How Melissa McCarthy Became a Box-Office Powerhouse

From my latest Forbes post on Melissa McCarthy’s savvy handling of her post-Bridesmaids career:

Tammy is the next step in McCarthy’s career in a variety of ways. One, it’s the first time she’s the co-writer (with her husband and writing partner Ben Falcone). Two, she is also the producer, and this is the first film from her and Falcone’s production company, On the Day. (They have a bunch of great projects in the hopper.) Initially, she and Falcone were going to co-direct as well as co-write, but her TV commitment on the series Mike and Molly (which should be called Molly and Mike) sadly prevented her from doing the necessary pre-production work. But directing features is clearly not far off for McCarthy, as she got her feet wet this past season directing an episode of her sitcom.