HustleKnockin'

Tyler Perry has another hit. Again. (Keep hatin.)

So... I checked the Box Office receipts and Tyler Perry's much-maligned Why Did I Get Married, Too? has quietly topped the $60 Million mark. Doesn't sound like much, but you gotta keep a few things in mind:


1) Why Did I Get Married Too has only been out 5 Weeks.

You ask any studio exec if they'll take a $60 mill gross for 5 weeks of play for a non-summer blockbuster flick with no big-name A-list talent and they'll let you defile them on YouTube.

2) Why Did I Get Married Too only cost $20 million to make.

Let's see... 20 mill to gross 60 mill? Them's 3 to 1 returns, folk... Now obviously there's all manner of P&Ls to reconcile, but it's safe to say that TP Studios will live to film another day. (Insert gag reflex here.)

3) It was on a third less screens than Miley Cyrus' flick.

Why Did I Get Married Too, like most of Perry's flicks and most black flicks, have never had the industry standard 3000 screen release. (Will get back to this in a few.)

4) Black films ain't gettin made.

Other than Perry, the ocassional Spike joint when's the last time you saw black movie? And by Black, I mean, a story line rooted in black life or relevant to black audiences?

Denzel does pretty mainstream, crossover fare. Same with Will... Nothing wrong with that, either. You tell the stories you wanna tell, and the stories that sell and hope the twain meet.

But, there's still this sense that if it's a story rooted in black life that doesn't have some crime or music or cartoonishly stereotypical component to the flick, that it won't be profitable and ergo not worthy of a decent budget or marketing push.

Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of "Why... Too" but alas, Tyler Perry is catering to an audience that continues to remain woefully ignored by Hollywood and TV land. If Blacks with no interest in depressing inner city blues tales and half-baked urban street fare wanna take in a movie, they've gotta wait for Denzel or Spike to drop something. Otherwise it's Morgan Freeman doing another of his patented "asexualized, non-threatening old black man in mainstream flick" role or Sam Jack yelling his eye-sockets out between shootouts with smartass white folk flicks.

That leaves a mountain range of untapped stories to be told that aren't biopics or sanitized historical pieces or cool white person saves the downtrodden black folk fare.

And sure, Tyler Perry keeps mining the same 2 inches of top soil, but at least he's got a shovel and at least he's digging. What's everyone else's excuse. It ain't like he's out there on some HNIC trip.

And again, I think Perry's real genius isn't his filmmaking, but his marketing. Dude was recording his theater plays before anyone on Broadway even thought about doing that. And again his unapologetic want to target 35-plus Black folks and faith-based urban communities... laugh all you want, but every black person don't wanna see hood tales, whether they lived it or not.

But what really cements it for me is TP's simplistic, straight-to-it emails ... they just get you every time. People spend thousands on sites and every new digital trend under the sun, yet Tyler perry takes the "Dear Y'all" approach and wins.

Here's the last one I got:

Sorry it’s taken me a day or so to collect myself but I was out of the country. Friday, after my last promotion for the movie, I flew over to my little piece of heaven. I spent all of Resurrection weekend in prayer and meditation, talking to God, my Mother, and myself. On Monday, I dialed into the States to see how the movie did. I was blown away and so grateful to you! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! THANK YOU, do you hear?! I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate you for going to see WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO. Believe it or not, after opening 9 movies in 5 years, it still never gets old. I am so thankful that you are on my side. God bless you for that. Wasn’t it incredible?! What about Janet’s performance? She blew me away. If you haven’t seen it, this is a good time to see it. It was sold out practically everywhere opening weekend.

I want you know that there is a reason for that…being sold out is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but from the first movie to this one I have been fighting for more screens. For some reason, I have never been able to get my movies to play in more than 2,150 theaters. I have fought until I’m blue in the face and nobody can give me a clear cut answer. To put this in perspective, when most movies open, take for instance CLASH OF THE TITANS, it was on 3,800 screens, or the Miley Cyrus movie, which was on 3,100. Most movies open on between 3,000 to 5,000 screens.

 Anyway, if I keep fighting, maybe one day I’ll get enough screens so that you won’t have to be packed on top of each other, as well as be turned away time and time again after driving all the way to the theater. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I just want there to be adequate seating for the demand. That’s all I’m saying. Trust me, I still know that this is a blessing.

