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Food Network is going into business with YouTube star Hannah Hart.
The cable network on Monday announced it has ordered a six-episode travel and food series starring the comedian. The currently untitled project, which is being eyed for a late 2016 release, will see Hart travel to and dine out in different cities across the country, but there’s a catch. She will have a limited budget determined by the average price to dine out in each city.
The project will leverage Hart’s skills in growing large online and social audiences and will be accompanied by online video and social content that will span Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and the Food Network website.
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Food Network is a natural home for Hart, who rose to fame on YouTube with cooking series My Drunk Kitchen. The show began in 2011 with Hart indulging in a few adult beverages while sharing her cooking tips. In the years since, her YouTube channel has amassed 2.5 million subscribers and nearly 248 million total views.
Hart also has gone on to write the New York Times best-seller My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going With Your Gut and to star in several films, including digital release Camp Takota and the upcoming Lionsgate comedy Dirty 30.
Hart said that while she doesn’t consider herself a “food expert,” she is a “food enthusiast” who loves to eat and travel. “But most of all I love to share my experiences,” she continued. “My life has blessed me with so many wonderful opportunities that my goal is to find a way to make them accessible to all! Food Network is the perfect partner for this endeavor and I couldn’t be more proud to call them mine.”
Food Network is the latest television network to see opportunity in the millions of young, engaged viewers who flock to YouTube and its roster of homegrown stars. E! aired one season of The Grace Helbig Show starring Hart’s close friend and frequent collaborator Grace Helbig, and MTV aired a docuseries with singer Todrick Hall. Netflix also has waded into the YouTube waters, picking up shows featuring online talent Colleen Ballinger and Cameron Dallas.
“We share the same mission Hannah has built her own brand success on, creating engaging and entertaining content for our viewers,” said Kathleen Finch, chief programming, content and brand officer at Food Network owner Scripps Networks Interactive. “The deep connection viewers of all ages, especially millennials, have to food and food-adjacent content makes Food Network the perfect place for Hannah to continue to explore her own food adventure, and we are excited to see all that comes from this organic convergence of the digital and television landscapes as we continue to deliver (together) what audiences are craving.”
The series is being produced by Morgan Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick’s Warrior Poets along with Hart, who is repped by UTA, and Linnea Toney, who oversees development and production at Hart’s Harto Media. The show will go into production later this summer.
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