The Mind Behind Hartbeat, Kevin Hart's Media Venture

to oversee his operation. Ty Randolph is the CEO of Heartbeat Get It, and she's with us today to walk us through Hearts Empire. We'll be back with her in just a moment. We're back with Ty Randolph, the producing partner to Kevin Hart and the any many projects he's overseeing through his Heartbeat company. Thanks for joining us, Tie, Thanks for having me such a great way to start the morning. Sure, so, I'll have you know you are the two hundred and fifty seven podcast. We've done it

Strictly Business. And I tell you that because the very first one we did four and a half years ago was with a gentleman by the name of Kevin Hart, and so I'm curious, after all this time, over these past four and a half years, what has it been like watching the growth of the production side of what he does. Because when we first talked about it with him, it seemed like something that was kind of almost besides the point in terms of his career, and now it's

quite an empire. It's really interesting that you referenced the four and a half year mark. I had been in Kevin's ecosystem for about five and a half years. It'll be six in April next year. In the four and a half year reference point is really significant because that was around the time that Kevin launched to Laugh Out Loud with uh Lionsgate. It was a joint venture and it was one of the entities that would be emerged into what is now Heartbeat, and I think it marked

a real entrepreneurial evolution in his career. He had Heartbeat Productions and that was the banner through which he was producing his stand up specials and you know, had a really interesting theatrical debut with Night School. That film's producer about twenty onlion dollars and went on to gross over one hundred in the box office and UM and and so there was this commercial success and he was in

the film. There was this entrepreneurial hustle around producing and even financing his earlier stand up specials UM, but Laugh Out Loud was really going into a business partnership with a studio, and it was a different way of doing business. It was also very future focused. The goal was to create the UM future of comedy is We used to

discuss it and create a platform for new version. We haven't even smaller one now at Heartbeat we talk about existing to keep the world laughing take together, so just the whole globe, you know. So it was, it was. It was very ambitious. But what we realized in targeting UM, you know sort of like youth audiences and a really multicultural global audience, was that having a single destination for us in our proposition UM wouldn't really fully fulfill that

that that ambition of creating the future of comedies. Around twenty nineteen, UM, you know, Kevin maybe we architected a deal with lions Gate that saw Kevin buying out the majority of their interests UM and really taking this independent and when we move the team from lions Gate UM to en seing know, a really a different culture was was born. He had these two enterprises literary really you know, under the same under the same roof, and the synergy

and the opportunity started to snowball. On the laugh Out loudside, we brought on nbc U as an investor, UH the peacock nbc U and UM we got into television and the team grew, and then the commercial traction grew. We were profitable upon carb out and we would go on to double revenue year over year for the next couple of years. Later that year, so later in the year, in March, Kevin asked me. Later I was already CEO of laugh Out Loud, Kevin came and asked me to

expand my role to Heartbeat as well. So we set up the shared services into team between and I started to oversee the business operations and strategy for both ORGS and UM and so and then again we were small at the time, you know, about a dozen employees at both both companies, a dozen eaves. So you know, I'm told me something employees and in both are having banner years.

You know. On the harpy production side, we UH had partnered with Netflix on on the feature side and had a multi picture deal there for Kevin and then you know this this overall on the film side. So we were seeing tremendous traction. On the Lackout Loud side. We were partnering with Peacock to create some really amazing vitrel hits. Our brand partnerships business was growing. What was the ration now for bringing these companies together? You know, it was

very clear that independently these were interesting organizations. Together though we had already assembled under our hood the capability and the personnel to really make market and monetize any type of communic ip we could imagine, and so we were

simply stronger together. It was a you know, in our belief, one plus one equals you know, one billion or more proposition, and and that was you know, sort of the thesis for the merger the other, you know, sort of just logistically, we were growing into each other's backyard, right Heartbeat had been television and film laughout that laugh out Loud was starting to do a lot more on the television side.

Heartbeat was getting into more brand partnerships. Both had audio relationships and imprints, so um, you know, they're they're just it didn't make any sense to keep those things separate. But also when we combined UM all of those assets and and that team, uh, all of a sudden, it

was just sort of like really impressive platform. Right when we looked across the ecosystem, at the talent relationships that we had, commercial partnerships that we had UM, and just the expertise that was in the organization, Uh, it all made sense. So that happened in July one. We merged the company, uh within the next you know, five and a half months. So we lifted the UM, the curt and on heartbeat the combined entity on January of two.

And then we would go on to further capitalize the company through one million dollar cash infusion from a private equity group. Every partners that when we closed that deal at the end of April two. And what did you sell avery on? Why were they ready to invest it quite a big level? Yeah, So you know, one, we sold them on the idea that we are a mission driven company, right like our mission is to keep the

world laughing together. So there was this big unifying idea and purpose that really set us apart in the industry. We also had not only the number one, uh, comedian, and that's not from a subjective standpoint, but by you know, pretty much every commercial measure um you know, at the HELM. So there was no one more qualified to pursue that endeavor than him and to execute on that. We just had really solid case studies about how impact so he

had been and how impactful the company had been. When we went in, we had doubled revenue from one as a combined entity if we look back, and we were on track to do so again in that year that we were closing, which was two. We went on to fulfill that right. So post close, we went on to deliver on those goals that we projected. And so it was just a solid commercial organization. We were living a nimble, really hard working but also very focused on the bottom line.