So, sorry for the inconvenience, but thank you for sticking with it, and me. Hollywood was blown away by this opening weekend and I was too! Thank you again!

    Can we shift gears for a second? I want to talk about Haiti.

Every day for weeks, the news media sensationalized Haiti. Now you don’t hear a thing about it. I knew that would happen. It was the same with New Orleans after Katrina, and what I learned in that time is to wait until it’s old news and then you will really begin to see the true needs of people. A few weeks ago it was so chaotic you couldn’t understand what was going on but now it’s beginning to become clear so, with that, I think that right now is the time for me to get involved.

I have identified 4 charities that I will be working with and giving them each $250,000.00. The first one will be Yele Haiti, Wyclef Jean’s Organization. After having a long conversation with him, I am truly assured that not only will my monies get to the people at the heart of Haiti, but also the monies that you have given will get there as well. In total about $130,000.00 was raised here online. I will divide that four ways so that it will be added to each of my donations. I will be giving you progress reports and updating you as time goes on. I will also announce the next charity as soon as I understand what their strategy will be in Haiti.

Be Blessed,

Talk soon and God bless.

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Dumb simple, ain't it?

Doesn't matter if anything in that email is true or accurate, really. But from all the research I've done, the disparity of theaters, budgets and schedules afforded black filmmakers is 100% fact. The game's still fixed. Such is life.

That aside, TP's bluntness and honesty in his emails keep people coming. These emails circulate 50-100 times per person. And you know this is going out to 250K folks, at least. They go everywhere and back. By the time a movie opens, every black person you know has read this thing and at least heard about what he's up to and you're ready to go.

Be clear. Tyler Perry's website is awful. It's totally underfunded and just... eh, #icant. But so what. He's got a URL that is basically a digital billboard with a comments section. And that's about he needs really, because this email thing he's on? It's 100.

Anyway, I'm out. Talk soon. Duty calls again.

Trailer: Our Family Wedding

Guess what I got hold of?

Now, before you say it, Terry Perry had nothing to do with this movie. He didn't write it, didn't produce it. Madea doesn't appear in the end-credits... Nope.

This is all us, specifically writer director Rick Famuyiwa. Because Rick wrote/directed The Wood (1999) and Brown Sugar (2002), I'll reserve judgment on this one. Maybe it'll be funny. I've seen worse. And I like the cast, so...

*crosses fingers and chants "let it be good, let it be good"*

Tyler Perry Confesses Childhood Abuse + Molestation

 As you know, I’m a fairly avid supporter of Tyler Perry and his movies. Without rehashing all my pros and cons, I think there’s a genuine well-meaningness and warmth to TP’s movies—in intent if not always in execution. With that said, I’ve found another reason to pull for the guy:

Every week or so Tyler Perry puts out a newsletter. It’s more of an email, actually. URL’s aside, there’s no branding or anything “marketing-ish” about it. It’s just a usually lengthy thank-you letter including what TP’s been up to lately, his feelings about certain issues and what’s coming up.

Here’s the latest letter, it includes revelations that could’ve easily been fleshed out into a book or another movie (not that TP needs the money—he’s worth over $200 mill), but instead he just shared this with folk. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.

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Dear All,

I know I've been a little quiet lately but I've been in silent reflection, quiet meditation, and prayer. Turning 40 is such a blessing.  Especially because as I child I always thought I would die before I grew up.

If life begins at 40, then I owe the little boy that I was my life. Case in point, not long ago, I was brought a film to watch to see what I thought of it. It's called PRECIOUS, based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire.

I sat at home watching this movie not knowing what to expect. After the movie was over, I sat there for a long time just thinking about what I had just witnessed. I watched all the things that Precious, a 16-year-old girl in the film, went through. I watched her mother be unusually cruel to her and I realized at that moment that a large part of my childhood had just played out before my eyes. It hit me so hard, I sat there in tears realizing that somehow, by the grace of God, I made it through. My tears were tears of joy, being thankful that I made it.

