Hartman produced the song "I Won't Steal Away" (which he co-wrote with Midnight and Alides Hidding) for the band Time Bandits, which appeared on their 1985 album "Fiction". In 1985 and 1986, Hartman worked on what was planned as his subsequent studio album, "White Boy"; he wanted the album to have a darker and more mature sound than his previous work. The album was completed in 1986, but the record label, MCA, thought it was too dissimilar to Hartman's previous work, especially "I Can Dream About You", and refused to release it. "White Boy" has never been released, though some test pressings of the album were made that are now held by collectors, and some of the songs from the album are available on the internet. One song from the album, "Waiting to See You", was used in the 1986 film "Ruthless People" and its accompanying soundtrack album and was subsequently released as a single. He also co-produced a version of the song “Great Gosh O Mighty” for the film "Down and Out in Beverly Hills". For his 1986 album "Lifetime Friend", Little Richard (who performed the song in the aforementioned film) used a different version. Also, in 1986, Hartman was reported to be producing Lou Gramm's first solo album (Gramm was then the lead singer of Foreigner), though the opportunity did not materialize. In 1988, Hartman co-wrote the song "Why Should I Worry?" with Charlie Midnight for the Walt Disney Animation Studios film "Oliver & Company".