Theron Barney
Director & Writer
Born and raised in Jamaica, Queens New York, Theron Barney graduated from August Martin High School with a concentration in Communications and Aviation. He attended Queens College, majoring in Art and Photography, then moved to Atlanta in 1994 where he worked for Blockbuster Video and Regal Cinemas. Having a passion for movies, he set out with a friend to move to Los Angeles in 1998 to work on the creative side of the movies. Soon after, he landed a job at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank in the Transportation Operations Department. There he worked indirectly on some of their most popular movie and television productions such as The Matrix, The Perfect Storm, The Wild Wild West, E.R., Friends, and The Jamie Foxx Show. On weekends he would get more hands on experience as a set PA on many music videos and commercials directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games, Red Sparrow), McG (Terminator Salvation, Charlies Angels), and Liz Friedlander (Jessica Jones, Take The Lead).
After figuring out that he really wanted to write, he began turning his short fiction into screenplays by studying any screenplay available and taking seminars at AFI and USC taught by industry professionals. He began writing specs in the early 2000s and has placed high in several screenplay contests for his family adventure A Dog World After All. In 2004 he returned to Atlanta and married Valarie Benning, who also shared a passion for Film and Television. And together they founded Portal Entertainment in 2008. While working as a Technology Recruiting Consultant, Theron honed his skills in writing by working on spec screenplays, short films and independent movie productions.
In 2011, he worked on the first of 6 All Star Comedy Jam Productions for Code Black and Showtime Network, directing behind the scenes content as well as online. Then in 2013, with Valarie Benning as the Producer, he directed 13 Episodes of Backstage Confidential, which was a collection of interviews with Comedians such as Kevin Hart, DL Hugely, Tommy Davidson and Michael Blackson. In 2014, Theron directed his first comedy special for Mo’Nique titled ‘Something Different’ which is available on amazon.
In 2017, Theron launched NewFlavorTv, a subsidiary of Portal Entertainment which focuses on new media content; news, short form series, reality shows and scripted. The first scripted series will arrive in 2019 and will be a drama set in Atlanta. Currently Theron is at work on bringing his first comedy feature to audiences in 2019.