Iâve personally never felt that characters of African decent should be inherently good, educated, or of a particular caliber in order to be presented in film and on television. In my opinion, that is an argument of past centuries, when the narrative of Black Americans on screen may have needed a particular sort of trajectory. I also feel that everyone has a right to tell their stories, but I donât feel that these stories should be mediocre or inherently stereotypical, which is why I often find the work of Tyler Perry extremely problematic. Still, despite my criticisms and the criticisms of others, Perry has carved out a prolific path for himself in the entertainment industry. From his stage plays to his body of films, and now with four shows on Oprah Winfreyâs OWN Network, including, âLove Thy Neighborâ and âThe Haves and the Have Notsâ, which premièred last week to over 3 million viewers, itâs clear that his audience is always eager to tune in.
At a recent press event for âThe Haves and the Have Notsâ and âLove Thy Neighborâ, Tyler Perry, as well as some of the casts from both series, including John Schneider, Angela Robinson, Patrice Lovely, and Palmer Williams sat down to talk about the success of the shows, Perryâs writing process, and being a part of OWN Network. Shadow and Act was there to take it all in. Here are some of the highlights.
On the Evolution of Both âThe Haves and the Have Notsâ and âLove Thy Neighborâ
Tyler Perry: Whatâs amazing about this, is that we are about to cross one hundred episodes for both of these shows. Whatâs so great about it is, that you start one way, but the characters dictate where they want to go, and how they want to go. If you look at a show when it first starts, you go, âhumâŚhow is going to go?â but by the tenth episode, you see the characters start to gel, and you really start to believe them. Thatâs what has happened with both of these shows. By episode fifteen we had settled in. I think at this point in both the shows, the characters have evolved and the show has a evolved. With Veronica (Angela Robinson âHAHNâ) having one or two lines in the first show, I didnât know she was going to turn out to be this character, but I love the madness of it. I love the insanity of it.
On the Writing Process
TP: Iâve said this before, I donât have a writerâs room, I write all of the shows myself. Ninety-one episodes a season, Iâm sitting at the computer writing, writing and writing. I want the voice to be authentic, so the audience is hearing from me and not other writers. There are a lot of other shows on the air that are fantastic shows, but they have writerâs rooms. The people that we love the most only write one or two episodes a season. Whatâs great about it when your writing for actors like this, who are tremendously talented, you can throw anything at them. I sit in a room and as Iâm sitting at the computer, and I can hear these characters talking. The only thing that is difficult for me is to force one show out of my head so that Eddie doesnât sound like Joe, or that Mama Hattie doesnât sound like Angela which in a way they kind of do. If you look at the characters themselves, and the shows themselves they are very different and donât think people really give credit to how different each show is. The pleasure that I take is being at work for the actual characters themselves. So, the minute that they stop talking we have a problem.
On Branding âTyler Perry Presentsâ
TP: Very early on when I started doing these plays and live shows, I was traveling from city to city and there were a million shows out there, and I wanted to step out among it. So, I started putting my name above the title. I remember getting to a city and talking to one of the promoters because my name wasnât on the marquee, and we had this argument about it. He said, âWho do you think you are?â Even then, when nobody knew my name, I had this idea to build a brand, and if youâre going to build a brand then people have to recognize that brand, and when they see that brand, people have to get what they expect from that brand. For example, when you buy Coca-Cola you donât taste Pepsi. So thatâs what is always been about for me. The âTyler Perry Presentsâ has never been about ego; itâs never been about look at me. Itâs about the fact that I want this brand to be identified with this kind of entertainment.
Palmer Williams: Also itâs proper etiquette in theater to put the authorâs name first.
On the Energy on Set Between the Casts of the Various Shows
Patrice Lovely: We have the most fun because itâs like Tyler handpicked each and every one of us. Itâs like he knew our spirits, he knew we would gel, and thatâs exactly what happened. On script and off script, we have a ball. We enjoy what we do. Even when weâre on vacation weâre running lines, we just enjoy each otherâs time. Thatâs why its so awesome onscreen.
Angela Robinson: âThe Haves and the Haves Notsâ is the same way, and we also really enjoy the cast of Love Thy Neighbor.â We have a great time together when we are together. We go out and we just really really love one another. We are there for the highs and lows of one anotherâs lives; when there are losses we show up for each other. I believe when itâs that kind of thing, it really starts from the top. Tyler Perry promotes that at the studio and we all just fall in line. We all love one another a whole lot, and you can feel that love when you come to the studio.
