EXCLUSIVE: Literary classics such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are getting the microdrama treatment.
This is through the latest entrant into the microdrama field, LoveHit, an L.A.-based studio and app focused on originals based on classic literary adaptations.
LoveHit, which launches this month, has a vertical video slate built entirely from classic novels in the public domain. At launch, this will comprise Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby and Beauty and the Beast. More are in post-production, including Dangerous Liaisons, The Scarlett Letter and Les Misérables.
Each has been written, shot and edited as both a vertical series and a horizontial features, with the latter being readied for TV and streaming buyers worldwide attending MIPCOM on October 12-15 in Cannes. Series will last roughly 50 episodes running between one and three minutes, with the films at 90 minutes.
Actors appearing in the titles include microdrama regulars Meg Bush, Tyler Harlow and Sophie Swiszcz, along film, television and stage stars. These include Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts, who appears in Jane Eyre, which stars Raina Silver and Tyler Harlow. Ethan Vaughan and Jean Evans will star in Wuthering Heights, which is relocated to a present day American ranch. A vertical cut of the show launched on the LoveHit app on August 27 ahead of the full launch.
Other plotlines see Dangerous Liaisons adapted in a story where a Manhattan socialite hires the anonymous author of a scandalous blog to destroy her ex-fiancé’s reputation. The Scarlett Letters follows a woman who believes her husband died overseas only to fall for the young pastor helping her rebuild, while Les Misérables moves the story into college, following a student who loses everything before finding anonymity and income behind a webcam, only for someone to recognize her.
“There isn’t a market in the world where these titles need much of an introduction,” said Lenny Levi, CEO of LoveHit. “Every generation has adapted them, and every generation finds its own reason to connect with them. That’s what makes them evergreen.”
We hear LoveHit has been privately financed, with a group of investors supportive of the company’s growth and content strategy.
Levi is an L.A.-based film and media producer with more than 15 years across production, business affairs, international distribution and emerging media. He has worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment, CBS Television Studios, Paramount Television Studios and Riot Games. He has produced multiple feature films and currently focuses on film and vertical storytelling.
He was closely involved in building and launching Squad.App, an AI-powered influencer marketing platform for brands and creators. He has also produced feature films.
“We framed everything for both formats and cut two versions: the vertical version is made specifically for mobile devices and has its own way of telling the story, while the horizontal version goes to Cannes, where we’re already seeing interest in romance from television and streaming buyers around the world. I’m especially proud that we shot all of it in Los Angeles, using local casts and crews.”
There have been a spate of L.A.-based microdrama businesses launching over recent weeks, and LoveHit’s launch comes less than a week after aTwist, which is led by a trio of former network execs, debuted.
aTwist debuted on September 3 with titles such as Buried Alive, Back For Revenge, Cash Out, Hollywood Starlet, I Fell in Love with a Dragon Prince, I Swiped Right on a Serial Killer, My Billionaire Kidney, My Book Boyfriend Came to Life, Pretty Hurts and So Do I, Something is Alive in My Attic and Strangers, a Plane and a Deadly Game. It also has a production partnership with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, a deal with BET and the first microdrama from The Bold and the Beautiful‘s creative chief, Bradley Bell.
