“I was so heartbroken cause I had a dream.”

— Tyler Perry.

You’d be surprised by the things I am familair with at 27 years old. Probably the most surprising are “old” cars. It’s hard to call a 1992 Geo Metro old because it was created the same year I was born. But seeing one sitting in front of The Dream Building at Tyler Perry studios was a sight to see earlier this year.

If you are also familiar with the car you are familiar with the size. I know how small this car is because I remember being 7 years old riding in one because I would always talk to my uncle about how me and his car were the same age. and at 7 years old this car left me longing for more room. However, imagine being 6 foot 5 inches tall, homeless and living out of this car. This was a reality for Tyler Perry, from sleeping in a Geo Metro to now owning the largest movie studio lot in the country.

Through some networking, I had the surreal opportunity to attend the Grand Opening of Tyler Perry studios in Atlanta this October. This was a star studded event, from Tyler Perry to Oprah to President Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary to Jay-Z and Beyonce, almost any celebrity you can think of was in attendance. And while seeing people you’d only ever saw on television or movie screens is one thing, driving onto the studio lot was another. He has a model White House on this lot. Growing up in Baltimore, driving to DC and seeing the White House was not a big feat, but the idea that I could stand feet away from a model White House owned by a black man on the nation’s largest move studio was a giant feat. Tyler Perry spoke about sleeping in that Geo Metro and looking over at the former confederate military base, Fort McPherson and thinking he would own it one day. I was speechless, to attain such goal that will go down in history and live forever is something out of a screen play. The foresight to see your dreams while living in essentially a nightmare is a level of vision I can hope to attain.

As I continue to grow as a creative and in the media industry I will carry that experience and use it as a fire to continue to light my dreams when I face the darkness of reality. This is evident as that same night as the event ended I was researching ways to get into the media industry and leverage some of the skills I have taught myself while also learning in a truly transferable way. Tyler Perry is the reason I learned about the Entertainment Business Master’s program here at Full Sail and is the reason I am in this course, writing this blog post now. Thank you Tyler Perry, I look forward to continuing to follow your story and continuing on the path to inspiring others like you have done for me.

Reference:
-Aldridge, D. (2019, January 2). Tyler Perry parks blue car outside his studio as reminder of how he overcame homelessness. Retrieved from https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/tyler-perry-parks-blue-car-outside-his-studio-as-reminder-of-how-he-overcame-homelessness/ar-BBRJYnx.