Byron Allen net worth, family, show, wife, divorce

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<a href="/biography/byron-allen">Byron Allen Folks</a> is an American businessman, comedian, television producer, philanthropist, and the CEO of Entertainment Studios, a leading entertainment firm in the United States. He is most famous for being the founder of Entertainment Studios, a television production company.

<h2>Background</h2>

Byron Allen was born on April 22, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan. Allen is the only child of a single mother, Carolyn Folks. His parents split up when Allen was seven years old. He is a notable graduate of Fairfax High School in Hollywood, California.

<a href="/biography/byron-allen">Bryon Allen</a>'s interest in the entertainment industry began at age seven when he and his mother moved from Detroit to Los Angeles. His mother took an internship and later became a publicist at NBC. While accompanying his mother at the studio, Allen witnessed The Tonight Show being hosted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson">Johnny Carson</a>, TV specials made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope">Bob Hope</a>, and Sanford and Son being taped by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redd_Foxx">Redd Foxx</a>. Since he was free to roam in the sound stages, he would sneak into The Tonight Show, sit behind the desk of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson">Johnny Carson</a>, and pretend to be the host. At age 12, Allen received praise and encouragement for a script he wrote for Sanford and Son from the show's writers.

<h2>Marriage and Children</h2>

Byron Allen has been married to Jennifer Lucas since 2007, and they have three children. They have two daughters and a son. Their names are Olivia Rose Allen, Chloe Ava Allen, and Lucas Byron Allen.

<h2>Comedy and Hosting</h2>

<a href="/biography/byron-allen">Bryon Allen</a> began performing standup comedy at 14, frequenting amateur clubs such as The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Wayne Cline, a writer on Good Times, saw Allen perform at the Comedy Store and approached him, asking for his number to contact <a href="/biography/jimmie-walker">comedian</a> <a href="/biography/jimmie-walker">Jimmie Walker</a>. When <a href="/biography/jimmie-walker">Walker</a> saw him, he was so impressed that he asked Allen to join his comedy writing team, working with comedians like <a href="/biography/david-letterman">David Letterman</a> and <a href="/biography/jay-leno">Jay Leno</a>. <a href="/biography/jimmie-walker">Walker</a> paid Allen 25 dollars a joke as a writer.

When Allen was 18 years old, he performed on The Tonight Show, Starring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson">Johnny Carson</a>, and was the youngest person ever to do so. At age 19, he introduced himself to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Masini">Al Masini</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Masini">TV executive</a>, after seeing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Masini">Masini</a> pitch Entertainment Tonight at a broadcasting conference. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Masini">Masini</a> became Allen's mentor, causing Allen to choose a career path in television. He went on to appear on Dinah, Hollywood Squares, and The Merv Griffin Show.

In 1984, he opened for <a href="/biography/kenny-rogers">Kenny Rogers</a> at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. In 1988, he made his acting debut in a made for television movie called Case Closed, on which Allen also served as a co-producer and co-writer. When the producers of NBC's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_People">Real People</a> saw how relaxed and comfortable Allen's performance style was, they offered him a job as the show's co-host the next day, making him an early entrant in the reality TV genre. While working on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_People">Real People</a>, he learned the ins and outs of television production and began conceptualizing his television shows. However, networks were slow to pick up his ideas. While trying to pitch local television stations to acquire his performances, his home went in and out of foreclosure 14 times, and he often struggled to feed himself.

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Allen's luck picked up in 1992 as he began hosting Kickin' It With Byron Allen, in addition to hosting Entertainers with Byron Allen, The Byron Allen Show, and Comics Unleashed. Entertainers with Byron Allen, a weekly series profiling film and television stars, ran for 32 series, setting the record for the largest independent producer of first-run syndicated programming for broadcast television globally. The Byron Allen Show premiered on 155 television stations, accounting for 96% of the country.

<h2>Entertainment Production</h2>

Allen began his own production company, BYCA Productions, and his own distribution company, BYCA Distribution. He worked on two additional projects: Jammin' 91, a music video countdown program, and Superstars with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheehan">David Sheehan</a>.

Allen launched Entertainment Studios in 1993 and continues to maintain 100% ownership, boasting 1 billion dollars in assets and nearly 80 million subscribers. Allen has over 40 shows on television, many low-cost and housed on his HD networks, both on the network and in syndication. His company, Entertainment Studios, is now the largest independent production company of TV programs. Allen's company produces programs that include The Young Icons, Beautiful Homes and Great Estates, Comics Unleashed, and America's Court With Judge Ross.

Entertainment Studios is a fully integrated global media production and distribution company with eight HD networks, dozens of first-run syndicated shows, over 5,000 hours of HD programming, a film distribution company, and a podcast network. Entertainment Studios offers shows to networks in exchange for 50 percent of ad time, contrary to how many other production companies operate by licensing shows for cash. Allen makes 100 million dollars in revenue each year with this method. In addition to the programs produced by Entertainment Studios, Allen owns seven 24-hour HD networks, including Cars.TV, Pets.TV, Comedy.TV, and Justice Central. Scripted programming began in 2012, including two sitcoms: The First Family and Mr. Box Office. In 2015, he also acquired Freestyle Releasing, an independent film distributor.

Allen has found success in films and is the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans">African-American</a> owner of a movie studio releasing theatrical films. Most notably, Allen bought his first feature release, 47 Meters Down, a shark thriller that was doomed to be released straight to DVD in 2017, for which he spent 30 million dollars on advertising. It became the year's most successful indie film, pulling in 44 million dollars in the United States. Allen also acquired three more films, including a Western starring <a href="/biography/christian-bale">Christian Bale</a> titled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostiles_(film)">Hostiles</a>. Two bids Allen made for other movies, Birth of a Nation and Mudbound, were ultimately unsuccessful. Allen has acquired Chappaquiddick, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy">Ted Kennedy</a> expose, and Replicas starring <a href="/biography/keanu-reeves">Keanu Reeves</a>.

Allen was involved in a 10 billion dollar racial discrimination lawsuit filed against Charter Communications, claiming racial bias has hindered Allen and other black media owners from licensing their networks. A similar case was filed in 2015 against AT&T, which had promised to distribute Allen's networks on U-Verse and DirecTV.

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