In the early days of his career, comedian Kevin Hart says he was baptized by fire into the writing room. As a young actor looking to make his way, he took the advice of one of his mentors and roomed with another budding star, Jason Segel.
The two had bits and pieces of plans but were not fully communicating, Hart revealed during a recent episode of “Hart to Heart” with guest Judd Apatow, a movie director who helped both stars prepare for a 2001 pilot called “North Hollywood.”
Apatow, a comedian in his own right, has directed several notable films, including “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Funny People,” “This Is 40,” “Trainwreck,” and “The King of Staten Island.” His work often explores themes of relationships, adulthood, and personal growth, achieved by pushing his actors into method scenarios to commit to their projects.
This approach shaped Hart and Segel two decades ago. Apatow asked the two comics-turned-actors to live together, hoping it would foster chemistry as they embarked on the project. The two ambitious young men decided not only to work on Apatow’s show idea but to create their own. Segel suggested to Hart that they invest in software to write their own projects.
Hart revealed on the episode that he immediately jumped all in, without fully knowing what he was getting into.
“If you’re trying to write, Kev, you gotta get Final Draft,” Hart said Segel told him, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“I went out and bought Final Draft. I didn’t even have a f—ing computer. I spent three-hundred-and-something dollars on Final Draft, and I came home, and I was like, ‘Jason, so I got it.’ Like, ‘What do I do now? Do I set it up on your computer?'”
Segel told him that the software could not go on his computer and that Hart had to invest in his own PC.
“He’s like, ‘You gotta get your own computer,'” Hart added.
He could not use Segel’s computer because Final Draft, as the software usually has a single-user license. Two creatives are not allowed to share. Also, if Segal already had his own copy of the program on his laptop, Hart’s installation could have deactivated his.
“I had to go buy a Dell and, without knowing, I just used to start writing s—t. I didn’t know what the f—k I was writing, but I was writing it, because Jason was doing it. And Seth [Rogen] was doing it. And they were doing it because you were doing it.”
The pilot was never picked up. However, Segel and Hart remained friendly and eventually worked together on another show called “Undeclared,” also directed by Apatow.
Hart emerged as a true creative, using his newfound writing skills to help create projects for himself.
“That circle, that bond. I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget what I got to the privy. It was a privilege to being a part of that because now that I look back, and look at all of us,” he continued. “Like, it worked.”
The Real Husbands of Hollywood is the last BET comedy show that I remeber was good. The Game doesn’t count because it was a UPN original pic.twitter.com/Lqo0xJY4Zv
— Purple_Francis (@purple_francis1) March 5, 2023
A decade after living with Segel and purchasing Final Draft, Hart co-created and wrote for the parody reality show “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” where he played an exaggerated version of himself. He wrote roles for friends Nick Cannon, Boris Kodjoe, Duane Martin, J.B. Smoove, Nelly, and Robin Thicke. He also wrote TV series like “Hart of the City” and “TKO: Total Knock Out.”
As a writer, Hart scripted his stand-up comedy specials, “Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain,” “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” and “Kevin Hart: What Now?” He made his film debut in 2002’s “Paper Soldiers,” AND wrote variety shows like “The Plastic Cup Boyz,” and his first film under his own production company, “Night School,” starring Tiffany Haddish.
Hart, who currently has an estimated net worth of $450 million, has surpassed his teacher, Apatow. The Philly native’s entrepreneurial spirit has propelled him to new financial and creative heights that he may have never imagined in 2001.
His latest media venture, HartBeat, is a testament to his business acumen. In May 2022, Hart and private equity firm Abry Partners raised $100 million, catapulting HartBeat’s valuation to $650 million.
Beyond HartBeat, Hart sits on the board of Comcast Corp., aligning his brand with NBCUniversal and its streaming service, Peacock. As a shotcaller, Hart controls his brand’s intellectual property, including movies, TV shows, and various online content. Ventures like Laugh Out Loud and HartBeat have thrived, especially during the pandemic, when digital content consumption surged. Hart’s strategic investments and content ownership have solidified his status as a creative entrepreneur inching closer to the half-billion mark.
“Hart to Heart,” the talk show where he interviewed his former mentor and now peer Apatow, is produced by Hart’s own media company, HartBeat Productions.
Looking back, that $300 investment in Final Draft, even without a computer, was a sure bet.
