Superhero For The Week of October 13 - Tyler Perry

Up until a few years ago, I didn’t know a hell of a lot about Tyler Perry, outside of the fact that he was an 'A' level guest on every talk show going. But once I started to find stuff out about him, I realized that this guy was one of those supercharged individuals who is about as talented and well-connected as anyone can be in the entertainment business.

He’s a writer, an actor, a producer and a director and for the past five years he has been diligently working on becoming something that no black man in America has ever been, which is a studio owner.

He recently opened Tyler Perry Studios on a converted army base, on 350 acres of land with a dozen or so different sound stages and plenty of room to build interior and exterior sets. This is actually bigger than any studio lot in Hollywood or pretty much anywhere else in the world.

In order to keep this studio hopping, he has made and is in the process of making TV series and movie production deals all over the place. And probably in a year or so, he could very well be the biggest African American employer in the US.

Tyler Perry’s Wikipedia resume (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Perry) is kind of dizzying to read. He has been a legend in the black community for more than 30 years and is currently partnered with biggies like Oprah Winfrey and Viacom to produce TV movies and series.

I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel the other night, and the thing that really struck me the most about him is that he really comes across as just a regular guy. In a cutthroat and primadonna laden business like entertainment, that’s a great quality to have.

This studio and the sheer volume of quality work that it will be capable of producing, much of which will be based on African American themes, offers an incredible opportunity for African Americans to make it big time in entertainment and will really add a whole lot of diversity to that world.

Read his bio…you will see just how amazing he actually is. And if there is anyone that can pull off a big coup like this, it’s certainly this dude.