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She “explained it all” to us as Clarissa Darling with her mismatched fashions and adolescent perspective on life. She cast a spell over us making us fall deeper and deeper in love with her as Sabrina The Teenage Witch. She’s also won our hearts while making us laugh out loud in films like Drive Me Crazy, Can’t Hardly Wait, and Not Another Teen Movie. But, her current leading role on Melissa & Joey is where she’s really made all of us red in the face with laughter. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about by now… She’s practically a household name… You guessed it. It’s Melissa Joan Hart. This industry veteran isn’t just a rockstar on the screen. In fact, she is quite the accomplished entrepreneur. For a deeper look into what Melissa’s all about, I’ll give you a little peek into the convo I had with her the other day while she was spending some time on the East Coast.
Okay. Tell me about your store, Sweet Harts, and where the idea came from.
Yea! It’s been open a little over two years now and my mom and I, through all our travels all over the world, have always explored candy stores, so we really wanted to open our own. And, we thought, Sweet Harts, would be an adorable name for it. It probably more started with the name than anything else. Then, people started investing in it and we got this little store off the ground. It’s in Sherman Oaks, California right now, but we’d like to expand it to other areas and see how that goes over. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it’s this beautiful little shop. We have birthday parties, baby showers, kids come after school, and they come after little league games. It’s been really fun.
So what is your favorite goodie or candy that you have in the store?
I just love the idea of ring pops I think since I was a little girl. You get that giant ring and you get to suck on it ‘cause it’s sugary!
Do your kids have any Sweet Harts favorites? Are they ring pop fans too?
My five year old always loves those fish lollipops. They’re almost like gummy fish on a stick, but they’re sour too. My three year old is really into the Pucker machine. It’s one of those machines where you basically make your own Pixie stick, but it’s called Pucker Powder. You can put whatever flavors and colors you want in there and they love to make those. They don’t want to eat it. They just want to make it.
Okay, let’s talk about one of the other projects you work on with your mother…Hartbreak Films, Inc. What are some of the perks when it comes to working with family?
Well, the good thing is, who are you going to trust more than your mom, ya know? You always know she’s got your back and everything’s going to go well. But, there’s always times when the mother/daughter line gets crossed with your working relationship, so we’ve had to learn over the years. I mean, we’ve been doing it about eighteen years, so we’ve had to learn how to put certain things aside or business aside and deal with the other issue that may be at hand. One of the plus sides is that it makes you talk to your mom all the time. It’s a great way to be on the phone with your mom. You stay in touch more.
Can you tell me about some of the projects you have going on right now with Hartbreak?
Sure! Well, the history of it all is that my mom found the Archie comics Sabrina The Teenage Witch and brought it to Viacom where we decided to make it a TV movie for Showtime. Then, from that spawned the show and we did that for many years. Along with that, we were doing the animated series, a bunch of TV movies. I actually just ran into Ryan Reynolds a few minutes ago and he was in the first Sabrina movie with me. So, we had a long-running franchise with that of course.
What about some of the other projects?
We did a ton of other TV movies in the process. We did a movie about Shirley Temple’s life story. She wouldn’t give the project to anybody else, except us, which was wonderful because she is a huge idol of mine. It was a great moment to meet her and give her blessing to tell her story. It meant a lot to me. Just last year our first feature film came out on DVD called Nine Dead, that we shot in Baton Rouge. And then we did the TV movie, My Fake Fiance, which is pretty much where Melissa & Joey came from. The network loved the chemistry between us and decided to create a TV show. So, that’s where we are now. Other than that we also have a web-series that will be up very soon. I can’t really talk about it, but it’s going to be a really fun, family-oriented reality web-series. It’s sort of like a family talk show. That’s one that I’m really excited about. We have an animated show in the works, another TV show being done in Canada, a feature, and a few other things also.
Boy, sounds like your plate is pretty much full. Back to Sabrina, though, how did you guys first decided to take it from just a movie and expand it into an entire TV series?
Oh, it was really simple, actually. Before the movie even aired, my mother had sat with an editor and cut together a trailer of what it could look like as a TV show. She then went to five different networks. Three of them bid on it in a room and ABC ended up being the best choice for it, putting the show on TGIFriday’s time slot. We were shootin’ it by that Fall!
So, what was it like working on Sabrina?
