216: Byron Allen Re-Release

BYRON ALLEN is a multiple Emmy winning 35-year entertainment veteran, who began his career as a stand-up. At 14 years old, he got his first break when  Jimmie Walker saw his stand-up act and was so impressed that he invited him to join his comedy writing team alongside promising young comedians Jay Leno and David Letterman. By the age of 18, Allen made his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and was the youngest comedian ever to have performed on the show. His first job hosting a TV show was that same year on Real People, which he co-hosted for 5 years on NBC, after the producers saw him on Carson.  Presently, he is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios, which he started from his dining room table in 1993, with no capital and no investors, while working to launch his first television show, Entertainers with Byron Allen. He now oversees production of original programming, advertising sales, and distribution for his company which is now the largest independent producer/distributor of first-run syndicated programming for broadcast television globally. In 2009, Allen became the first television entrepreneur to own and launch a portfolio of six 24-hour HD television networks simultaneously, including Pets.TV, Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, Cars.TV, ES.TV, and MyDestination.TV. Among the company’s top programs are Emmy-winning Cars.TV, Emmy nominated America's Court with Judge Ross, We the People With Gloria Allred, Comics Unleashed, Comedy.TV, and The Young Icons. This year, his company bought the film 47 Meters Down from Dimension films. The film became a surprise hit, making close to 50 million dollars at the box office for a budget of only 5 million.  Recently, at the Toronto Film Festival, Allen bought the films Replicas starring Keanu Reeves for 4 million dollars and the highly anticipated movie about Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara and Bruce Dern for 20 million dollars.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/industry-standard-w-barry-katz/support