ROGER BOBB, Supervising Producer Tyler Perry Studios

 

THE MAN NEXT TO THE MAN:
HK interviews ROGER BOBB
Supervising Producer, TYLER PERRY STUDIOS
By: Hadji Williams

Eight major movies. Almost four hundred million dollars in domestic box office receipts.  Two TV comedy juggernauts ruling the cable airwaves. A co-overseer role at one of the hottest movie studios around complete with a full mob of projects on deck… If there was ever cause to be feeling yourself a little too much, Roger Bobb has ‘em in spades. But surprisingly, Roger Bobb comes off as one of the more humble cats I’ve met in a long while.

Despite my newness to SoCal, I learned long ago not to associate humility and “Hollywood producer” all that often. Then again, Roger Bobb is a Brooklyn-bred brother living in ATL—that’s where he makes magic as supervising producer for Tyler Perry Studios (yes, him).

Last week, I had the honor of chopping it up with Roger Bobb thru a mutual connect as part of Bobb’s work promoting his and Perry’s latest, Madea Goes To Jail. (FYI: Madea just gave LionsGate, its distributor, their biggest comedic film opening weekend ever with $41 million take out the gate.) Over the course of our near 30-minute chat, I found him to be humble, friendly, upbeat, and like many of the characters in Tyler’s tales—someone we could all learn a lot from.


HK: Tyler’s seen as the primary “creative force” behind his movies. But as his partner in crime, I know there’s a lot of creativity in what you do.

 Roger: Well my goal as supervising producer at Tyler Perry Studios is to implement Tyler’s vision. He’s a strong leader and knows what he wants, but at the same time he’s really busy and can’t be everywhere at once, so we have to work together and be on the same page. Last year we shot over 100 episodes of House of Payne, two movies plus 10 episodes of Meet The Browns… I had to make sure we accomplished what we needed.

HK: How has your background as a director/writer influenced what you do as a producer + supervising producer?

Roger: Well I started out directing music videos, actually. In fact, I was a paralegal in NYC—I grew up in Brooklyn. One year, I went to go see She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee’s first joint). I was like wow, being from Brooklyn and seeing a brother do this really inspired me. Spike really demystified the filmmaking process for me. Still working at the law firm, I decided to go out and try to shoot my own short film. I financed it myself, I was raw and didn’t completely know what I was doing…

When I finished the film I entered it in a couple film festivals and it won so that kept me motivated to do more. Around that time, my law firm sent me to their Los Angeles office and while out there, I got into directing/shooting music videos for music labels on the side. When the firm found out what I was doing, they fired me.

"Getting fired was a blessing, because that was stable income and I probably wouldn’t have quit on my own. That forced me to step out on faith and try this directing thing full time."

 And because most of the music videos I shot had low budgets, I had to do everything on the set—shoot, cast, scout locations, craft services… When the music labels saw that I was good at managing budgets and people, not just directing, they hired me to do more producing work.

Ultimately, I got into the DGA Trainee Program—Director’s Guild of America. It’s a great program where you get lots of hands-on work real projects as an assistant director. From there I worked on numerous films, small and mid sized and really learned from a lot of great people.


HK: In light of your success—7 movies, over $300 million in box office receipts, the 2 top-rated comedies in basic cable history(House Of Payne + Meet The Browns)—do you feel Hollywood is getting more receptive to stories with distinct ethnic/cultural perspectives such as yours and Tyler’s? Or is there still a ways to go?

Roger: I wish I could say yes, but… Hollywood is sort of a copycat industry. People like to repeat what they’ve seen work before. Especially for African-American/urban films. You know back in the early ‘90s it was Boyz in the Hood, and all the “gangster/hood” films followed. Then it was Love Jones, then Brothers and Best Man and all those kind of films. Now it seems to be the “faith” films…

I think that’s where the racism comes into play is we (black filmmakers and actors) still don’t get the same chances to succeed and fail doing different things.

The good news is that our biggest most bankable stars now are Will Smith and Denzel who are doing movies that appeal to everyone and are taking roles that traditionally would be considered for mainstream (white) actors.  But overall, there’s still a ways to go.

HK: You and Tyler Perry weave elements of Christian faith into most, if not all of your movies with seemingly great success. Why do you think African-American targeted movies are able to do this as opposed to more mainstream (white-centric) movies, even lighthearted comedies that avoid faith-based themes + movies?

Roger: It’s about under-served audiences. Look at “FireProof” (the 2008 film starring 1980s teen idol Kirk Cameron). That’s faith-themed movie that’s done $40 million on a low budget. It’s an under-served audience. I think faith is just a more common conversation within the African American community, which makes these kind of movies work. Also, Tyler’s been fortunate because he has built-in audience from the success of his DVDs and plays and he’s been able to build on that through the movies.

 It’s actually not rocket science: you have built-in audience, keep your costs low and deliver a good product and you can have some success. But to be clear: we don’t take our audiences for granted. We don’t just assume that African Americans are going to come out and support; we have to deliver a good movie and listen to what they want. Through our websites and marketing we really trying to stay connected to our audience and maintain that base of support.

