Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen [Mic]. This reigns true when it comes to former stand-up comic turned chief executive officer of U.S. television production company Entertainment Studios. Often called cheap stake, Byron Allen Folks has assessed a way to gross nearly $100 million annually off bartered shows. In the business sense cheap stake is actually code for Capitalist.
Like most comedians Allen got his start doing stand-up at amateur comic clubs. Born in Detroit, Michigan to a mom who worked as a publicist for NBC studios he received his experience early. It was while he attended Fairfax high school in Hollywood, California that he began doing stand-up comedy. Actor Jimmie Walker, best known for his work on the 1970s sitcom Good Times, was impressed enough that he hired the 14 year old Allen to write material for his stand-up routines, along with two now immensely popular comedians, David Letterman and Jay Leno. At 18, Allen received his big break as the youngest comic ever to appear on The Tonight Show when he was invited to do a stand-up set on-air. Impressed by his performance, NBC hired him to co-host Real People, a hit show featuring normal people with unique hobbies and talents. Throughout his stay Allen took notes on the business side of entertainment, learning the workings of television production. By personally calling station owners, programming directors and advertisers, one-by-one and market-by-market from his dining room he learned business of advertising and syndication. The rest was up from there.
It was 1993 when Allen realized the real power was behind the camera not in front of it. Partnered with his mother he started his own production company, Entertainment Studios, with his first series "Entertainers with Byron Allen"-a weekly, one-hour celebrity talk show series. To date he is making $100 million from shows such as "Mr.
