Tyler perry: An artist and a business man

Tyler Perry is one of America’s success stories. He has struggled, conquered and fought his way to the top where he now stands next to people he once looked up to. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Tyler Perry born Emmitt Perry Jr. witnessed his mother suffer from domestic violence which led Perry to change his first name to Tyler at sixteen years old in an attempt to no longer be tied to his father (whom he was named after. Mr. Perry began writing at the age of 18 and started to produce his work into plays in the early 90’s. In the beginning of this journey he couldn’t fill up half of a theatre and now he has over thirteen plays written and produced all over the country.

With much success comes much responsibility. The years following the commencement of his success proved just that. In 2005 Tyler Perry began getting into business with Lionsgate studios, releasing his first big screen movie “Diary of A mad black woman”. following the success of this movie that wound up grossing 50 million dollars, Tyler Perry proved to critics and Hollywood that urban comedy can be very successful and so a relationship began between lionsgate and Perry, releasing nearly a dozen more films before mutually agreeing to call it quits. That’s right, according to deadline and indie wire Lionsgate and Tyler Perry came to a mutual decision to go their separate ways. The decision was stated to be “based on a variety of matters such as international distribution and marketing” (Sergio, 2014). This means that both parties negotiated and agreed that they could make more money else where and decided to part ways.

Knowing what I know now about Mr. Perry, three questions I would have to ask him are 1. What was the worst business decision you ever made and why?

2. What led you to begin acting, directing and producing in addition to writing?

3. What would you describe your leadership style to be?

All three of these questions will allow me to gage him on three different levels of his life which can be influential to aspiring entertainers all over the world. I choose Tyler Perry as a well known person in the entertainment industry to interview because he is a renaissance man. He never limits himself to just one craft but instead he builds relationships and betters his different crafts in order to stay consistently successful. Due to his determination as an artist and proved successes as a creative business man, Tyler Perry’s net worth  is currently  450 million, bringing in an average of 80 million a year. His story deeply influenced me and allowed me to look at where I am currently in my mastery journey and where I can be.