Believe me when I tell you, PRECIOUS is a powerful film. After seeing it, I had to be involved. I didn't write it or direct it, nor am I making any money from it. Oprah and I both are giving any proceeds we would make to charity. I just wanted to get as many people to see it as I can. It gave me so much hope after watching it. For everyone who has been a Precious, male or female, this movie will make you so glad you made it through.

It took me through some raw emotions and brought me to some things and places in my life that I needed to deal with but had long forgotten. It brought back memories so strong that I can smell and taste them. Like, when I was very young, my mother decided to leave my father...she had had enough of his insanity. She loaded me and my two sisters up in an old Cadillac that he had bought for her, and drove to California. When he realized she was gone, he called the police and reported the car stolen, as it was in his name. My mother was arrested and my two sisters and I were put in the cell with her. He and my uncle drove from Louisiana to California to get us. We spent several days in jail waiting for him. He bailed her out and couldn't wait to get her into the car. He got into the back seat with us and beat her black and blue from California to Louisiana, as me and my sisters watched.  Even though I was only two or three, I know that this had to have some effect on me.

I'm tired of holding this in. I don't know what to do with it anymore, so, I've decided to give some of it away...

Memories at 40:
Not long ago, I was asked to speak at an engagement. I walked in and I was told that they had assigned a person to take care of me while I was there. She walked up to me, all of 5'2” of her, and asked if I needed anything. I looked at her and started to sweat. It took me back thirty-something years to her apartment. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old when I went over to play with her son and Matchbox cars.

She opened the door in skimpy lingerie. There was a man sitting on the couch, smoking. She told me that her son was in the bedroom. I was there playing with him about 20 minutes when I heard the man arguing with her.

He said he was leaving and slammed the door. She came into the bedroom and told me that I had to go home. She told her son to take a bath and she locked him in the bathroom. I was at the front door trying to get out, when she came in and laid on the sofa and asked me if I wanted the key. I told her I had to go home as it was getting dark. She put the key inside of herself and told me to come get it, pulling me on top of her.

Memories at 40:

“What the f*#K are you reading books for?! That's bull*#*T!"

"You F*#*ing jackass! You got book sense but you ain't got no mothaf*#*en common sense! You ain't sh*t and ain't never gonna be sh*t!” I heard this every day of my childhood. As my father would beat and belittle me, he played all kinds of mind games with me. He knew I loved cookies as a kid, most kids do. So he would buy them and put them on top of the fridge and when I would eat them he would beat me mercilessly.

My mother was out one night, as she loved to play bingo, and my father came home... mad at the world. He was drunk, as he was most of the time. He got the vacuum cleaner extension cord and trapped me in a room and beat me until the skin was coming off my back. To this day, I don't know what would make a person do something like that to a child. But thank God that in my mind, I left. I didn't feel it anymore, just like in PRECIOUS. How this girl would leave in her mind. I learned to use my gift, as it was my imagination that let me escape.  After he was done with his rant he passed out. Since my aunt lived two doors down, I ran to her. She saw me and was horrified. She loaded her 357 and went to kill him. Holding a gun to his head, her husband came and stopped her.

Memories at 40:
I got a call not long ago from a friend. He told me that a man that I knew from church when I was a kid had died and he didn't have any insurance. His family was trying to reach out to me to see if I would pay for his funeral. I quickly said no, but I wish I would have said yes. There is something so powerful to me in burying the man that molested me. I wish I would have dug the grave myself.

Memories at 40:
I was about 8 or 9 years old. I had a crush on a little girl across the street. She would come over to my house and we'd play. She was about 12 or 13. One day she stopped coming and when I asked her why, she told me that my father was touching her. I didn't believe her, so I talked her into staying one night. We were both asleep -- she was in one bed and I was in another. I opened my eyes to see my father trying to touch her and her pushing him away. I moved in my bed trying to make him think I was waking up. He looked over at me and left out of the room. Not long after that, he beat me mercilessly for something again. Another mind game set up, so I told my mother what he had done. The blood drained from her face. We left that day. We were at my Aunt's house and he came there about 1am. Not long after that we were back at home. Nothing would compare to the random, drunken, violent beatings I would receive from then until I was 19.

