward, it’ll be the most premium version, whatever that idea is. Sometimes that means it takes longer to develop, longer to get the right partners. But we are going to be patient in that endeavor. Consumers have so many options today. You have to give them something that makes them want to show up time and time again.”
From Variety US