Bryan Smiley is President & Chief Content Officer of Hartbeat, the global multi-platform media company founded by Kevin Hart.

Named to Variety’s 2022 “New Leaders” and Hollywood Reporter’s 2018 ”Next Gen” and “Rising Executives 35 under 35” lists, Smiley oversees Hartbeat production, financing, and development, including the company’s 70+ projects in development and more than 20 projects released in 2022 across top tier partners including Netflix, Peacock, SiriusXM, Netflix, Audible and more.

In 2021, Smiley negotiated a first look deal with Netflix to produce feature films for the streamer, a strategic move that would allow Hartbeat to continue creating content during a
global pandemic. Smiley was also instrumental in getting Fatherhood released on Netflix, which was watched by more than 91 million accounts globally, making it one of the most successful original dramatic movies on Netflix. Since then, Smiley oversaw and produced Me Time and True Story, which went to #1 on the Netflix charts, and produced the upcoming 2024 film Lift.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Working as an assistant story editor out of college and how networking helped him get to New Regency

• How his early assistant roles taught him about the business and how he identified where the company needed help and resources

• His work as Vice President of Creative Development & Production at Columbia Pictures, a Sony Pictures Entertainment company

• How the range of his individual companies that he co-founded (list them) help him in his role today

• Why he’s never had a fear of failure and the reality of starting a business

• How he transitioned to development with an executive position at a studio

• Some of his favorite deals at SONY with Steph Curry a multi-picture deal with Issa Rae

• A breakdown of the divisions at Hartbeat and his rise to President and CCO

• Their hands-on, full-service approach to projects including their show “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart & Kenan Thompson” on Peacock

• His 4 picture guarantee and first look deal with Netflix and his thoughts on the importance of a first look deal in the current marketplace

• How they decide what project to take on and develop?

• Some pivotal moments and decisions that impacted his career

Guest:

⁠Linkedin⁠ ⁠Hartbeat website⁠ ⁠IMDb⁠

Host:

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If you like this episode, check out Becoming... VP at Disney Television Animation of Current Series & Diversity Jay Francis

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