Memories at 40: We would spend the summers in the country, with my father's adoptive mother. As a kid I was always sick. I had asthma and he hated it. He hated that I wasn't strong and viral like him. He hated that I couldn't be in the sawdust, pollen and the raw lumber like him. He hated that I liked to read and write and draw. He hated that me and my middle sister were darker-skinned than him. He didn't think he could make a dark baby. He just hated everything about me I guess. Anyway, I had to go to the doctor every Tuesday to get shots to control my allergies. When his mother found out she said, “Ain't nothing wrong with that damn boy... he just got germs on him. Stop wasting all that money.” When my mother left to visit some friends I heard what sounded like water running in a tub but it was sporadic. She came and got me out of the living room leaving my Matchbox cars on the floor. She said she was going to kill these germs on me once and for all. She gave me a bath in ammonia.

Grateful at 40:

I was asked recently how I made it through all of this, (half has not even been told) and my answer to that is...I know for a fact that there is a GOD. When my father would say or do those things to me, I would hear this voice inside of me say, “That's not true” or, “Don't believe that” or, “You're going to make it through this”. I didn't know at the time what “it” was, but today I surely have no doubt that “it” was GOD. That voice always gave me comfort. It allowed me to hold on. It kept me from being strung out on drugs, from dying when I wanted to commit suicide. It kept me from being a gangbanger or drug dealer. Worse than all of those things put together, it kept me from being him. It brought angels to comfort me after every foul, harsh word or every welt on my legs or back.  GOD, only GOD.

To know that the little boy that I was went through all that -- he went through and made it. Then me, as a man...I have to take on the responsibility of forgiving all of those people. I owe it to that little boy that I was and, more than that, I owe it to the man that I am.  Think about it, as a child we have no recourse. We have nowhere to go. We have to endure it. But as adults, we have choices. I choose to forgive with all my might. Forgiveness has been my weapon of choice. It has helped to free me.

If you're having a hard time getting over something in your life, maybe you can try forgiveness too. It's not easy, but it does bring forth healing. I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, can make it. To those of you who have, welcome to life. I celebrate you. We're all PRECIOUS in His sight.

TP

To respond to this message, please go to
http://www.tylerperry.com/messageboard
Thank you for visiting http://www.TylerPerry.com

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And that’s why Tyler Perry has core fans. He speaks to them; he talks with them and he shares in a way that nobody in Hollywood does.

Who else would confess to being molested as a child for no reason at all?

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.

Never Say Never Again...

A few weeks back I promised to never do another interview again. They were time consuming, people kept backing out on me at the last minute, etc. But there’s that old saying: if you ever want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

This brings me to my latest never say never—Mr. Roger Bobb.

Now to be honest, when I got hooked up with Mr. Bobb I wasn’t familiar with him—scratch that. I was familiar with 90% of his work, I just didn’t know he was the one doing it.

So when my connect sent me some Mr. Bobb’s bio, etc and said would I like to talk to him, the answer was, “say when and where and I’m there!”

So this Wednesday, I’ll be posting an interview I did with Mr. Roger Bobb, one of the top movie and TV producers in Hollywood. How big is Bobb? Well he's co-produced nearly $350 mill worth of film projects plus two of the top-rated TV shows running.

I'll fill you in tomorrow. Check back. (And thanks to everyone that's reading the KTH excerpts—i'll keep those comin', too.)

Meanwhile, here's a quick interview Bobb did @ the Spaghetti Junction Film Festival.

Cloverfield: More Shock Than Awe.

I love monster movies. The best flicks ever in my opinion are Jaws, Alien, Frankenstein, and 28 Days. With that said, I checked out Cloverfield this past weekend... Here's my two cents:

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Every truly great monster movie has 3 things going for it: A great monster, a great chase, and one or more great people. Out of these three things, Cloverfield only gets about 1.5 of 'em right.

First, the Monster.

The Cloverfiled Monster is exceptionally cool, but not great. For a monster to be truly great you need to know just enough to understand why it's a monster and care about what happens to it. But near as you can tell (just like the trailer), "Cloverfield" is just military code for a military science project gone south, a botched alien encounter, or some weird Darwinian swamp thing discovery.

What makes the Cloverfield exceptionally cool is the anticipation. Like Jaws you don't see the thing till like halfway through—you just get random glimpses. But it's raising so much hell and scaring so many people that you're on the edge of your seat wondering what it looks like. But because you don't know excatly what it is or why its there, you don't really care if the thing kills everyone of gets killed.

