The h.wood Group Launches Media Division With Kid Cudi, Jean-Michel Basquiat Projects (Exclusive)

Melinda Sheckells
·5 min read
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With more than a dozen high-profile venues in their hospitality portfolio (Delilah, Bootsy Bellows, Bird Streets Club), The h.wood Group’s John Terzian and Brian Toll are the go-to-guys for L.A.’s coveted tables, the masterminds behind A-lister nights out and the gatekeepers of exclusive events surrounding Super Bowl and Paris Fashion Week. Now, they are harnessing the industry connections they have amassed over two decades to create h.wood Media, a multimedia production arm of their hospitality company.

Partner Jeremy Allen, who helped h.wood Media raise its first fund, oversees the film and TV slate from development to studio projects. They are working on projects with Kid Cudi, Machine Gun Kelly, Post Malone, and more. Former HBO executive Emma Slivers serves as director of development.

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The multi-strategy vertical grew from a collaboration between Allen, Toll and Terzian on 2022’s They Call Me Magic, an Emmy-nominated Apple+ docuseries about Magic Johnson. Allen, a New York native, began his career at WME and then jumped to New Slate Ventures, a $100 million media fund to finance multicultural content across film, television and documentaries.

Magic Johnson - They Call Me Magic Documentary
John Terzian, Brian Toll and Jeremy Allen were executive producers on the 2022 documentary They Call Me Magic about Magic Johnson.

“One of our investments was a documentary on Magic Johnson. John and Brian got the rights to him and with zero production experience cobbled together the entire process independently. My fund financed it. I got to know them very well during the process,” Allen tells The Hollywood Reporter. “When I saw the synergies between what they’ve built in hospitality in terms of nightclubs, restaurants or lounges, and experiences and events, it was not dissimilar to producing a film. It’s a butts-in-seats business. It relies on talent, taste and the ability to fill a room with interesting people. When Magic premiered in April 2022, we talked about what h.wood Media could and should look like. I partnered with them to build that out.”

Allen shares that h.wood Media is also directly investing in consumer products and brands, and he focuses on their “budding mergers and acquisitions strategy.”

The principals say that leveraging the already established industry-favored brand across production and investment is a natural fit.

“John and Brian’s relationships run the gamut of the larger entertainment ecosystem — and in real estate and tech — disparate worlds come together. Their ability to reach people quickly and people’s willingness to do things for them is a huge help. Having direct access to talent and decision-makers to get things done is an eye-opening experience,” he says.

Their first project is Hell Naw!, a Sony Pictures Entertainment feature film written by the Academy Award-nominated Lucas Brothers starring Kid Cudi.

“I was talking to Karina Manashil [who runs Kid Cudi’s Mad Solar Productions] and she mentioned this project, and I thought it felt perfect for h.wood. John and I met with Sony’s Palak Patel. We pitched the idea. He more or less bought it during lunch. We brought Cudi in — along with Sam Levinson — and the Lucas brothers, who were coming off their Academy Award nomination. We got the deal done,” Allen says. “This is our first big studio movie, but it shows how h.wood can fit into the fabric of a project. It ticks a lot of boxes. We want to be in the music lane as much as possible because that is where many of our organic relationships fall. It is set during Paris Fashion Week, where we already have activations and are fortunate to throw Kid Cudi’s album release party. We wrap this film into other cultural touch points. Knowing how to throw a party during Paris Fashion Week and having the ability to put people in projects in an authentic way makes us feel like we can be very value-added.”

It is scheduled to begin shooting later in 2024.

h.wood Media is also developing projects with Machine Gun Kelly and Post Malone. While no specific details are available, Allen shares insight into how the deals work.

“Hollywood does not need another production company whatsoever. We want to partner with [musicians] and say, ‘Tell us your craziest idea. Tell me something you want to do.’ Many musicians want to [create projects], and we are trying to move those balls down the field for them and be a trusted producing partner,” Allen says.

Also upcoming is King Pleasure, a documentary by Quinn Wilson that looks into the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat. h.wood Media is producing with Boardwalk Pictures. Travis Kelce is a producer along with former Netflix exec Ray Maiello and Mike Field.

Long term, h.wood Media’s growth strategy is focused on films and documentaries, to help set up and find the right partners early in the process and to look for value-added partnerships.

“We want to invest in other companies doing it well, give them connectivity and support rather than adding to our operational overhead,” Allen says. “They spent 15 years building The h.wood Group and are permitting me to run a startup that banks on all their relationships. The one thing they haven’t done until now is monetize those relationships.”

Allen acknowledges that it would be easy to dismiss this as “the club guys trying to make movies.” However, because of the industry’s changing landscape, he says this makes sense and is now more viable than ever. “It might not have made sense five years ago, but I think the world is so integrated now. Brands are playing a more significant role. Studios are making fewer movies, and many tentpole independent movies come together in different, unique ways.”

One thing you won’t see, reality shows focused on their venues. Privacy remains the key to Terzian and Toll’s gilded Rolodex.

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit to do non-scripted content around their venues — or to jump the line by saying — we’ll give you full access,” says Allen. “That would ruin everything they’ve built from an exclusivity, access and discretionary standpoint. We’re not looking to cash that in.”

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