John Schneider: Itâs also hard work, but itâs wonderful hard work. I liken it to doing a âNew York Timesâ crossword puzzle with a sharpie. You are committed to whatever the task is at hand. We do go out and have a wonderful time before we start a season and after we finish a season, but during, there is no time. We work a lot hours
On the Filming Structure at Tyler Perry Studios
TP: A show like âScandalâ, or a show like âEmpireâ takes a week and a half to shoot one episode. Their budget is almost five times what we have to spend on an episode. We shoot an episode in a day and a half, so we are moving non-stop. We have to come to set ready to go, thatâs why I love these people, and thatâs why I love working with theater actors and people who have been around this a long time. We all come together to do this, and they all get it right away. And for the sitcoms, they are doing three and four episodes in two days. Itâs a different kind of experience because in Hollywood, a sitcom takes seven days to shoot. I just started a whole different system, I went out to LA and I saw the way things were done and I thought, there is another way to do this without killing everybody. I think weâve managed to do it very well.
On Celebrities & Social Responsibility
TP: For Black Lives Matter and those kind of issues, I will say this, I love to have a more intimate fight when it comes to helping people and those kind of situations. There was a man named Terrence Williams, and a man named Felipe Santos that Iâve been fighting for years. They were put into the back of a deputy âs squad car, the deputyâs name was Steve Calkins, and both of them disappeared . One was a Mexican immigrant, and the other was a Black man with a history of incarceration. No one would ever give Mr. Williamsâ mother any press when she would try to find out what had happened to them. So, I prefer to be on the frontlines of things that move me in that way. I think itâs just as powerful as being apart of like Black lives Matter. But, whatâs important to me is that someday these two men that disappeared almost 14 years ago now, have a voice from someone like me who can speak up for them. As far as issues like the Black Lives Matter movement appearing on the shows, I shoot too fast to stay current of whatâs going on. The shows are already done for 2016; weâre working on 2017 now. So weâre that far ahead in how we shoot, and itâs very difficult for me to be timely in my messages. Iâm not a social media person; I donât know whatâs going on unless somebody tells me. I write and work so much that people have to stop me and say. âDid you know this happened?â Thatâs how I like to live my life because; Iâd rather focus on the good that Iâm trying to put out versus everyone elseâs heartache and hardship.
On Keeping the Faith
TP: For me, there is a guiding compass that just lives inside of me. Every time Iâve gone against it, something bad has happened. As long as I stay in line and honor it, it has really been life changing. That is the way I have written these shows, and that is the place where I write these shows from. If you look at âThe Have and the Have Notsâ, I didnât want to write a show where everyone is great and wonderful and perfect. I wanted to write it so that youâre not really sure who the haves are. You look at Hanna and you see that she doesnât have much, but she has great faith. The Christians were having a fit because Hanna is so all over the place, but sheâs so real. She represents such a real version of a Christian. I couldnât make her too perfect so that nobody would be able to relate to her. She represents that Christian that falls short, that makes mistakes, that has to repent, that has to pray hard for forgiveness. I donât know one Christian that canât relate to that, so for me its my compass that is leading me to whatever is truth, whatever is right, and thatâs the path Iâm supposed to go down.
PL: I think I just kind of stay in tuned to everything. I donât do a lot of TV, I just do a lot of meditating, I listen to a lot of music, and I do a lot of outside stuff. I think thatâs what keeps me grounded.
JS: Iâve always believed that God designs us to do something very specific for his purpose. When you start to fail, is when you think God has designed you to do something for your purpose. Itâs not your purpose; itâs not about you. What are you? What are you designed to be? Itâs important to me to always check whether I am operating within my design; my specific design. Itâs a very specific design, there are as many designs as they are people. So the trap is to look at somebody elseâs design and say, âI want to be more like thatâ, because thatâs not what its about.
TP: This speaks to my shows and how I write. People say, âWell Tyler why arenât you doing this, or using this kind of person? Why do your characters have to look like this? All of that speaks to what John just said. As an individual, you donât have to conform to what everybody else thinks. You donât have to conform to what everybody thinks success should look like, it has to be true to you. Iâm not interested in doing âStar Warsâ. Itâs an amazing movie, but thatâs not my gift. I tell the stories that I tell that relate to the people who love what I do. That is the place and the path that I know I am supposed to be on. The minute I try and go do something else, it will be amazing to watch how quickly that donât work.
