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Tyler Perry was recently accused of sexual misconduct by an actor on one of his films. But as a new piece from The Hollywood Reporter points out, some of Derek Dixon’s claims—like the fact that he didn’t report the accusation because Perry’s studio supposedly doesn’t have an HR department—echo criticisms of Perry that have been floating around for a while. THR explores the workplace Perry has cultivated, from multiple copyright infringement claims to repeated clashes with unions (for instance, he’s still on Equity’s Do Not Work list after casting only non-union actors in his 2018 stage play Madea On The Run).
That Perry likes to shoot his projects quick and cheap (and potentially cuts corners to do so) is no great secret. His latest release, the Taraji P. Henson vehicle Straw, was reportedly shot in just four days (A Fall From Grace was shot in five). A “seasoned crew member” who has worked on TPS productions told the outlet, “On a feature with Tyler you’d shoot eight pages a day—four times what you’d normally shoot. Then on a [TV] show, it would be 25 pages.” Another insider described the pace as “insane,” recalling shooting days THR calls “long and punishing even by industry standards.” Entertainment labor scholar Kate Fortmueller (a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, where Tyler Perry Studios is based) said that Perry’s productions are known locally as “a closed universe. It’s not likely going to be an entrée to working on a Marvel show. You don’t bounce from there to Stranger Things—or the reverse. Those are different worlds.”
The universe is only likely to get smaller, as Perry has stated an interest in technology like generative AI that would help him eliminate even more production costs. He’s already begun using AI to save him “hours” of time in the makeup chair (and presumably, paying a makeup artist), and even paused an $800 million expansion of his studio in the hopes that AI tools will make the need for those practical spaces irrelevant. Tyler Perry is beloved by actors like Henson for recognizing their worth financially, counter to their treatment from the wider (overwhelmingly white) Hollywood ecosystem. Yet he’s seemingly able to accomplish this by eschewing collaborations with other writers and running production below typical industry standards. Whether his powerful supporters stand by him amid the sexual harassment suit (the allegations in which Perry has denied) remains to be seen. You can read THR‘s full report here.
