I fell in love with Atlanta many many
years ago when I first moved here and I
saw black people doing well for the very
first time it motivated me it inspired
me it let me know that Atlanta was a
place that I could make my dreams come
true
so to have this studio which is a former
Army base right in the heart of Atlanta
I feel really really honored to be that
guy who has been put in that seat
I wear a lot of hats and a wig once or
twice hallelujah
hallelujah I have this twin brain that
works constantly one side is very much
the business one side is very much the
producer the other side is the creative
sensitive artist who wants to just write
and tell stories but that that business
side always wins and make sure that
whatever those stories are it's coming
in within the budget so I think if you
are a creative it's very important that
you understand the business side of it
so that you can't continue to create
I remember very early on going into
Hollywood and I was selling out all over
the country I couldn't walk down the
street in certain parts of the country
without people screaming my name because
they had seen the live shows
got to Hollywood nobody knew my name and
I've always been the guy to sit and go
hmm you don't know who I am so let's see
what kind of deal we can make and one of
the best deals I ever made was probably
die with a Mad Black Woman to hold on to
ownership to pay for half of it and to
have it come out and have Lionsgate
think that the movie wouldn't do well at
all and to have it open to 21 million to
go to 50 million I think it was so I
tell people don't walk in the room
giving your resume let them
underestimate you because you can make
the best deals when you underestimated
they don't have my check no oh really
it seems I will be reciting a different
poem today when I first started doing
television and film what was important
to me was the ownership so a lot of
times when I was making these deals the
studios or our networks would say okay
but we're gonna we're gonna have to pay
you a lot less money so what I would do
is I'll take the less money for the
ownership because if you can have the
ownership you have this mailbox money
for a long long time coming in had a
promoter who said eat a little and you
eat a long time so that's something I
never forgot
first 10 years of my company I was
running behind trying to catch up
because everything was growing so fast
it was like a wildfire I remember buying
my first building was about 4 000 square
feet and I think this is it and the
first production we did people are
following all over each other then the
next one was like 20 000. that's it nope
so I've learned to Just Surrender to
whatever the dream is because I'm far
beyond anything that I've imagined in my
life but I also learned to build where
you're going and not necessarily where
you are
I think the scariest part about the
business right now is AI I am a person
who's an anomaly and I think that I've
been able to do really really well
because I can write so quickly like I'll
write 22 Episodes of the script in two
weeks well now there's AI who can do
that well maybe five to seven years to
be able to do that job in 10 minutes so
it's frightening on so many levels that
so many people who will lose their jobs
the creativity that will be lost I'm
hoping that regulations will fall in
place so that the Human Experience is
not removed from All Things created
I don't know where we're all headed I
really don't
the studio was once a Confederate Army
base and I want you to hear this which
meant that there was Confederate
soldiers on that base plotting and
planning on how to keep 3.9 million
Negroes enslaved now that land is owned
by one negro
my daily motivation now is twofold
number one my son have an eight-year-old
who I have to guide and lead and leave a
legacy to so he's at the Forefront of
all of that and before diversity was
cool I knew what that was every time I
drive through the gates at Tyler Perry
Studios and seeing thousands of cars
come in seeing people who are in this
business who never would have had a
chance in Hollywood I have to hold that
banner up so that I can hold this door
open for as many people to come through
the business as I can
[Music]
I mean I have to go back to this you go
from homeless two years ago to Steve
Harvey called me up yeah and asked me to
hasn't even been two years from being
homeless to building a six Acre state
when people ask me what did you learn in
Failure I honestly say I've never failed
and people find that like that's so
arrogant but the truth of the matter is
as I look back at every moment that I
thought was a failure everything that
looked like everything had fallen apart
it was a design in my entire
architectural god-given plan to move in
a direction that would lead me to where
I am now so it's very important to learn
everything in things that you perceive
as a failure so that when you get to
where you're going you look back and go
all of those things taught me to be
ready for this so how can that be
failure
if you set out in your work to please a
Critic I think that you you're already
10 steps behind the curve it's also like
these focus groups they do what they'll
take 20 people and put in the room and
let these 20 people tell you what they
thought of a movie I'm thinking 20
people is not the world so my whole
point to anyone is stand in what you
know tell your stories especially if you
have a niche audience that understands
you yeah uh look around I'm doing pretty
good just by holding on to that Niche
audience
success for me looks like coming into
the studio and seeing former presidents
Osama have been in jail for 7 20 15
years working side by side with all
kinds of people and their hopes and
dreams that they have in their and this
one just bought a new car and this is
about a house and my kids are going to
college and I maybe take care of my mom
all hearing those things as I'm walking
through the studio and people pulling me
aside all of those things that's success
for me 100 successful
[Music]
thank you