Industry Standard w/ Barry Katz

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.

DAVID KISSINGER is the President of Conaco Productions, (Conan O'Brien’S PRODUCTION COMPANY) and has produced a plethora of shows for them "Andy Barker P.I.," "Outlaw" ON NBC, "Eagleheart" on Adult Swim, "Super Fun Night" for ABC, as well as "the Pete Holmes Show" and “Deon’s Black Box” for TBS.  Prior to joining Conaco, he was the President of NBC Universal Television/Studio USA where he developed some of the most acclaimed Emmy nominated and winning shows on TV including "House," "the Office," "Monk," "Battlestar Galactica," "Law & Order: Special Victims' Unit," and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."  Previously, Kissinger was a senior VP for Touchstone TV where he oversaw the development and production of "Ellen," “Boy Meets World,” and "Home Improvement." Prior to his TV career, Kissinger worked as a journalist, writing for Rolling Stone, the New York Observer, and Esquire. He is the son of Former Secretary of State and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Henry Kissinger. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TOM HERTZ is an Emmy Award winning writer and show runners, and one of the most respected executive producers in the entertainment business. He has worked with some of the most groundbreaking artists of our generation—making his mark with Jon Stewart (“The Jon Stewart Show”), Kevin James (“King of Queens”), Gary Shandling (The Larry Sanders Show), Dennis Miller (Dennis Miller Live),  Charlie Sheen, and Michael J. Fox (“Spin City”) …and created the hit CBS show RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, starring David Spade, which reached the rare 100 episode status in 2012. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DAN PASTERNACK is a veteran TV producer and high level creative executive who recently joined the prestigious independent production company big beach films (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Our Idiot Brother,” “Sunshine Cleaning”) to set up and head a new television division, Big Beach TV. Pasternack left his position as vice president of development and production for IFC after four and a half years to join Big Beach, and during his tenure at IFC, he shepherded the break-out critically acclaimed hit series “Portlandia” from web-series to Emmy, peabody and writer’s guild award winning television sensation. Additionally, he also oversaw the development of “Comedy Bang! Bang!” starring Scott Aukerman and Reggie Watts, “The Birthday Boys” from executive producer Bob Odenkirk, and “The Spoils of Babylon” starring Tobey Maguire, Krristen Wiig and Tim Robbins. Prior to his tenure at IFC, Pasternack held a variety of creative executive positions, including roles at Turner Broadcasting, Carsey-Werner, Studios USA (now NBC/Universal), Granada Entertainment USA, and the Fred Silverman Company. Dan has also served as co-producer on the showtime series “Beggars and Choosers,” executive producer on the showtime sketch comedy pilot “The Offensive Show,” the FX series “Starved”, the Fox network pilot “Frances and Angela,” and the Starz series “Gravity” on which he served as a writer and executive producer. Pasternack began his career as a writer/stand-up comedian, has also written articles for Emmy magazine and was one of the earliest regular contributing bloggers to the Huffington Post. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.