Netflix has swooped in to land a reality series about The Hype House, a group of digital influencers in LA that have more than 120M TikTok followers.
The streamer has ordered the series, which Deadline first revealed was in the works last August, from Wheelhouse Entertainment.
The show, which is part of a larger, overall content and brand alliance between Wheelhouse and Hype House, will feature the likes of founders Chase Hudson and Thomas Petrou as well as Nikita Dragun.
It will take viewers inside the group’s communal mansion in Los Angeles, offering an exclusive, fly-on-the-wall look into the glamorous, stressful and high-speed personal and professional antics of the young stars, as they live together and collaborate daily on new content.
Other influencers starring in the series include Kouvr Annon, Sienna Mae Gomez, Larri Merritt, Alex Warren and Jack Wright, which all combined have over 124M followers on TikTok.
Each episode of the show will look at their creative endeavors for brands to drama-inducing house meetings and the initiation of new members. It will also look at the housemates’ backstories, looking at the sometimes difficult and troubling events that propelled them to TikTok and the bonds they’ve formed with one another.
Exec producers include Wheelhouse Group Chief Content Officer Eric Wattenberg, Deanna Markoff, who was previously co-EP of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Spoke Studios Co-President Will Nothacker, Luke Neslage, exec producer of The Real Housewives of Atlanta andThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Kit Gordon, who worked on Little People, Big World.
The show is one of a number of shows featuring this new generation of stars; Charli D’Amelio, TikTok’s most popular star with over 75M followers and a former member of the Hype House, is fronting her own show at Hulu with her family and a slew of other houses, including The Clubhouse, are working on projects.
Eric Wattenberg, said, “Wheelhouse was launched as a one-stop shop for talent and creators looking to leverage their own brands through content. It’s incredibly gratifying to partner with Netflix on this show and elevate the next generation of stars and entrepreneurs.”
Wheelhouse Chief Strategy Officer Ed Simpson told Deadline that it is working with these influencers, initially via its digital division Wheelhouse DNA, to build broad businesses.
He said that these influencers want the legitimacy that a service like Netflix provides. “So many of these influencers don’t feel that they justify the attention that they’re getting. They put content up on YouTube or TikTok and the algorithm does its magic and they think, ‘I’ve got millions of people looking at me and all I’ve done is just be me’,” he added. “When they start to think about the long-form world and the linear world, there’s a huge demand and desire because it creates a validation for them and for their talent. It creates a longevity for their careers, as well. If you look at the average length of a social media star it’s only a few years and sort of they peak, so, by bringing them across and building their business in a more traditional way, they have a foundation that means they can have a much longer career.”
Wattenberg, who was formerly CAA alternative co-head, added that there are also opportunities to expand the world of hype houses and turn it into the millennial version of The Real Housewives franchise. “The people in the houses may come and go, but the houses themselves will continue to generate new stars,” he added. “From my old school TV days, this could be a Housewives where we’re going around from city to city.”