Industry Standard w/ Barry Katz

BILL GRUNDFEST is an award-winning writer and producer, who started his career as a stand-up comedian in New York City, where he founded the world famous Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village in 1982, showcasing then unknown comeidans like Jon Steward, Bill Maher, Rita Rudner, Dave Attell, and Ray Romano. He also performed on WNBC-AM66 hosting his own series and was the permanent substitute for Don Imus. At the height of his and the comedy club's popularity, he decided to relocate to Los Angeles and quickly started booking prestegious writing jobs like the Emmy, People's Choice, and Academy Awards telecasts. He is best known for being a well-respected writer and producer for hte smash Golden Globe comedy series "Mad About You" starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt - who won 4 straight Emmy Awards for her performances on the show.  Bill then executive produced the CBS hour-long drama series "That's Life", the Richard Pryor inspired show "Pryor Offenses," the dramedy series "Exes and Ohs," and the comedy series "Campus Ladies" fot the Oxygen Network. Additionally, he also directed the critically acclaimed documentary "Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DON REO is a producer, television writer, and author, who is currently an executive producer on Two and a Half Men and the creator of "Blossom" and "The John Larroquette Show" for NBC, "My Wife and Kids" on ABC, and "Brothers" on FOX. He began his 40-year+ career writing for iconic comedians such as Slappy White, Red Fox and Jackie Gleason, and went on to write episodes for classic shows like M*A*S*H, Rhoda, Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family and The Golden Girls. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

JULIE TALBOTT is the president of premiere networks.  she started her career in advertising at the prestigeous bbdo firm, but her love of radio was overpowering as she MOVED ON TO SPEND 19 years As COO of MJI Broadcasting, growing the company from 5 people to more than 150.  after that, she has spent the LAST 16 YEARS at premiere and has been the driving force behind a plethora of talent deals including Jim Rome, Glenn Beck, George Noory, Bob and Tom, Keith Sweat, Elvis Duran, FOX Sports Radio , jay mohr, and Steve Harvey. In 2014, the editorial board of TALKERS magazine honored Talbott with their Judy Jarvis Memorial Award, also known as “Woman of the Year,” for her outstanding contributions to the talk radio industry. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

KEN MOK is the president and founder of 10x10 entertainment (a production company that produces television, film and alternative media), best know as the creator and executive producer of the mega-hit “america’s next top model,” now in it’s 22nd cycle airing in more than 150 territories. Considered one of the godfather’s of reality tv, he launched one of the very first reality series to appear on network tv back in 2000 with “making the band.”  mok’s other tv productions are the cw’s “the pussycat dolls presents: girlicious,” vh1’s “the white rapper show,” a&e’s “the love shaq” starring shaquille o’neill, nascar/bet’s “changing lanes,” and mtv’s “wwe tough enough.”  in addition to tv, mok produced the major motion picture “invincible,” a film based on a the true-life story of vince papale, starring mark wahlberg.  He is presently producing a new film for fox based on the life of entrepreneur joy mangano, in which david o’russell is attached to direct, which will star jennifer lawrence and robert deniro. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DIONNE WARWICK is a five-time GRAMMY® Award winning music legend, who has become a cornerstone of American pop music and culture. Warwick’s career, which currently celebrates over 50 years, has established her as an internationalmusic icon and concert act. Over that time, she has earned 75 charted hit songs and sold over 100 million records. She began singing professionally in 1961after being discovered by a young songwriting team (Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and had her first hit in 1962 with “Don’t Make Me Over.”  Less than a decade later, she had released more than 18 consecutive Top 100 singles, including her classic Bacharach/David recordings, “Walk on By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Message to Michael,” “Promises Promises,” “A House is Not a Home,” “Alfie,” “Say a Little Prayer,” “This Girl’s in Love With You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Reach Out For Me,” and the theme from “Valley of the Dolls. ” Together, Warwick and the songwriting team of Bacharach & David accumulated more than 30 hit singles, and close to 20 best-selling albums, during their first decade together. She received her first GRAMMY® Award in1968 for her mega-hit, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and a second GRAMMY® in 1970 for the best-selling album, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”  Warwick was also a key participating artist in the all-star charity smash hit single, “We Are the World,” and in 1984, performed at “Live Aid” and hosted and headlined an all-star benefit concert for World Hunger Day in London.  In addition, she was honored by AMFAR in a special reunion performance of “That’s What Friends are For,” alongside Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder at AMFAR’s Anniversary Gala in New York City.   Warwick also received the prestigious 2011 Steve Chase Humanitarian Arts & Activism Award by the Desert Aids Project and was recognized for her stellar career by Clive Davis at his legendary Pre-GRAMMY® Party in Los Angeles.  Adding to her list of landmark honors, Warwick was a 2013 recipient of the coveted Ellis Island Medal of Honor in New York…and she became the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist Performance—an award only presented to one other legend, Miss Ella Fitzgerald. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SCOTT ACKERSON is a 13-time Emmy Award-winning Executive Vice President of Studio Production at fox sports, overseeing the network’s news coverage. previously HE was the Coordinating Producer of “FOX NFL SUNDAY,” and was in charge of all studio programming for the networks and entities within FOX Sports since 2011. In 2012, Ackerson served as interim president of cable channel SPEED while still overseeing FOX’S studio production. HE joined FOX Sports in 1994, leading “FOX NFL SUNDAY” to its 17-year run as America’s most-watched NFL pregame show.  Under his direction, the network’s signature studio program won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Studio Show and became a cultural phenomenon watched by millions nationwide every Sunday. His keen eye for talent has LAUNCHED the sports TV careers of Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Kimmel, Jillian Reynolds and Frank Caliendo.  Before joining FOX Sports prior to its first NFL season in 1994, Ackerson honed his craft from 1987 through mid-1994 at ESPN during the hey day of Sportscenter. He has worked on numerous big events such as the World Series, Super Bowl, The MLB All-Star Game, and the Historic 2002 9/11 Superbowl Special. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Best of Industry Standard 2014: Part (2 of 2) features the invaluable words of wisdom of 25 of the best guests on Industry Standard during the past year...including Russell Peters, Jay Mohr, Dr. Phil and 20 more!!! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Best of Industry Standard 2014: Part (1 of 2) features the invaluable words of wisdom of 25 of the best guests on Industry Standard during the past year...including Neal Brennan, Steve McPherson, Sandy Grushow, Marc Maron, Dr. Phil and 20 more!!! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 stand-up 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--after originally turning it down a year earlier so he could finish high school and attend USC—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.  20 years later, he now oversees production of original programming, advertising sales, and distribution for his company, which at any given time airs between 27 to 32 TV series on the air, making it 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 and We the People With Gloria Allred, Comics Unleashed, Comedy.TV, and The Young Icons. Recently his company made its first foray into scripted programming, producing two weekly primetime sitcoms--The First Family (starring John Witherspoon and Gladys Knight) and Mr. Box Office (starring Bill Bellamy, Jon Lovitz, and Vivica Fox). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cheri Oteri was born in Philadelphia and later moved to LA where she worked in promotions for A&M Records. She joined the Groundlings, and in 1995 the producers of “Saturday Night Live” saw one of her monologues, which led to an audition and eventually being hired as a cast member. She has also appeared in several films, including “Scary Movie,” “Inspector Gadget,” “Liar Liar,” “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd,” “Shrek the Third,” “Southland Tales,” and “Grown Ups 2” (with Adam Sandler). In 2009, Oteri became a regular voice in Fox networks'  animated comedy series “Sit Down, Shut Up” (which later moved to Comedy Central). Additionally, Cheri has made multiple guest appearances on TV shows such as “Just Shoot Me!” (in which she was nominated for an Emmy), “Strangers with Candy, Jessie,” “The New Normal,” “Hot in Cleveland,” and as an emotionally unstable nanny on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.