Industry Standard w/ Barry Katz

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.

MONTY HALL is best known as the host and creator of arguably the most successful game show of our generation—“Let’s Make a Deal,” which launched 50 years ago and is still going strong today with its new host, Wayne Brady.  He was a radio star in the 50’s and became a go-to host in the 60’s and future decades with a plethora of shows he created and others that he was aligned with like CBS’s “Video Village,” NBC’s “Your First Impression,” and the syndicated show “Split Second.”  He has headlined the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, hosted his own variety show specials for ABC, and starred in the musical comedy feature film “High Button Shoes.”  additionally, he has appeared as a guest star on “Love American Style,” “The Flip Wilson Show,” “The Dean Martin Show,” “The Love Boat,” “Providence,” and several network situation comedies (including an acclaimed episode of “The Odd Couple”), as well as the TV movie “The Courage and the Passion.” His charitable and philanthropic activities and contributions have brought him over 500 awards and have distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to a multitude of charities across the world.  About to celebrate his 93rd birthday, Monty is a living legend and has been honored by having his star placed on the prestigious Hollywood walk of fame. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

GREG FITZSIMMONS is a 4-TIME Emmy Award Winner who is the host of “The Greg Fitzsimmons Show” on Sirius-XM’s Howard 101 and twice a week puts out the hugely popular “FitzDog Radio” podcast.  A regular on “Letterman,” “Conan,” “Kimmel,” “Leno,” Greg has also made more than 50 visits to “The Howard Stern Show.”  As a writer, Greg worked several years on ”The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Lucky Louie,” and  “Politically Incorrect.”  Additionally, he has created and executive produced pilots for VH1 and FX and served as head writer on “The Chelsea Handler Show,” “Tiny Tonight,” and “The Man Show.”  A few years ago he released his book, “Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox” and in 2013 he released his debut album “Life on Stage.” Greg is the winner of “The Jury Award for Best Comedian” from The HBO Comedy Arts Festival and a Cable Ace Award winner For the MTV game show he hosted called “Idiot Savants.” Later this year Greg will star in a new Comedy Central one-hour stand-up special,  star in a new Tru TV Special “How to be a Grown Up,” and has had multiple appearances on “Louie” on FX, “The Adam Carolla Show,” “The Howard Stern Show,” and “Chelsea Lately.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

GENE BLYTHE was the executive vice president of casting at ABC Entertainment Television Group for over two decades. In his unprecedented tenure, he was known and universally respected for having served under 8 different studio presidents in almost 20 years at the network—with a career that is impressive for both its length and impact on the studio. Gene started in show business as theater actor, working on Broadway for two years, eventually switching into theater casting in new york. He quickly gained notoriety for his work. Eventually being offered to come out to Los Angeles to work at the prestigious mark taper forum. His television casting career took off at MTM Productions where he supervised casting on the huge hit tv series "st.Elsewhere" and the debut season of "Newhart." Disney tapped Blythe to be one of four executives to head its television department at touchstone in 1988. While serving as senior vice president and head of casting for touchstone, he oversaw all network television projects and was instrumental in the original casting of such monstrous series successes as "home improvement," "boy meets world," "popular,"  "Unhappily Ever After," and "Ellen." he also was the driving force behind the first deals of such talented actors as Tim Allen, Drew Carey, Salma Hayek, Margaret Cho, Sarah Silverman, and Dave Chappelle. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SUSANNE DANIELS is presently the president of the MTV network. An award winning entertainment executive, Daniels has developed and produced some of the most memorable series on television. She started her career as Lorne Michaels’ assistant at “SNL” and was promoted to manager of development for Michaels’ Broadwayentertainment, where she helped develop the “the kids in the hall” comedy series and the box office smash “Wayne’s World.” she then went on to work at ABC and later served as vice president of comedy for fox television where she shepherded their successful Thursday night comedies “Martin” and “Living Single.”  Daniels then became the president of the WB Network (now the CW)…where she embarked on an incredible run of culture-defining hits including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “felicity,” “angel,” “Smallville” “Gilmore Girls,” “7th Heaven” and “Charmed.” from there Daniels went on to serve as president of lifetime and their movie network, which became the 2 highest-rated women’s cable tv networks during her tenure, where she launched the channels’ highest rated drama series in its history with “army wives,” oversaw the acquisition and re-development of reality hit “project runway,” as well as many Emmy award winning original films. Before assuming the head position at MTV in 2012, Daniels served as a consultant for numerous networks, including Oprah Winfrey’s own network, where she was credited for helping boost their ratings. Daniels is based in la where she resides with her husband, writer-producer-director Greg Daniels (“the Office,” “Parks and Recreation” and “King of the Hill”). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

