Carrie Byalick, a longtime Hollywood publicist who has become one of comedian Stephen Colbert’s top advisers, has been named president of his production company, Spartina Productions, as it prepares to increase its number of active projects.
Byalick will supervise all aspects of Spartina, which in October set a three-year pact with CBS Studios to develop content for linear and streaming venues. Colbert’s team already produces the animated “Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News” for Paramount Plus, as well as “Fairview” and “Washingtonia” on Comedy Central. Colbert is an executive producer on the Comedy Central late-night program “Tha God’s Honest Truth With Lenard ‘Charlamagne’ McKelvey.”
Byalick joins Evelyn McGee Colbert, Colbert’s spouse, and Chris Licht and Tom Purcell, executive producers of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” as principals in the company.
Those familiar with Colbert’s business relationships know he has long trusted Byalick’s counsel implicitly. “For 16 years, Carrie Byalick has been an invaluable creative partner who made every idea better, and I am so grateful she will now be leading Spartina Productions,” Colbert said in a statement.
Byalick launched B. Company, her own talent management firm, in 2016, after spending nearly two decades plying the trade for other agencies. Her producing credits include both seasons of HBO’s “2 Dope Queens.”
“I’m incredibly excited to start this new journey with someone whose smarts, wit, dazzling comedic taste, and essential kindness I value so much” said Byalick, in a statement. “I can’t wait to dig in and see what we come up with together.”