Second Monster Movie Rule: The Chase.

Cloverfield gives great chase. Like in 28 Days (where people-turned-monsters are attacking from so many angles), the Cloverfield beast is so awkward and randomly fast and destructive that people end up running thru subway tunnels, bridges, buildings, at all hours that it just sucks you in.

Third Monster Movie Rule: The People.

Where truly classic monster flicks sink or swim is the people: You don't care about anyone in Cloverfield enough to root for or against them. And that's too bad because a good 20 minutes is spent upfront setting up who these people are.They're all basically a bunch of hipster, well-off 20-something white Manhattanites with a couple nondescript beige people sprinkled in. The only black folks of note are the looters who rob an electronics store when the monster shows up. (Because obviously, when Godzilla attacks brothas want flat-screens.)

The only reason you're rooting for anyone in this movie is because you wanna see more monster.

Cloverfiled was a fun, wild shaky-cam ride of destruction. But with less shaky cam, more monster and better fleshed out people, Cloverfield II (it's comin')  could be a classic.

One Dope comic in a Katt-a-lac...

So I rented Katt Williams’ American Hustle the other day. Been meaning to buy it, but you know… wanted to sample the merch first. Well, out of the dozens and dozens of flicks I’ve rented since moving to SoCal, AH would have to go and be the one copy—they only had one copy—that’s all scratched up.

I mean everything else rented from old Cary Grant to 3:10 to Yuma (a very dope flick, btw) all the copies were cleaner than Brett Favre’s backup’s jersey.

But no, the one that comes back lookin’ like a bootleg from the westside? K-Will's American Hustle.

Sad. Makes you wonder what people do with DVDs in the privacy of their own home.

Is it just me or is Jeremy Piven truly an a-hole with limited range—or one of the greatest shtick actors since that guy from Bewitched?

For what it’s worth, AH was pretty funny if you haven't seen it yet. Embarrassingly funny, in fact. Some really hilarious stuff... can't take it too seriously--it's comedy, but he does make you laugh out loud. Haven't done this since Chappelle was on the road.

Anyway, I got two words for you: "Pimp. Out."

HALLE BERRY'S 'JEWISH NOSE' JOKE CUT FROM 'LENO'

HALLE BERRY'S 'JEWISH NOSE' JOKE CUT FROM 'LENO': Mortified and apologetic over comment, actress asks host to edit it out.

A simple appearance on "The Tonight Show" to plug her new movie "Things We Lost in the Fire" turned disastrous for Halle Berry after a joke she told was viewed as anti-Semitic, reports the New York Post.

During the Friday afternoon taping, Berry was showing photos of herself using the Mac program Photo Booth, which distorts images like a carnival fun-house mirror.

Commenting on the first picture showing her nose as oversized, Berry reportedly said: "Here's where I look like my Jewish cousin." A source in the audience told Page Six an awkward silence followed before Leno nervously said, "I'm glad you said that and not me." Berry, 41, followed with: "Oh my God, have I just like ruined my career?"

The show aired that night with Berry's "Jewish" comment edited out and a laugh track added to fill the silence.

Another guest in the audience told the Post: "If you watch the clip, you can see Halle saying the word 'Jewish,' though obviously there is no audio. NBC covered her ass. Ms. Berry should know how unbelievably inappropriate her comment was . . . She should be ashamed of herself."

Berry, currently four-and-a-half months pregnant with her first child, was contacted by Page Six and reportedly seemed near tears when she explained: "I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realized it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did."

She continued: "What happened was I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said [of the big-nose picture], 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm."

The Post's Page Six said Berry even offered to contact the paper's source and apologize in person.

"It was just a lighthearted segment that was meant to make fun of myself," Berry said. "There was a picture where I said I looked like Monica Lewinsky and one where I said I looked like Jay. It was just supposed to be a silly segment. I am so sorry, and I apologize."

Tyler Perry's "Married" was good!

WHY DID I GET MARRIED? (PG-13)
Director/Writer: Tyler Perry
Starring: Tyler Perry, Richard T. Jones, Jill Scott, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Malik Yoba, Michael Jai White, Tasha Smith
Studio/Distributor: Tyler Perry Studios/Lions Gate Studios

The only thing better than seeing a good movie is the seeing of a good movie. This past weekend I got both when I checked out Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?”