And I think that combination of big ambition but bottom line focus was what did it. But I'm curious, you know, when you sell a private equity company and the idea of you know, conquering the comedy world. As you know, comedy is a tough business right now in film Kevin's probably one of the few draws left, uh, and it's not easier anywhere else. So what makes you guys so confident you can sort of succeed in a place where

there's plenty of failure. We don't fashion ourselves a comedy company, right, We're an entertainment company. Remember I said our mission was to keep the world laughing together. Um. But the focus there is together laughter, which is at the core of what we do, not everything that we do right in truth, and a few people know this just because Kevin is at the Helm, but all around seventy pcent of our projects are comedic, right that that are currently in market.

When you look to the year ahead, um, and the years ahead, you see that ratio still having that comedy is the focus in the majority. But what happens outside of comedy and connected to comedy, at the intersections of comedy and culture, comedy and sports, comedy and you name it, um, you know, start to grow. What we do is program with humor, heart and heat. Well. I think another big opportunity is companies like yours in general in the past few years have been attracting a ton of investment there.

I think it's, you know, the the explosion of the streaming world and all the selling opera tune and needs that that creates has made companies like Heartbeats so hot. You've gotten this infusion from private equity. Could you guys eventually sell to a high bidder or is this something where you know Kevin is going to take stay in control as long as Pete wants to. Really good question, you know with what one of the things I've been

really impressed by is just Kevin's entrepreneurial acumen. You know, um, not just with Heartbeat, but he has other ventures outside of the entertainment space. And while he is the consummate entertainer, you know, he's also the consumt entrepreneurial. So this is

a commercial in deavorens one. It's fueled by passion, but this is not a vanity project where you know, he or any of the management team and a are sitting around and saying, um, you know, we do stuff only because we want to and we're not focused on, you know, the commercialization of the business and that um you know, our our business is actually and not for Kevin, but the business a Heartbeat is actually larger than the brand

of Heartbeat right now. So you know, one of my big objectives going into this next year is to really um let our audiences are our content buyers, consumers, you know, co creators, know everything that's under the hood and everything that the company is capable of it is doing, and make sure that attribution happens um because it's a it's a really significant business and it's one that's scaling in terms of you know, sort of the long term plan. We are trying to grow and we will grow the

healthiest business possible. And I say that because we want to maximize you know, profit, we want to maximize potential, but maximize optionality. Um. You know, I think we want to keep advancing this vision to keep the world laughing together and that could take lots of different forms um in terms of how that is executed, but also in terms of what the ownership structure with the cap table

looks like. We're going to be right back with more with Tyrandolph's CEO of Heartbeat m. We are back with Ty Randolph, who works very closely with one Kevin Hart on the company known as Heartbeat Ty. I gotta ask, I mean, what is it like working with a Kevin Hard who I mean, obviously he's a hard working guy, but he's you know, he's off shooting stuff and there's all the things he's doing in front of the camera. How active is he really in, you know, running things

alongside yourself? Unbelievably active? I don't. It's hard to articulate because he would have to assume that he has more hours in his day, and I'm not convinced that he does not, but you know, he is one. So there's this before, you know, before a merger the two companies. On on the Hartbeat side, our logo was this sort of echo cardiogram, right like a pulse going through a heart and on laugh about Wold it was l L

with an exclamation point. And I think those two symbols um really represent the role that Kevin plays in the organization. So one, he's the pulse, right he's the heartbeat of it, pun intended, and so we get our pace, our passion, our persistence from him. The energy that you see and I think anyone who's met him in on set or you know, in in business capacity, you know, there's just sort of like kinetic by right like, and it's pretty infectious.

So that's the energy that he sort of seeds through the organization, and it really sparks a hunger to win and a belief that all things are possible. I get it. He's the real deal. So you mentioned branding is a big priority for the coming year. I know also you guys are looking towards expanding your experiential business. What what does that going to look like? Yeah, so you know, back to that mission keeping the world laughing together. There is a big global de demand UM for comedy in

particular on the live events space. Now that that you know, we figured out at least you know, for now the world over is relatively open and so Kevin has been seeing UM on his personal tour. Uh, just a wild demand for tickets selling out, you know, just about everywhere, multiple shows and cities. People want to connect, right, They want to be together again. They want that high impact entertainment.

And so we really drafted off that next year and so you know, we will be rolling out global experiences in Africa, Europe, will be activating domestically UM in in ways are obvious to to us, and you know, sort of like both being an intimate comedic experience but also really honing in on that comedy and culture piece. Right.

