It’s a Tuesday morning in late July. In a massive warehouse-turned-production facility in Los Angeles’ Canoga Park, Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson are sitting in a studio making fun of the Summer Olympics. Across the building, comedian Earthquake is recording a podcast. Meanwhile, inside that building, another nearby, and a third in West Hollywood, teams of employees are running around working on one of the two dozen other TV, film, audio, branded entertainment, and experiential events projects 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 really, he wants you to think of him as Kevin Hart, production maven. This year alone, he produced Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady,” a reboot of “Comic View” with BET and released films like the action thriller “Lift,” the comedy “Prom Dates” and the documentary “Group Therapy.” Hartbeat also continues to expand its podcast lineup with new shows from Punkie Johnson, Yamaneika Saunders and more.

“Career-wise, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished, but my star getting brighter is not an option,” Hart says during a break from filming the Olympia show. “As far as being able to be a bigger star, I think that’s it. So the focus is on the bigger picture. We want to hopefully create the intellectual property that people will keep from this generation and refer back to 20 years from now. That’s the priority. For me as a star, that’s not important. I think when that happens, I’ll be at the happiest point in my career. Because building a business is hard. But building a successful business is even harder.”

That company, Hartbeat, was formed in 2022 through the merger of two companies – Laugh Out Loud and Hartbeat Prods. The merged Hartbeat quickly raised $100 million from investors including Peacock, where the multi-talented talk show “Hart to Heart” just started its fourth season and his “Olympics Highlights Show” with Thompson airs. (Hartbeat has five to six more projects in development at the streamer.)

All of this sets 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 comeback fight in 1970. Hart stars in the Peacock series (premieres Sept. 5) with Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson and Terrence Howard.

“These are the kinds of projects we want to do as a company,” says Hart. “I’m really convinced that ‘Fight Night’ will blow people away. And that they’ll want more. Not just because of the idea of ​​’Fight Night’, but because of us as a company.”

diversity has learned what that “more” is. The company has expanded its collaboration 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 will star (and also serve as production executive) in the film, which is described as “an upscale, subversive family drama with comedic bite.”

The show deepens Hartbeat’s relationship with Henson, whose TPH Entertainment will also produce with Culture Machine. The show is being produced by Paramount TV Studios and BET Studios. Here’s the logline: “One day, a con artist met an heiress, courted her, married her, had three children… and kept cheating on her. Jillian Moorewood (Henson) is the eldest child of a marriage that started off as a meet-cute, then went wrong. The stable one. The sensible and reliable one. The one who stuck her neck out and went to prison. Now she’s back on the outside to find the scheming clan looting the family. But Jillian has had enough of the scams and family betrayal, and this time she may have the power to pull it off. But as Jillian tries to make things right with her family, she may get her hands even dirtier, and her plans could put those she cares about in the crosshairs.”

Bryan Smiley, president and chief content officer of Hartbeat (pictured above with Hart), says: “Comedy will always be in our DNA. But it’s not just about comedy. In the future, we’re going to be moving toward a lot more cultural, broad-based shows that reflect the high-quality nature of the stories we want to tell.”

On the unwritten side, Hartbeat has already produced documentaries such as the mental health chronicle Group Therapy (which premiered at the Tribeca Festival). The company is currently working on a docuseries focusing on artificial intelligence with director Adam Bhala Lough (Telemarketers). The documentary is based on reporting from New York Magazine, is fully funded by Hartbeat and produced by Vox Media Studios.

According to the project’s logline, the film will be “a comedic exploration of the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence. The documentary seeks answers to the fundamental question of our time: Is this the end of humanity 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.

This is an example of Hartbeat expanding beyond simply deploying projects with Hart. Smiley points out that 85% of projects in development don’t have the founder on camera.

“Everything involving Kevin is going to move faster and faster because a lot of the big buyers obviously understand his star status,” Smiley says. “But the future of the company will not be primarily Kevin. Hartbeat as a brand, media company and studio will welcome the next generation of great talent, be it comedy stars, writers or filmmakers of all formats. And that’s what our development teams are focused on.” (In addition to Simien, Hartbeat is also working with “Harlem” creator Tracy Oliver on new projects.)

Hartbeat’s diverse deals include an unproduced film with Peacock, a feature film 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 deal.

Next up is the annual “Hartbeat Weekend,” a Labor Day weekend event in Las Vegas (at Resorts World) that features Hart and other comedians, as well as musicians like Lil Wayne and Ludacris. Hartbeat plans to film several comedy specials there and bring several of its audio and TV products.

“The reality is we’ve done so many great things in the past and I’m not sure the market demands that anymore,” Smiley says. “What they do demand, however, is high-quality content like ‘Fight Night.’ Everything we do going forward will be the highest-quality version of whatever the idea may be. Sometimes that means it takes longer to develop and it takes longer to find the right partners. But we’re going to be patient in this endeavor. Consumers have so many options today. You have to give them something that keeps them coming back.”