First off: Saw it on a whim—kind of a last-second decision. Secondly, I’m not a big chick-flick/relationship-movie person. Not even the biggest Tyler Perry head, but I do appreciate a brother doing his thing moving from black theater to Hollywood via the indie route. With all that said…

The Power of The Glow

I got into my share of fights growing up. Something about being one of the biggest kids in your section just makes you a target. (The shortest cats I knew always seemed to have the biggest heart for fighting. Their rule was Swing on the Big Joes.) It’s like, when you win, you’re supposed to. But when you lose, people go “Damn, you got knocked out, Joe!”

While I never got beat down like that, but might as well have once or twice, because when you’re like 5’9 by the time you’re 13 and don’t grow but another 4 inches the rest of your life you have to practically put a brother through a wall to take the crown. Anything less is a borderline embarrassment.

Is Hollywood jumping for 'Jesus Flicks'?

HOLLYWOOD PUTS FAITH IN GOSPEL FILMS
Studio looks for profit in Christian market with low-budget movies
By Lorenza Muñoz
Tribune Newspapers
August 6, 2007

Jeff Clanagan wants to ride Tyler Perry's coattails. So does 20th Century Fox. They are pairing up to make several gospel-inspired films that are much like the ones that have made Perry a sensation. Perry, a 37-year-old producer, writer, director and star, has shown Hollywood the gold to be mined from gospel-infused entertainment.

it's P-Funk, Baby!!!

"I’ll tell it to the hot, I’ll tell it to the cold, I’ll tell it to the young, I’ll tell it to the old, I don’t want no laughin’, I don’t want no cryin’, and most of all, no signifyin’" —Peetey Greene

I saw TALK TO ME the other night. Man, y'all gotta go see this flick for real. It should really be in my Pillow Case Picks because I know folks are gonna be snoozing on it until Blocbuster drops it. But if you don't see it, don't get mad when they don't make more movies like it.

It's the story of Peetey Greene, pioneering radio DJ, comedian, ex-con, hustler... oh, he gets saddled with bunch of labels and constructs in the movie, but the funniest is without a doubt when his station boss Dewey Hughes boss (played beautifully by Chiwetel Ejiofor) calls him a "miscreant".

HustleKnockin' Baby!

By the way, I have a blog outside of Myspace... Similar material but a little more street" and business focused. It's called HUSTLEKNOCKIN. It's all about smahin constructs thru information, honest dialog and open minds.

If you get a chance, swing thru... HUSTLEKNOCKIN'
We cover all kinds of stuff, including free excerpts from KNOCK THE HUSTLE (2006) and the upcoming KNOCK THE HUSTLE VOLUME 2 (Coming Summer 2007).

luv the visuals? We're tweaking the color scheme and visuals along the way--trademarking at every turn. Get your intellectual property game together, folks. it's real!

Truth in Advertising

My guy HighJive over at MULTICULTCLASSICS has been on quite a tear this past few weeks. MultCultClassics is dedicated to building honest discussions regarding race, culture and overall intelligence in the advertising, marketing and PR worlds, affectionately known as Madison Avenue.

Anyway, one way HJ has been going about getting folks attention has been to hijack some old school ads and give them a fresh satiral spin. They're some of the funniest and most insightful things that I've seen in a while and I've been at this since Bush I was just taking office. (That's Before Clinton, yungin's.)

Anway, here you go--had to share 'em with you. For more, get to multicultclassics.blogspot.com

This one's a riff on Bill bernbach's classic VW campaign from like '67 or so. Changed the game for VW, by the way. Gave all creatives the opportunity to prove that Testimonials weren't the only valid approach in selling stuff.

KTH EXCERPTS!!! N'joy

(You Can’t) Knock The Hustle

A realist is always hated in a society of
sanctimonious hustlers, which is what America is.
—Gore Vidal

My hustle of choice: the advertising and marketing industry. Been in it for 15 years. Now the best way to explain marketing is this: Hold up your hand, either one: Go ’head, get it up—I’ll wait (lol)... Okay, now think of your hand as the marketplace: