Fox Entertainment and Hartbeat, Kevin Hart’s media company, announced a new partnership that uses short-form video content as a testing ground for future film and television projects. Under the deal, Hartbeat’s Codeblack, Essence, and Revolt brands will produce short, mobile-friendly series, while Fox Entertainment Studios holds first-look rights to develop any standout stories into full-length movies or TV shows.
The pipeline launches with 25 titles spanning thriller, drama, and faith-based storytelling, all releasing on a new Codeblack-branded channel built on My Drama, the vertical video platform from Fox’s partner Holywater Tech. It’s the first dedicated branded channel the platform has built for any single company. Codeblack, Essence, and Revolt bring a combined social media following of more than 20 million people, giving each new series built-in visibility the moment it launches.
The arrangement functions less like three separate deals and more like one shared development pipeline. Codeblack, Essence, and Revolt aren’t each getting individual first-look agreements with Fox; instead, all three brands are contributing short-form content into the same system, and Fox holds first-look rights across everything that comes out of it. If a short series resonates with audiences, Fox gets the first opportunity to turn that story into a longer film or television project before any other studio can make an offer.
Jeff Clanagan, who founded Codeblack and now also serves as Hartbeat’s president and chief distribution officer, described the goal as giving these three brands, which he said have spent decades earning trust with their respective audiences, one shared home for stories built specifically for the communities they serve. Hannah Pillemer, head of scripted at Fox Entertainment Studios, said the partnership lets Fox identify strong ideas early, watch how real audiences respond, and give the best ones a clear path toward becoming full productions.
The deal also marks a shift in how vertical video is typically used in entertainment. Short-form series have largely stayed concentrated in romance storytelling, but this partnership extends the format into thriller, drama, and faith-based genres, treating vertical content as a genuine launchpad for bigger franchises rather than a standalone niche.
With the first slate of 25 titles now set to roll out, the real test ahead is which of these stories actually break through with audiences, and how quickly Fox moves once a short series proves it has the makings of something bigger.