Stop the Press: Tyler Perry Studios

… the opening of Tyler Perry Studios may not be all celebration.

At the former Atlanta Stage Works, a large warren of soundstages and offices on Krog Street near Inman Park, the sign on the door now reads Tyler Perry Studios — TPS.

Tyler Perry Studios is the first African-American owned studio in the country and had its grand opening on October 4, 2008.

Technically, Atlanta director Tyler Perry had the evening off Saturday night as he introduced thousands of formally attired guests to the new 30-acre Tyler Perry Studios facility in southwest Atlanta.

Tyler Perry made Hollywood look to Atlanta three years ago when his barely noticed, locally shot, $5.5 million movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” debuted at No. 1 at the box office with $22 million in ticket receipts.

Tyler Perry pops open the studio door and comes out into the hallway briskly, all business and snazzy in a gray suit and argyle sweater vest, trailed by his bodyguard, personal assistant, production assistant, makeup artist and a few others.

On opening weekend, February 24, 2006, Perry’s film version of Madea’s Family Reunion opened at number one with $30.3 million and a $14,770 per screen average.

Alpha Tyler worked at several studios in California and for Spike Lee’s production company in New York before becoming casting director at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.

Tyler Perry tapes promotional segments for his sitcom “House of Payne,” which will be shot at his new independent film studio in Atlanta.

“He has chosen to house his home and his studio here and that is a real investment in the city so we are thrilled to have him as a resident and a friend.

Outside the studios and down the street, though, about a dozen protesters wearing Writers Guild of America T-shirts, were chanting “Tyler Perry has no shame.”

Tyler was born Emmitt R. Perry, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana , one of four children.

It was not a success and over the next six years, he struggled living in Atlanta but persevered until the play finally had a successful run in 1998, first at the House of Blues also known as the Tabernacle located by the CNN center and the Georgia Aquarium, and later at the Fox Theatre.

He also employs technicians, writers, art directors and unit production managers, among others.

Besides perusing her notebooks, Tyler, 36, also watches actors perform throughout metro Atlanta; she attends professional theater productions, community theaters and even church productions.

He bought the warehouse at the end of June for nearly $7 million and is in the midst of renovating it, even while using it this summer to shoot parts of his next movie, “Daddy’s Little Girls,” due out in February.

Tyler Perry is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor and director and producer of indie films and stage plays.

And Saturday night, some major names in Hollywood are expected to travel to Atlanta to help the director-producer-writer-actor open his full-service television and film studio.

His best-known character is Mabel “Madea” Simmons, who is a physically-imposing and overbearing, but well-intentioned, woman who serves both as comic relief and as the loud voice of conscience to the protagonists of Perry’s works.

His first movie, Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, produced on a budget of $5.5 million, became an unexpected hit, prompting widespread discussion among industry watchers about whether middle-class African Americans were simply not being addressed by mainstream Hollywood movies.

She says that giving actors a chance to appear on television and in movies is a rewarding part of her job.

Reitz helped structure Georgia’s new tax incentive program this year for film and TV production, which made it easier for Perry to stay in the state and is already bringing in other work.

Across the way, a large pond was lit in gold light as a screen appeared in the water to reveal a film hosted by Perry, explaining how he found the abandoned former airline reservations center two years ago.

Madea in “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion.”

Perry’s most recent stage production is The Marriage Counselor which premiered in January 2008.

On the movie lot’s Main Street, just past East 34th Street and the Luminesce Light and Lamp Shop, banners unfurled down the fake brownstones to reveal the Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Stage Three, the Cicely Tyson Stage Two and the Sidney Poitier Stage One.

The Writers Guild has planned a protest at the site, accusing Perry of firing four staffers earlier this week in retaliation for their efforts toward organizing a union.

The invite list for the grand-opening gala includes Oscar winner Sidney Poitier, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Whitney Houston, Usher, Mary J. Blige — and of course, Perry’s friend, inspiration and fellow mogul, Oprah Winfrey.

The facility features four sound stages, 30 dressing rooms and a 400-seat screening room — all of which sit on a 30-acre campus that once held Delta Air Lines’ corporate offices.

There is no sign of Madea, the outspoken, tough old bird he created years ago and rode to fame while all gussied up in fat suits, wigs and ugly floral dresses in a series of theatrical plays and movies.