Just look for the little things that encourage you, even if you don’t see anything, the little small things that keep you going.
The few names of media known as well as Tyler Perry, and certainly nobody is successful. I recently caught up with a media mogul at his massive studio campus in Atlanta. This place is just incredible.
Reverend Al told me about it, told me about what an extraordinary community you’ve built here. But I saw on Instagram, what was it, a Geo?
Geo Metro.
Geo Metro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That you lived in. Yeah. You were homeless when you came to Atlanta. How do you process that? Did you go from that to where we are right now?
Enjoy the process
Tyler: Very gradually. The time that it took to get from there to here was all of 20 something years, but the process of it was so important. And I talked to a lot of people who are up and coming and trying to get things going. I’m like, enjoy the process. It’s kind of hard to say enjoy the process when you’re sleeping in your car, but having an understanding of, if you have a goal and you’re trying to reach that goal, there’s a buy-in. I’ve always looked at it as a buy-in. It has to be crazy for you.
Interviewer: Now you open up the Forbes top entertainers and Tyler Perry, the same guy that lived in the Geo Metro, the only billionaire on the list. I would guess Hollywood is paying attention now in a big way because you didn’t play by the rules.
I was the king of diversity before that thing even became a thing
Tyler: It was out of necessity. It was out of understanding that when I got to Hollywood, it’s a much different place than it is now. Everybody’s talking diversity, diversity, diversity. Well, listen, I was the king of diversity before that thing even became a thing.
But I tell you what happened, and I think this is when I started to get acknowledged, honestly, was the tragedy of George Floyd. After that, the Academy Awards honored me with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and the Emmys. But it wasn’t until people saw the horror of that. To have people understand what the fight has been and then start to acknowledge is really, really great.
I was very comfortable being hidden
Tyler: But I was very comfortable being hidden. Let them underestimate you. I think my first deal, Diary of a Mad Black Woman with Lionsgate.
A wire hanger. This is so great.
Tyler: They paid for half and didn’t believe it would work, so they sold the other half to BET, which is a crazy full circle moment right now. So to have this, to go in the room, to make a deal saying I have to have ownership, and they’re like, OK, this isn’t going to do it. Great. It opens at $50 million. Everybody’s like, wait a minute, what?
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States. So help me God.
Interviewer: So you shoot the Oval here. How many episodes so far?
Tyler: I think we’re approaching 120 or just past 120. Yeah. So it’s been a good run. But a really, really good run. But I got to show you the Oval Office and the East Room. A lot of Black Panther was shot here.
Interviewer: Oh, was it really?
Tyler: Yeah. Most of it, actually. And all the costumes, wardrobe.
Oh, my gosh.
Tyler: Again, all those stages are always booked. Always booked. Three years. Three years at a time.
Interviewer: You’ve been to the Oval Office for sure.
Tyler: I have. I have. This is perfect. Pretty close.
We need to start talking to each other again
Tyler: When I set out to help someone, it is my intention to do just that. I’m not trying to do anything other than meet somebody at their humanity.
Interviewer: In the Academy Award speech, you talked about how we need to start talking to each other again. And that would not just be politically, but also people of different faiths. And as I think about that and I look at what’s happening in the world, you couple the gun problem we have in this country. I’m a gun owner.
Tyler: I’m a gun owner, too.
Interviewer: But like most gun owners, it’s just too extreme, isn’t it?
Tyler: It’s too extreme. Regulations is not a bad thing. I think part of why the gun violence has gotten so bad over the last few years is because of what we’re being fed through the Internet, along with just the access to AR-15s and anything that’s in that vein. So I’m worried for my eight year old, for these things that are not being regulated, not being talked about, not being fixed by the people that we’re putting in office.
I understand what I’ve been given stewardship over
Tyler: When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta. So the young black kids can see that a black man did that and they can do it, too. This is a pretty famous house here, Madea’s house, one of my most famous characters.
I got to go to the liquor store to get mine. Want somebody to praise him?
Tyler: I’m going to show you the historic district. This was built in the 1800s, and slaves actually built a lot of these buildings that we’re about to see. So I understand the history. I understand what I’ve been given stewardship over. So I’ve done my best to try and honor it and make sure that all of these historic buildings remain just as they were.
Interviewer: So how many acres?
Tyler: It’s 330 acres. And I just bought 39 more acres on the other side. The amount of money that they would spend on those sets, putting them down, building them up, putting them down, building them up — I always thought, build it permanently so that you can refurbish it, redo it. So that’s why I built the White House.
One foot in front of the other
Interviewer: We’ve talked about all the incredible things that have happened over the past 20, 30 years. For somebody who’s down right now, somebody who’s been beaten up, somebody who’s lost their job, somebody who they don’t think they can get out of bed and get moving and keep pursuing that dream — can you give them some hope? Can you talk about a particularly low point for you, where you pulled yourself out of bed and you said, I’m going to just put one foot in front of the other?
Tyler: You just gave the answer. That’s that, one foot in front of the other. There were so many times. I remember I went by this hotel maybe a couple of years ago. I’ll go by every now and then. It’s one of those paid by the week hotels where drug addicts and everybody who’s down on their luck end up. I was in one of those places.
And I remember wanting to die. I didn’t want to get out of bed anymore. It was freezing cold. And every morning, everybody would come out and start their old cars. And there was a crack under the door about this wide. And I just prayed that the fumes would just fill the room and I would just die.
Interviewer: You wanted to die.
Tyler: I was praying to God that he would take me. Too much. It’s too much. The pain was too much. What I’ve been through was too much. I’m homeless. I don’t have food to eat. It’s just, I’m done.
And in that moment, as I’m sitting there praying in tears, which never happened because everybody was warming their cars up, all the cars drive away almost simultaneously. It’s little moments like that that were like, OK, I guess I have to get up and go to work today. Those moments gave me, like, you’re OK. You’re going to be OK.
Look for the little things that encourage you
Tyler: So I would say to anybody, just look for the little things that encourage you, even if you don’t see anything, the little small things that keep you going. So for every little thing that somebody did, I was able to make a little step, and each step was forward.
And to be here on this side, what I say to anybody: if the pain is the buy-in, what are you paying for? Had I stopped then, had I died then, had I given up, I would have missed the best part of my life. I would have missed being able to help thousands of people see their dreams come true.
So my hope for anyone who knows — like, you know it, you know it in your soul. There’s no path. Nothing makes sense. You don’t know how to get there, but you know for sure something’s out there. My hope is, one little step at a time. Keep going.