Tyler Perry wants his Atlanta film studio to impact future generations

By Claretta Bellamy, NBC News

The director, writer and producer sat down with CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King at an exclusive event during the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday.

Filmmaker, actor and studio owner Tyler Perry has found success in his career, and says he’s motivated to keep going by the people who work for him and the ancestors who came before him. 

During Tribeca Film Festival’s “Tribeca Talks” directors series, Perry sat on Monday with CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King and discussed his difficult career journey along with his plans of extending his legacy through his production company. 

“At this moment, it really is about legacy,” Perry said during the 60-minute interview. 

With more than 13 films, 22 theatrical plays and seven television shows under his belt, Perry has leaned on creating work that resonates with Black people. Outside of his work, he continues to tell a unique story through the land that holds Tyler Perry Studios, a former Confederate base now owned by a powerful Black filmmaker. 

Located in Atlanta, Tyler Perry Studios stretches across 330 acres of land on what was Fort McPherson, a deactivated Army base built by slaves and once used by the Confederate government during the Civil War.

“To have me be the owner of that very land that people were plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million Negros enslaved on, be owned by one Black man,” Perry said, “I think about those people — the ancestors — and what they must think if they could know that. Like, what would that feel like?”

Discover what else Perry and King discussed during the interview.

This is just one example of people reclaiming land where slavery or racism occurred to use them to teach history, battle racism, or empower the Black community.

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