Kevin Hart Just Landed a Fox Deal That Turns Phone-Screen Content Into a Film Pipeline

Kevin Hart’s company Hartbeat just struck a deal with Fox Entertainment that’s worth understanding properly, because it’s not a typical production deal, it’s a bet on an entirely different model for how movies and shows get greenlit in the first place.

Here’s the actual mechanism. Hartbeat is rolling out 25 live-action short dramas, thrillers, dramas, faith-based stories, built specifically for phone screens, debuting on a Codeblack channel inside My Drama, a video app run by Holywater Tech. They’ll run under three brands, Codeblack, Essence, and Revolt, which combined already have more than 20 million social media followers built in before a single episode drops. Fox’s studio then gets first right to take whichever of those shorts actually connect with audiences and develop them into real films and full-length television shows. Fox’s international arm handles selling the short-form versions overseas after their initial run on the app.

The actual strategy here is the interesting part. Instead of spending money developing a full feature or series based on a pitch and a gut feeling, Hartbeat and Fox get to watch real audience behavior on cheap, short-form content first, see exactly what resonates, and only then commit real production budgets to the ideas that already proved they can hold an audience. That’s a meaningfully different model than how studios have traditionally greenlit projects, and it’s a direct response to how much harder it’s gotten to predict what audiences actually want before spending the money to find out. Fox’s scripted chief, Hannah Pillemer, framed the partnership around Hartbeat’s storytelling instincts specifically, saying the company has “a powerful creative voice and an exceptional instinct for stories that connect with audiences.”

This deal doesn’t exist in isolation, it’s the latest piece of a real pattern in how Hart’s been restructuring his entire business. Back in May, he had to defend real staff cuts at Hartbeat on The Breakfast Club, saying plainly, “My company was too big. I don’t need 80 people to operate how we’re operating now.” He was direct that the cuts were about keeping the business sustainable, not a sign Hartbeat was winding down, and this Fox deal is a pretty strong piece of evidence backing that claim up. In January, he took an actual ownership stake in Authentic Brands Group, setting up a structure to co-own and expand the Kevin Hart brand itself into new products, digital ventures, and live events, treating his own name as a long-term asset rather than just a comedy career. And this isn’t even his first Fox-connected deal this year. Back in October of 2025, Fox-owned Tubi struck a four-film deal with Hartbeat, including Sundown, written, directed, and starring Kinigra Deon, and 85 South: Dead End, featuring DC Young Fly, Chico Bean, and Karlous Miller. On top of that, Hartbeat agreed just last month to produce over 20 original short shows with a company called aTwist, including comedy content and planned adaptations of Blake Karrington’s book series through Upscale Productions.

Stack all of that together and you get a clear picture of where Hart’s actually taking his company. This isn’t a guy coasting on stand-up specials and acting paychecks. He’s building layered infrastructure, short-form content as a testing ground, brand ownership as a long-term asset, multiple studio partnerships feeding different parts of the pipeline at once. The downsizing earlier this year wasn’t retreat, it was Hartbeat trimming down to actually execute a bigger, more specific strategy instead of running as a bloated general content shop. This Fox deal is the clearest evidence yet that the strategy is already working.