We (TPS) are not a focus-group driven studio. We don’t “test” in the traditional sense. We really keep that  dialog going with our audiences. Like on House of Payne we wrote one the teenage girl characters and made her a little mouthy and sassy, talking back… And when we put it up online for folks to see, lots of people wrote back and said they didn’t like seeing this little girl talk about her parents and make fun of them; it seemed disrespectful to a lot of people; so we revised the character so that whenever she got a little mouthy, there was an adult who’d get the last laugh or correct her. Again, that’s the result of staying connected to your audience.

HK: You mentioned the website (www.tylerperry.com)… What role has social media + the internet paid in the success of Tyler Perry Studios’ work?

Roger: It’s been a key component. It’s viral. Everyone’s been trying to get with it since that movie—the “scary one”… (remembers) Blair Witch Project. Yeah. The marketing of it was arguably better than the actual movie.

For us, we divide our media efforts equally between internet and radio and TV, print. What I like most about the internet is tracking. You may not necessarily know exactly who’s watching your ads on TV, but the internet’s trackable so you know who’s clicking thru your banner ads and whose visiting your sites and commenting and redeeming online. So the internet remains a key tool for us.

HK: For all the praise Tyler’s work receives for positive storylines and diverse images of black males, there continue to be those who snipe at Madea and other Tyler Perry characters (Meet The Browns, House of Payne, etc.) as being too “silly” or stereotypical. What’s your reaction?

Roger: Wow. Honestly I’ve haven’t heard that criticism beyond one or two folks. I guess I would just say that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. For every character we do that’s one way we do characters that are another way. We know that we (the black community) is not one monolith. We try not to be clichéd.

HK: What’s missing in movies these days?

Roger: Original content. That’s what’s missing. We—Tyler Perry, Ruben Cannon, and myself—even started 34th Street Films, a TPS division that focuses on acquiring smaller, more diverse films that might not find a home otherwise. While at Sundance this past year, we acquired “Push” (the 2009 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner starring Mo’Nique and directed by Monster’s Ball‘s Lee Daniels).
 
It’s really unlike any movie I’ve seen. It’s about a girl who’s abused by everyone in her life her father, her mother, people at school… You know how a lot movies you watch them thinking, “I know what’s going to happen” and that’s exactly what happens? Well Push is nothing like that. It pulls you in and you’re never sure what’s going to happen next to her. You never see it coming. To me that’s the mark of a really good movie.

HK: What’s your dream project to work on?

Roger: My dream project? No one’s asked me that before. Hmmm…

You know I would love to do a documentary on the African American family and how socialization has impacted it. You know, the role of race and society has had in shaping black families. I feel like the black family has become disjointed and it would be interesting to explore some of the how’s and why’s.

You know what else? I’d also like to do an adult romantic comedy. Something with Denzel and Angela Bassett and Sidney Poitier... You know more seasoned actors. I love ‘em, but I don’t need to see Morris Chestnut and Gabrielle Union in everything. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. (Laughs.)

HK: So you think there’s some ageism going on?

Roger: Yes! In Hollywood in general, too. You remember that Sean Connery + Catherine Zeta Jones flick? Entrapment: He’s 70-years old she’s like 35 and nobody bats an eye. Now had that been reversed?! (For example) Try putting Susan Sarandon + Ashton Kutcher in a movie and see how well that one does! (laughs.) We need to give more mature seasoned actors a chance.


HK: Who have been your biggest influences either professionally or personally?

Roger: Well I’m a Christian so obviously I have to say Jesus Christ. Professionally, Tyler’s been a huge influence in terms of having a vision seeing it through and his work ethic and his consistency. Also, you can say whatever you want about our films but there’s no denying that we leave people with positive images, good messages and leave people feeling good. That’s inspiring.

My parents were also a big inspiration, personally. They’ve been married 40-something years, which is inspiring. And we grew up middle-class—not rich but not really poor. They stressed hard work and preparation for all of us. My sister’s a doctor, my brother’s a lawyer and I’m doing okay, and that’s had a lot to do with how they raised us.

Professionally, one other person inspires and influences me and that Sidney Poitier. You know without MLK, Jr. there’s no Barack Obama. And without Sidney there’s no Will (Smith) or Denzel…

Also people don’t realize how successful Sidney Poitier has been as a producer and a director. I find that amazing and motivating.


HK: Any advice for aspiring movie producers?

Roger: Have a passion for it. Anyone looking to get in the business—be it producing, directing, writing, et al you have to have a passion for it. Because sometimes it’s not always about your skill—sometimes it’s who you know, opportunities, and things like that that propel you. So you need passion to overcome some of that.

Also it’s not about (going to) movie premieres and (making lots of) money. Believe me, there are easier ways to make money—especially starting out. This is a lot of work, grinding and learning and executing the details. Passion goes a long way. 

Secondly, develop a plan. In this era of the internet and information there’s no excuse for not having a plan and finding someone ‘s success to model yourself after. Technology has made it so easy to do your research and learn about who’s doing what and where and even how to do it that there’s not a lot of excuses. Put your passion into motivation!


HK: Well, I know you have to run and I appreciate you taking time out to talk with me, Mr. Bobb.

RB: Thank you, no problem.

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Roger Bobb and Tyler Perry’s latest film, Madea Goes To Jail is now playing in theaters nationwide. For more on Madea visit: www.Madeagoestojailmovie.com. For more on Tyler Perry Studios visit: www.tylerperry.com.