‘Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story’ Shows How Entertainment Mogul Overcame Trauma To Reach Incredible Success – Contenders TV: Doc + Unscripted

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Terry Perry has achieved success in the entertainment industry on a scale almost beyond comparison: he’s the creative force behind two dozen films, 20 plays, two bestselling books and well over a dozen television series.

Tyler Perry Studios, the huge production complex he built in Atlanta, is home to 12 custom sound stages. What’s even more astounding is all he had to overcome to accomplish those feats – growing up poor in New Orleans and enduring physical and mental abuse at the hands of his father.

His extraordinary journey is told in Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story, the film from Prime Video directed by Gelila Bekele (Perry’s former life partner and mother of his child) and Armani Ortiz. RELATED: Contenders TV Docs + Unscripted – Deadline’s Full Coverage “We weren’t interested in making a film about Tyler Perry, the celebrity … but really how did he survive [his upbringing]?” Bekele explained during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted event. “I think a lot of people know his story about him being homeless and self-made and then fast forward to where he is now, but we really wanted to cover the beginning as precise as possible and also that middle — that gray area of what makes someone a singular individual in achieving greatness and coming from the background he comes from and sort of the trauma and also forgiveness, what that looks like in practice.” During the making of the documentary, the directors asked Perry how he defined himself – whether as a writer, producer or director.

His response? “I’m Maxine’s baby,” he said, referring to his late mom. “I am my mother’s son.” RELATED: Deadline Contenders Television 2024 Arrivals & Panels Gallery: Tom Hiddleston, Lily