Allison Howard is a television producer, director, videographer, and photographer. Throughout her career, she has focused on telling intimate, authentic stories as a “fly on the wall” in trauma centers, police departments, and living rooms, telling vivid stories that have captivated audiences around the world.
Her work has been seen on major networks and streaming services, ranging from reality TV to docuseries and feature-length documentary films. Her commitment to capturing the character of her subjects and getting to the core of their stories has earned her a level of access few other filmmakers achieve, allowing her to capture everything from the pain of death and the joys of childbirth to the high-octane drama of life-and-death situations.
Allison’s path to video journalism began as a child, when her father bought her an analog camera and taught her to take photographs and develop them in a darkroom he built in their basement. That first camera introduced her to the unique perspective of seeing the world through a lens, and she earned early accolades for still photography while she was still a teenager. A college internship at a TV studio introduced her to the world of film and TV production, and with that, the seeds of her career were firmly planted.
In 2000, Allison joined TLC’s cutting-edge documentary series Trauma: Life in the ER, produced by New York Times Television, as a producer and camera operator. Trauma broke ground for its cinema verité style shot on handheld MiniDV camcorders, and for its use of independent video journalists shooting solo in high-pressure situations. Allison excelled in this environment, launching a career in video journalism.
“Seeing inside a world few people gain access to except through film and enabling that world to be widely seen with no artifice was thrilling,” she says. “I was hooked.”
A Pioneer of “One Man Band” Production
Allison’s experience on Trauma, which was nominated for seven Emmy awards, solidified her niche as a pioneer of “one man band” production and led to work as a producer, director, and camera operator for the multi-Daytime Emmy award winning series MADE (MTV). Allison also worked for Oxygen Media, producing and directing such shows as Women & The Badge (Feature length documentary and TV series), and Real Weddings from the Knot (TV series).
From there, Allison went on to help create the first season of A&E’s Flip This House, and then produced and directed the pilot of The Bobby Flay Restaurant Revamp (Food Network). She also spent two months filming the construction, staff training and opening of Flay’s highly successful Mesa Grill Las Vegas for the Food Network TV special Bobby’s Vegas Gamble (Food Network).
The majority of Allison’s television career has involved producing, directing and filming documentary series, particularly those that follow first responders. She has worked all over the country and has spent much of her time filming law enforcement in Dallas, New York City and Detroit. She has produced a broad range of content for a variety of television shows.
Allison was a senior Producer on several A&E documentary series (Dallas SWAT, Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force, Rookies: Jefferson Parish, Flip This House, and Flipping Boston). She also served as camera operator and Field Producer on multiple episodes of the A&E documentary series The First 48. The popular series, now in its twenty-third season, follows the first 48 hours of real homicide investigations. The series was nominated for a Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award in the Continuing Series category by the International Documentary Association.
A Turning Point
In May of 2010, Allison was one of two producers filming a Detroit PD raid for The First 48, which targeted a suspect in the murder of a high school student. During the raid, a child in the house, seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, was accidentally shot and killed by police. The officer who fired the shot was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
The shooting created a media firestorm, and because Allison and another producer were filming that night, numerous outlets theorized that they had pushed the police to use greater force in the raid. A media narrative emerged that Allison and The First 48 were partly responsible for Aiyana’s death.
This narrative was traumatizing to Allison who, as a committed documentarian, prides herself on not interfering in the action she captures on camera. While reviewing the footage with a trusted friend the next day, Allison discovered that she had captured the gut-wrenching moment when Aiyana’s lifeless body was rushed out of the house by police. Later that night, her friend’s roommate secretly made a copy of the raid footage and brought it to the attorney for Aiyana’s family, who used the tape as the basis of his lawsuit against the city. A months long investigation into “the mystery tape” ensued and when the guilty parties were caught, they lied and said Allison had sold them the footage. As a result, Allison was charged with obstruction of justice and perjury.
After years of legal proceedings, and with the risk of serving jail time with a guilty verdict, Allison followed her attorney’s advice and pleaded no contest to the obstruction charge, and the perjury charge was dismissed. Allison served two years’ probation and was assigned community service as part of the plea agreement, which involved donating, delivering, and installing twenty-five of her large-scale photographs to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
The horror of Aiyana Stanley-Jones’ tragic death, and the strain of the legal struggles that followed, took a searing psychological toll on Allison, causing her to reevaluate her career. During this time, her mother was diagnosed with dementia, and she moved home to Upstate New York to care for her and focus on developing projects with power, depth, and meaning.
Cancer Culture: Using Storytelling to Change the Conversation About Breast Cancer.
A chance meeting with a metastatic breast cancer patient named Champagne Joy inspired Allison to get involved with Breast Cancer Advocacy.
Personal Life
Since 2017, Allison has been the media chair on the board of directors for #Cancerland, a 501(c)(3) charity that advocates for research into therapies that will extend the lives of terminally ill breast cancer patients, and eventually turn Stage IV cancer from a death sentence into a chronic condition. #Cancerland is a multi-media platform focused on shifting the way you think about breast cancer through art, culture, and equitable development.
Allison has produced impactful and educational video content for #Cancerland as well as for METAvivor.org, an organization focused on metastatic breast cancer research, support, and awareness. #Cancerland and METAvivor have collaborated with Eisai Pharmaceuticals on their #ThisIsMBC campaign since 2017, with Allison overseeing production of the video portion of the project.
Allison attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where she earned her B.A. in art. She currently resides in Upstate New York. In her spare time, Allison enjoys traveling and taking photographs. Her photography work can be seen on Instagram @Alicat6.