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| (Image Source: Blex Media/FOX Entertainment/Hartbeat) |
FOX Entertainment and Hartbeat recently announced a multi-faceted partnership that leverages new, original vertical series as a development pipeline for film and television content. Under the agreement, FOX Entertainment Studios will have a first look at feature film and television series projects developed from vertical series released under the CODEBLACK, ESSENCE, and REVOLT brands. FOX Entertainment Global will distribute the vertical series worldwide following each title's initial platform run.
The pipeline launches with a slate of 25 live-action titles spanning thriller, drama, and faith-based storytelling. The series will premiere on a new CODEBLACK-branded destination on My Drama, the vertical video platform from FOX's strategic partner Holywater Tech. Built by Holywater Tech, it is the first dedicated branded channel on My Drama and users will be able to subscribe to it on its own or access it as part of the broader My Drama service. With a combined social following exceeding 20 million, CODEBLACK, ESSENCE, and REVOLT bring established, engaged audiences to the partnership. These brands will program the My Drama channel with original verticals and direct their communities to the new content, giving each new series a built-in audience from day one. The CODEBLACK, ESSENCE, and REVOLT vertical series are designed as the first stage of intellectual property development. Stories that connect with audiences in the vertical format will advance into film and television development with FOX Entertainment Studios holding the first look at those projects. The structure gives CODEBLACK and FOX a way to test stories, characters, and worlds with real audiences before committing them to longer formats and gives proven titles a path to FOX's network, streaming, and international platforms. "Hartbeat has a powerful creative voice and an exceptional instinct for stories that connect with audiences. This partnership gives us an opportunity to identify bold ideas in the vertical space, see what resonates in real time, and give those stories a path to grow into film and television. This strategic, audience-driven approach to developing IP fits naturally with how we're growing FOX Entertainment Studios," said FOX Entertainment Studios Head of Scripted Hannah Pillemer.
"My vision has always been to bring the biggest cultural brands serving our audience together in one destination, and the partnership with ESSENCE and REVOLT makes that real. CODEBLACK, ESSENCE, and REVOLT have spent decades earning this audience's trust. Now that audience has one home for stories made for them, in the format where they already spend their time. Holywater Tech brings the technology and platform expertise to deliver that experience the way this audience expects it. Vertical is where those stories start, not where they stop. The culture builds the audience, the audience chooses the stories, and with FOX the stories that win become film and television for the world," said CODEBLACK Founder and Hartbeat President and Chief Distribution Officer Jeff Clanagan. "We're excited to launch My Drama's first dedicated branded channel with CODEBLACK, creating a new way to introduce its incredible content to even broader audiences in the vertical space while giving its established fan base a destination built specifically for them. It's an exciting next step for My Drama as we continue to expand the platform and create new ways for brands and creators to connect directly with audiences," said Holywater Tech Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Anatolii Kasianov and Bogdan Nesvit.
The partnership pairs CODEBLACK's record of building film and television businesses for underserved audiences and the cultural reach of the ESSENCE and REVOLT brand with FOX Entertainment's studio operations, worldwide sales organization, and growing vertical video ecosystem. It also extends vertical storytelling beyond its traditional concentration in romance, opening the format to multicultural, faith-based, and genre-driven series built as the starting point for larger franchises.