It was wonderful. I had a blast. Clarissa was a lot of fun to do too, but it was hard because I was also in high school. But, Sabrina was really the first time I worked as an adult even though my mom was on the set with me. I was on my own. I was living by myself. I bought a car. I moved to LA. I was so excited to be on my own and working. I loved the crew. We pretty much had the same crew for over seven years and we had a blast. We travelled the world together and became best friends.
Yea, ya know, when you were on Clarissa Explains It All, I used to watch you all the time and try to dress like you, but it was always a complete fail.
I know! I watch it now and some of the things are back in style and some of them are not at all. It’s so funny because that’s what I always get. When I was Clarissa, people would always tell me they want to dress like me and they loved my style. When I was Sabrina, people would tell me how they loved the cat and how their kids loved my show. Now that I’m doing Melissa & Joey, I get, “Oh, you’re so funny.” It’s just such a compliment. I love that people are telling me I’m so funny like they’re just figuring it out. (She laughs.)
Like it’s a new discovery, right? Well, you've always been funny. I guess maybe that goes without saying sometimes for people. I mean, your list of credits and accomplishments is beyond amazing. As a veteran in entertainment, what do you feel are some of the key ingredients to being successful in your career?
Well, the thing with this business is that there’s no set plan. There’s no moving up the ladder, getting the promotion. You can have a great show with a great character who’s iconic, but when it’s over, you’re back down at the bottom of the ladder again. You have to fight your way back to the top. It really is a business of rejection. You have to have a thick skin and you have to be willing to take a lot of crap to get what you want. Your managers and agents aren’t always enough. Sometimes you have to push your own career along. That’s why I’m producing and directing and those kind of things too. It’s a game of numbers, too, but it’s not an easy way to make a living. That’s for sure.
So how do you juggle marriage, motherhood, home life, and your career, ‘cause you do so much?
I literally take it day by day. When I get home, I’ll look at my calendar and figure out what needs to happen. Do we need our nanny tomorrow? Am I going to make it to the gym tomorrow? What do the kids have to do? I have to make preparations for everything. I know what the next year of my life looks like until next August, month by month… when I’ll be in Connecticut and when I’ll be in California, so I can plan Christmas parties and things like that based on when I’m going to be in town. So, I have to be that far ahead of time while at the same time take it day by day.
Well, clearly, your role on Melissa & Joey differs from your real life as a loving and active mother, but, at the same time, can you relate to your character as she’s a career woman juggling home life as well?
Yea. I mean, the one thing is that my kids are kind of growing up gradually while she was kind of thrown into it. With my character, I take my natural Mommy instinct and I do the exact opposite for the show. But, at the same time, we actually are going through the same thing. I hadn’t really thought of it that way before. We’re both trying to pursue careers while trying to raise good children and it depends on the day which one actually takes priority. Like, is today a day that my kids really need me or is today a day that I can escape and go to work? It’s tough and there’s sacrifices on both sides. I think our generation was told that we can be great moms and CEOs. I think it’s a really hard thing to do both great. I think you’re really lucky to be able to do both things good.
Well, since you said you have the whole year planned out, what do you have in store for us with Melissa & Joey?
Well, right now you’re seeing the second half of the first season. It’s still technically the first season. There’s about 12 or 13 more episodes this season. And, in a couple weeks, we’re going back to start filming season two! The storylines are just being figured out. If the ratings really pick up more, then, hopefully we’ll go from there.
What’s the chemistry like on set?
With Melissa & Joey, we all have families and we’re all really focused on making a really great show. So, what’s really fun is that we’ve opened up the lines of communication so that we could give each other notes. Like, “Hey, if you try this it might be funnier than that,” or, “What if you say this instead?” Now, we have that kind of communication across the cast and the crew has started chiming in as well. We’re really all in it together, so it’s a nice collaborative effort to make it the show the best it can be.
Some say the show is like a modern day’s Who’s The Boss. What are some of the twists and aspects of the show that make it different?
For starters, you have two people that are not parents on the show. On that show they were both parents. On this show they come into in completely blind. Another thing that’s different, which I actually think is the main ingredient for the show, is that Mel and Joe don’t like each other. They bicker and quarrel. I feel like the show has elements of Moonlighting and of The New Adventures of Old Christine. Like where the mom is not really the greatest mom. She’s sort of a wreck. She’s just a hot mess that you love to watch like in this show. I just feel like our show is really funny. Who’s The Boss was a great show and it lasted forever, so if we have that kind of blessing, we would be very lucky.
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