E1 Entertainment US has hired Allen Blackwell as senior director of urban film and comedy for its in-house video label E1 Entertainment.

Allen previously worked with Salient Media, UrbanWorks and Image Entertainment and has extensive background in consumer sales and marketing, strategic planning and brand management.

In his newly created position, he will oversee acquiring and developing video content and will work closely with the E1 Entertainment home video team in product development, packaging, marketing and sales of urban and comedy programming.

Allen will be based in Los Angeles and will report directly to E1 Entertainment US president Michael Rosenberg.