GAVIN POLONE began his career as an assistant at ICM IN 1985. after becoming an agent, he joined Bauer/Benedek which BECAME United Talent Agency, where gavin made partner at age 29.  in 1996 he BECAME A MANAGER/PRODUCER WHEN he partnered with Judy Hofflund to form Hofflund/Polone which led to being an executive producer on the Emmy-nominated HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” AND THE CW’s “Gilmore Girls.” In 2001, HE formed PRODUCTION COMPANY, Pariah, where he produced numerous tv shows including NBC’S “Revelations,” HBO’S “Tell Me You Love Me,” and TBS’S “My Boys.” In feature films, he produced HBO’S “When Trumpets Fade,” NEW LINE’S “Drop Dead GorgeouS,” ARTISAN’S “Stir of Echoes,” Columbia’S “Premium Rush,” “Panic Room,” “Secret Window” and “Zombieland,” as well as the indy features “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop,” “Seeing Other People,” “Little Manhattan,” “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” for New Regency and 20th Century Fox; ALONG WITH disney’s “Primeval” and dreamworks’ “Ghost Town.” ADDITIONALLY, Polone has directed multiple episodes of “Jane By Design” and “Twisted” AND has written numerous articles for publications like “The Hollywood Reporter” “GQ,” and he currently writes a regular column for “New York Magazine.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

CAROL LEIFER is a four-time Emmy nominee for her writing on such shows as “Seinfeld,” “Modern Family,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” and seven “Academy Awards” telecasts. She has starred in five of her own comedy specials, which have aired on Showtime, HBO, and Comedy Central. Throughout her career she has worked very closely with several of the greatest comedy minds of our generation…including Steve Martin, Gary Shandling, Lorne Michaels, Jerry Seinfeld, and Larry David. Her first book was the national best seller “When You Lie about Your Age, the Terrorists Win.”  Carol’s most recent book, “How to Succeed in Business without Really Crying,” is part memoir, part guide to life, featuring a wonderfully funny collection of essays chronicling her three-decade journey through show business, offering valuable lessons for women and men in any profession. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TRACY CHRISTIAN started her agency career at PSA, a bi-coastal boutique talent agency with a focus on classically trained character actors like William H. Macy & Joe Mantegna.  At PSA, she began to packaging features for music clients like Busta Rhymes, Nelly and Fat Joe, in addition to supporting the agency’s roster of actors. Christian then moved to Don Buchwald and Associates where she represented future Oscar winners Octavia Spencer, Melissa Leo and Mo’Nique, Emmy nominee Elizabeth Moss, music mogul and producer Mona Scott Young, super producer Swizz Beatz, celebrity hair stylist Ted Gibson, reality star Omarosa, Kandi Burruss, Roger Guenveur Smith, Paz de la Huerta and Jamie Hector to the long list of celebrities whose careers she has guided. At Buchwald Tracy added representing reality show producers and participants to her book of business.In December of 2011 Christian opened TCA Jed Root with business partner Jed Root. The agency can boast of putting more than fifteen shows on air in a two year period and a client list of talented actors working on literally the best Hollywood has to offer (Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, True Detective, The Strain). It’s especially impressive considering the agency represents just thirty clients.Today Tracy Christian doesn’t just find opportunities for actors in film and television or sell successful reality programming…She is also involved in development of product lines and their exploitation through various media outlets.  Tracy used “Basketball Wife” Evelyn Lozada’s three million plus fans to secure her shoe line with mega retailer Nordstrom/Sole Society. YouTube personality Julie G now has a capsule line with Jesses Girl Cosmetics available in 1500 Rite Aids across the country. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.