Tyler Perry Reflects on Balancing Ambitious Projects and Personal Time Amidst ‘Divorce in the Black' Release.
Tyler Perry, known for his relentless work ethic, is taking a moment to pause. He has just released “Divorce in the Black,” his first film with Amazon, on Thursday, July 11. This film is the initial offering in a four-movie deal with Amazon, adding to his existing agreements with Netflix and Paramount Global, which owns BET and BET+.
Previously, Perry was tied to exclusive deals with Turner Broadcasting, TBS, OWN, and Viacom (BET, Nickelodeon, TLC). However, he found these exclusive arrangements limiting.
“The exclusives were limiting in the sense I didn't have enough work,” Perry said in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I wasn't at 100% capacity. With Turner, I was at 20%. With OWN, I was at about 35%. At BET, that took me to 50%. There was so much more I wanted to do. I decided no more exclusives. I can do many things in many places. I'm glad to say I'm now at 90% capacity.”
Perry's output in 2024 alone includes eight TV shows and three movies. However, he plans to slow down for the remainder of the year. “I built in these breaks,” he said. “I have turned over writing and directing to a lot of people at my studio… If I want to do another movie, I may, but mostly it's rest and time with my son and being in the best space possible.”
At 54, Perry acknowledges that he doesn't have the same stamina he did 20 years ago. He balances his busy life by spending time at his retreats in Wyoming and Los Angeles, away from his Atlanta home, which is too close to his studio.
“Divorce in the Black” marks a return to themes familiar to Perry's earlier work, reminiscent of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” Meagan Good stars as Ava, a middle-class bank employee navigating life after a tumultuous marriage to Dallas, played by Cory Hardrict. The film's narrative follows Ava's journey to rediscover herself on a farm outside Atlanta, where she rekindles an old flame with a kinder man, played by Shannon Wallace.
“This is vintage Tyler Perry,” Perry said. “It goes back to some of the stories where the church is so prevalent.”
This project is Perry's first collaboration with Good, who also serves as a producer. Perry emphasizes the importance of providing opportunities for his cast, similar to his recent work with Kelly Rowland on the Netflix film “Mea Culpa.”
Good suggested Hardrict for the role of Dallas, and Perry was impressed from the start. The cast also includes Debbi Morgan, known for her Emmy-winning role on “All My Children,” as Ava's caring mother.
“Debbi saw me at a Beyoncé concert and a friend said she should go and say hi,” Perry said. “Debbi said, ‘He doesn't like me.' Her friend said, ‘How do you know?' She said, ‘He never put me in anything.'” Perry assured her it was simply a matter of waiting for the right role.
The film opens with a dramatic scene at a church funeral, inspired by Perry's experiences at Baptist churches and his own family's funerals.
In February, Perry made headlines by halting a major expansion of his Tyler Perry Studios due to concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the industry. He remains concerned about the future of the workforce he has trained, including grips, electricians, and makeup artists.
The decision to pause the studio's expansion has also affected plans for a public entertainment district, which would have included a museum and theater.
“It was contingent upon a lot more traffic coming to the studio,” Perry said. “We have thousands of cars coming in every month but the extension would have tripled that so the entertainment district would always be busy just with people working at the studio. I didn't want to depend on people coming from outside areas to make it work.”
