brand: Hartbeat
Women Write Now
360-campaign | fellowship marketing | production | creative direction | creator marketing | talent relations | partnerships | brand campaign
Hartbeat’s Women Write Now was a fellowship for Black female comedy writers, developed in partnership with the Sundance Institute. For the program—which supported three writers in developing and producing short comedic scripts while being advised and mentored by influential Black women in comedy—we created a multi-phased campaign that included web development, strategic partnerships, ancillary content development and production, custom social, creator and talent activation, email, experiential, distribution, content marketing, and PR strategy. Our team also spearheaded a partnership with Chase Sapphire through the Script to Screen ancillary series. The campaign spanned from the call for submissions through the Sundance Festival premiere and debut on Peacock.
In 2019, just 2% of feature films were written by Black women.
Women Write Now was designed to address that problem head on by providing an opportunity for Black female writers to showcase their work and gain insider access to the industry to help usher them into the next level of their career.
the screenwriting fellowship
Kicking off the inaugural fellowship, the goals were to create awareness of the program, drive submissions, and create revenue opportunities for the brand. Campaign promotion rolled out across multiple touch points over the duration of the six-month program. Beginning with the call for entries, the four-phased campaign outreach included a blend of social media, pr, talent outreach, strategic partnerships, and experiential activation; each phase corresponded with Fellowship initiatives and marketing objectives.
phase one. launch
The launch window included the weeks leading into submissions opening and ran through the closed date. Promotion leveraged key art, pr, strategic partnership, custom social, and creator integration to drive submissions, awareness, in-bound partner interest, and talent partnerships.
phase two. selections
The selection phase was inclusive of the announcement of selected writers through production of the short films. To maintain momentum, content from the productions and the filmmaker lab were captured and shared across social and partner channels. Fellows and directors were also highlighted on social.
Script to Screen
We developed and produced Script to Screen, a three-part, digital documentary series, and companion piece to the Women Write Now short film anthology series, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes content, writer and director profiles, and interviews with leading Black women in entertainment. The series showcases the journey of our three emerging writers alongside actors-turned-directors Gabrielle Dennis, Meagan Good, and Bresha Webb, as they take their short script from the page through production. Chase Sapphire was brought on as program sponsor.
phase three. premiere
The three short films debuted during a special screening during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival followed by a Q&A with writers Moni Oyedepo, Danielle Nicolet, and Wilandrea Blair. Additionally, there was a screening event in Los Angeles.
phase four. distribution
At the culmination of the program, each of the short films was distributed on Peacock for an exclusive window before going wide across Laugh Out Loud Networks. We developed the premiere marketing package, including film key art and title promotion.
campaign highlights
650+
program submission
85 MILLION+
cross-platform impressions
10 MILLION+
cross-platform views
ONE NEW FLAGSHIP
content series launched
