Byron Allen is known to many as a comedian from Detroit who was working the stand-up scene in Los Angeles before being discovered and making a name for himself at the age of 14-years-old. Even then he was dreaming big–he used to follow his mom to work at the Burbank NBC Studios and sneak onto the Johnny Carson set and pretend he was the host. By age 18, Allen’s Tonight Show dream became real. He may not have been hosting, but he was doing a comedy set before a national audience when he debuted on the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He was the youngest comedian to ever land a guest spot on the show.
If that is all people know of Allen- you don’t half the story. The former comedian has become quite the media mogul over the past 20 plus years earning the rank as one of Hollywood’s most powerful players alongside Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. His net-worth is reportedly a staggering $300 million. While Allen started out as a comedy writer and later turned into a TV personality, he had a desire to learn more about TV production. After doing his research and learning a bit more about the behind the scenes work, he founded his company, Entertainment Studios, and launched his first series entitled “Entertainers with Byron Allen,” which was a show focused on current film and television stars.
Allen is now the Chairman/Founder/CEO of Entertainment Studios. You probably watch or have watched some of his productions without even knowing it.Allen’s companies produce over 30 nationally syndicated programs that includes the following:
- Comics Unleashed
- Justice with Judge Mablean
- Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez
- The First Family
- Who Wants to Date a Comedian
All of his TV enterprises bring in over $100 million a year. Allen came up with his own plan instead of following the standard production house business model of sell a show to the network for a flat fee and let the network keep all the commercial profit sold to advertisers. His plan sounded crazy…but proved to be pure genius. Allen GIVES HIS SHOWS TO THE NETWORKS FOR FREE! –that’s the crazy part. Here’s the genius-Allen keeps the rights to sell half the commercials or advertising. So what he’s able to get from Apple, McDonald’s or Pepsi as advertisers is millions more than he would have collected from a TV network to air the show.
Allen has done more than executive produce during his time as a media mogul. He has also taken on the role of writer and director for some of the many projects he has worked on.
Some of the top comedians in the industry have stepped outside of the their traditional role as actor and tried their hand at more responsibility over the years. Chris Rock has been a writer on many of his projects, most recently Top Five and his tv series Everybody Hates Chris. Though Rock doesn’t own his own studio, it is common nowadays to see actors and comedians wanting to branch out and learn something new.
Byron Allen’s story is such a unique one because he began building his empire at such an early age. For those wanting to someday own a studio or work in the television industry, take notes from Allen. He created his own opportunities and learned several skills that will allow him to continue to be a valuable asset to the television world now and in years to come.
This is an offer hard to refuse even if they didn't like him. The station gets a free show and half the commercial spots. This breh is smart.