So um, everything that the Heartbeat brand represents, so comedy, our intersections with music and sports, but also um in some areas be too, be an industry component to it, where there will be a thought leadership component in some of these markets. But we'll bring you know, really bright minds across the industry, whether it's entertainment or creativity and technology,

um around sort of business opportunities. So we're really excited about um that from a consumer engagement perspective, but also a brand building perspective, right, you know, the experiential the experienial side of our business is a really big way um to advance the Heartbeat brand globally. You guys have like seventy different projects in development. What are the priorities for three? Are there any big releases we should be

expect from Heartbeat? Well, I mean we're really excited that we're continuing, um, you know with some of our existing franchises, you know, whether they be branded or television or films. So, um, you know we're working on We just rend production on our next installment of our diehar Our Diehart franchise with with Roku or in the final stages of production through that road post production. Um, you know, we'll see cold

as Balls come back again. Like I said, it's in as favorite sports show, and we still have a lot of fun doing it. UM. You know, there's audio expansion on our business. Will be rolling out new audio properties with you know that aren't Kevin with some really unique and exciting voices both in podcasts and radio, UM and and really expanding the footprint at business. We've got some really exciting audio books lined up VRR you know deal

with UM Audible. We'll have a new film project that I'm not I can't say much about coming out Netflix next year. UM Peacock NBCU who's a really deep partner of ours. There's a big slate in pipeline there unscripted, scripted UM across the board. So it's it's been really really robust for us UH and and in terms of just overall priorities outside a project are unscripted business UM. You know, we're really leaning into and looking to create buzz of your formats UM and and continue down the

path that we've been on. There's a project that we're working on right now with Nick Cannon that was actually really inspired by UM a prank UH those prank mechanisms that he and Kevin had going back and forth, and so now you'll see that come to life in a new in a new format on television. And I know you've got something important to you coming up at the Sundance Film Festival, the return of the Women Right Now franchise. Uh, tell me a bit about how that came together, what

it is. So, you know, at Heartbeat, we pride ourselves on our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and I'm really proud of the composition of the company. We are it's current day. We are people of color and I say that sometimes and people feel like we're over indexing, but actually the world is people of color. So it's a very kind of reflective UM organization in that way.

We are at this moment women again, the world is fifty one and so UM you know, we it's really important for us to you know, provide opportunity and create a real meritocracy across the board. That said, UM, you do that by recognizing that everyone could do better. There's always opportunity in rooms to improve. So one of the places, UM, you know that I was particularly attuned to was the idea that comedy can feel like a boy's club, right, and comedy writer's ums in particular can feel that way.

And then when you double drilled down and you say, well, how many black women get in those those places? All of a sudden, we've narrowed down on this very specific insight right where there's this very you know, significant disparity and where we were in our uniquely positioned to action and improved that reality. So we UM, based on based on that insight, came up with a program called Women

Right Now. We co founded it with Sundance Institute, so with a partnership with them, and you know, the idea was see something, say something, but also do something about it. So we put up our own money of at Heartbeat and said we're gonna launch this program and partnership with Sundance. We went to Sundance because you know, there's no organization that cares for cultivates artists better. And we wanted a

no barrier to entry program. So there are no fees to participate if you're a black woman, and you can run right if you write us an original short. We didn't no matter how many submissions that we get, and you know that was nearly a thousand last year, and so UM we narrowed that down to three who go through the program. These three fellows and they get this really immersive experience with hearty executives and creative Sundance Institute

program Uh, you know, administrators and creatives. But also we bring together this community and we had folks from a MC and P Peacock and most of the talent agencies and publicists and wonderful showrunners and writers who really spent two weeks with these women going through this immersive program UM to really get their project from spirit to screen. And then because when you start to do good, that snowball's right. Um, we found an opportunity to you know,

help solve another challenge. We and and this was said, I gotta give Jeff Plan again, our chief distribution officer, um the credit for action. And as he said, yeah, you know, writers have a tough time, but I've noticed that black women in film actresses have a harder time making the transition from acting to directing, right. And so um, we pair these writers with first time directors who are actresses. And then we produced these films for them with this

a significant budget. Uh. And so they're held by Heartbeat, our Heartbeat production team. We put real money into the programs and then we take them all to the Sundance. So it said with their work, they all get first looks um with with Heartbeat and we'll be announcing more about you know what happen with the fellows in terms of distribution. But in the last cycle all the films were distributed on Peacock thanks our partnership with the NBC Universal.

Chase Sapphire came on to write the program and so they allowed us so much more with them and then, um, you know, one of the writers received a blind script deal from UH from Universal uh last cycle and we've got some really interesting distribution and commercial opportunities lined up for them this year. Well, it sounds like this could be a real growth here, not just for that program, but for Heartbeat in general and yourself and so uh TI thanks for coming on, wishing you a great thame

to you, Thanks for having me. This has been another episode of Strictly Business. Tune in next week for another helping of scintillating conversation with media movers and shakers, and please make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear future episodes. Also leave a review in Apple podcast Us and let us know how we're doing.