Melissa Joan Hart Expands Partnership with Lifetime to Star, Direct and Executive Produce Multiple Movies Including Starring in the New Original Ripped from the Headlines Film “Dirty Little Secret” (WT)

Lifetime announced today a multi- year deal with Melissa Joan Hart to star in, direct, and executive produce several movies for the network. Hart will also star in the newly greenlight movie Dirty Little Secret (working title), as a mother hiding her extreme hoarding tendencies that are destroying her family, for the network’s Ripped From The Headlines summer slate.

As part of the new deal, Hart will continue her legacy with the network’s It’s a Wonderful Lifetime holiday movie slate as the star and executive producer of new movies for 2022 and 2023. Hart has starred in six holiday films for Lifetime including Mistletoe in Montana, Dear Christmas, and A Very Merry Toy Store. In addition, she has executive produced eight films with her production company Hartbreak Films, most recently Christmas in Tune starring Reba McEntire. Hart will also direct one picture for the network, which will join her previously directed Lifetime films, The Santa Con and Feliz NaviDAD, starring Mario Lopez, and The Watcher in the Woods remake starring Anjelica Houston.

“Having worked with Melissa over the years, we know she is capable of so much and wearing so many hats, and I’m excited to continue our relationship with her to develop new projects and especially as she takes on a very different role with Dirty Little Secret,” said Tanya Lopez, EVP, Scripted Content, Lifetime/LMN.

Hart added, “I’m thrilled to be able to continue my long-standing relationship with my Lifetime friends and can’t wait to bring some fresh new ideas, both in the holiday genre and beyond, to the audience.”

Inspired by true events, Dirty Little Secret follows seventeen-year-old Lucy (Lizzie Boys) who has been painfully isolated from her peers for years, refusing to let anyone near her house in order to hide her family secret – the overwhelming mountain of items filled in every crevice of space in her home. She quietly plans her escape to college while managing her mother Joanna’s (Melissa Joan Hart) hoarding disorder. Outwardly, a highly functioning nurse, Joanna maintains the dysfunction in their home with an obsessive grip but after a tragedy, Lucy must decide if she will hide her mother’s secret, or expose it to the world.

Dirty Little Secret (working title) is directed by Linda Lisa Hayter from a script written by Doris Egan, Nancey Silvers, and Annie Frisbee. Linda Berman serves as an executive producer and Navid Soofi serves as a producer. Dirty Little Secret is inspired by the book, Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu.

Melissa Joan Hart began her entertainment career with her first national commercial at age 4, and has since become a veteran actress, director, and producer across television, film, and theater. Most recently, Hart launched a pop-culture podcast, “What Women Binge,” featuring Hart and co-host Amanda Lee, and celebrity guests as they chat about any and all subjects, they find binge worthy.

In recent years, Hart’s directing career has come to the forefront including working on the film, The Watcher in the Woods starring Anjelica Huston, and episodic directing on Young Sheldon, the reboot of iCarly, Schooled, The Goldbergs, The Big Show Show, The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, Melissa & Joey and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, which she also starred in and produced. Hart first made her mark in television playing the title role in Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All.

Hart starred in Mistletoe in Montana as a part of Lifetime’s annual It’s a Wonderful Lifetime 2021 holiday slate. Dubbed the “Queen of Christmas,” Hart previously collaborated on eight other holiday films for Lifetime under her Hartbreak Films production banner including: Christmas in Tune, Christmas Reservations, Feliz NaviDAD, (also directed), Dear Christmas, Once Upon a Main Street, A Very Nutty Christmas, A Very Merry Toy Box and The Santa Con (also directed), as well as one for Hallmark Channel titled Broadcasting Christmas.

On the big screen, Hart starred in the romantic comedy Drive Me Crazy, Can’t Hardly Wait, Not Another Teen Movie and also starred in and executive produced the thriller Nine Dead.

Hart join’s Lifetime’s growing roster of actresses that will star in and executive produce multiple projects for the network including Reba McEntire (Reba McEntire’s Christmas in Tune), Toni Braxton (Fallen Angel’s Murder Club), Angie Harmon (Buried in Barstow), Sarah Drew (Stolen Hearts: The Lizbeth Meredith Story, Reindeer Games), Tia Mowry (Miracle in Motor City) and Jenna Dewan.

Hart is represented by Gilbertson Entertainment and APA.