AR: Iâve always prayed, God show me my purpose, what would you have me do? I believe that purpose from a young age was acting; thatâs what I wanted to do. I realized that was my purpose would lead to my service. So, whatever I do as an actor I have to serve though that. My mantra everyday is âHow can I be of service you God?â âHow can I use what youâve given me?â Sometimes you donât know about it, sometimes these are things you would never here about but we are servicing others.
PW: Just coming from humble beginnings, and not feeling like I knew where I was gong to end up. I still feel like Iâm only forty percent of where God has me to go. I know that you gifts and your talents are what got you there, but your character keeps you there, and thatâs why I want to be a man of great character.
Choosing to Film in Atlanta
In New Orleans growing up, Hurricane Katrina blew the roof off of the poverty that was there. So when I got to Atlanta for the first time, I saw Black people doing well. They were taking their kids to restaurants and theaters and things that we had never done growing up. So, thatâs why its so important for me to have the studio right in the heart of Atlanta. Iâll never forget when President Obama came to the studio to do a fundraiser back in 2012; when he drove that police motorcade down the blocked off streets, I got a chance to see the faces of all of those brown children looking and waving their flags, I knew they would never have had that experience had the studio not been in that place. I saw the hope.
On Oprah Winfrey and OWN
TP: The biggest thing for me is that when I was watching âThe Oprah Winfreyâ show at eighteen or nineteen years old, and she says âIts cathartic to write things downâ, I had to go and look up what cathartic means. So, I take that and I learned, and I started writing. Adding twenty something, thirty something years to that, having the opportunity to be on her network and writing shows for her, that is one of the most awe-inspiring things ever. I couldnât even write that story. And, to also be in this situation where I have four shows on the network that are doing really well. I want to set the narrative straight. If it had not been for Oprah leaving her show and sitting in as the CEO and putting the right people in place that were needed to make the network work, and becomes successful; had it not been the power of Oprah, the advertisers would have left long before I even got there. It was the power of Oprah that saved the network and turned it around, and it is the business sense of Oprah to say, come do this for my network. So, that is the true narrative. Yes we have great ratings, but Oprah herself has set that network on the right path and she is the wind that is pushing it in the right direction.
PL: I think Iâm just excited. Iâm love Tyler Perry, I love Oprah and I appreciate everything. The fact that he took the cast of âLove Thy Neighborâ there, Iâm just overjoyed. I say that wherever he leads Iâm going to follow.
AR: I think we all just hit the jackpot here, having the opportunity to work for the OWN Network. I have had the pleasure of doing âThe Color Purpleâ on Broadway that Oprah produced. Knowing she was producing it gave us all this comfort just knowing we were all well cared for. Fast-forward years later, and having this opportunity to work with both Oprah and Tyler Perry, I just felt like I was in the best hands.
PW: Iâm very exited. I have the two greatest bosses you can have in the entertainment industry. I get to go to work only 35miles away from my home. I work with one of the most prolific writers of this generation, and I get to go home and take my son to baseball practice. I get to be in Hollywood in Atlanta. I get do all of that because this gentlemen has allowed me to fulfill my dreams through his vision so I canât be nothing but excited.
JS: I have had the great fortune of being on television since 1978. So Iâve seen a lot of changes. I came from a three-network world, and then cable came in, and then the Internet came in. Even when I was on âSmallvilleâ, it was frightening to know that the fate of a television show and the fate of all of the people on it, their livelihoods, and their ability to be able to able to care for their families were in the hands people who really had no vested interest in the show. Now to being doing a show like âThe Haves and the Have Notsâ, and being able to play a character that is so delightfully wickedly wrong, I know that my fate with regards to the show is in the hands of two people who are incredibly invested. Theyâre not just invested emotionally, spiritually and financially, but we know them, we work with them. Yes we work for them, but it feels like weâre all in together, and weâre all enjoying tremendous success that is shared with us. Thatâs a completely foreign experience to me.
Check out Tyler Perryâs âThe Haves and the Have Notsâ Tuesdays at 9PM ET on OWN
Tyler Perryâs âLove They Neighborâ has new episodes Fridays at 9PM ET on OWN.
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Aramide A Tinubu has her Masterâs in Film Studies from Columbia University. She wrote her thesis on Black Girlhood and Parental Loss in Contemporary Black American Cinema. Sheâs a cinephile, bookworm, blogger, and NYU + Columbia University alum. You can read her blog at: www.chocolategirlinthecity.com or tweet her @midnightrami