TYLER PERRY'S A MADEA FAMILY FUNERAL (2019) About The Crew
Tyler Perry, Mark E. Swinton, Ozzie Areu, and Will Areu
TYLER PERRY , MARK E. SWINTON (Producer), OZZIE AREU (Producer), WILL AREU (Producer),
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
TYLER PERRY'S
inspirational journey from the hard streets of New Orleans to the heights of
Hollywood's A-list is the stuff of American legend. Born into poverty and
raised in a household scarred by abuse, Perry fought from a young age to find
the strength, faith and perseverance that would later form the foundations of
his much-acclaimed plays, films, books and shows.
It was a simple piece of advice from Oprah Winfrey that set Perry's career in motion. Encouraged to keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences, he began writing a series of soul-searching letters to himself. The letters, full of pain and in time, forgiveness, became a healing catharsis. His writing inspired a musical, I Know I've Been Changed, and in 1992, Perry gathered his life's savings in hopes of staging it for sold out crowds. He spent all the money but the people never came, and Perry once again came face to face with the poverty that had plagued his youth. He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and his car but his faith - in God and, in turn, himself - only got stronger. He forged a powerful relationship with the church, and kept writing. In 1998 his perseverance paid off and a promoter booked I Know I've Been Changed for a limited run at a local church-turned-theatre. This time, the community came out in droves, and soon the musical moved to Atlanta's prestigious Fox Theatre. Tyler Perry never looked back.
And so began an incredible run of 13 plays in as many years, including Woman Th ou Art Loosed!, a celebrated collaboration with the prominent Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes. In the year 2000, I Can Do Bad All By Myself marked the first appearance of the now-legendary Madea. The God-fearing, gun-toting, potsmoking, loud-mouthed grandmother, Madea, was played by Perry himself. Madea was such a resounding success, she soon spawned a series of plays - Madea's Family Reunion (2002), Madea's Class Reunion (2003), Madea Goes To Jail (2005) - and set the stage for Perry’s jump to the big screen. In 2015 Perry returned to the stage, performing his new original play, Madea on the Run, to sold out audiences across the United States.
In early 2005, Perry's first feature film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, debuted at number one nationwide. His ensuing films, Madea's Family Reunion, Daddy's Little Girls, Why Did I Get Married?, Meet The Browns, The Family That Preys, I Can Do Bad All by Myself, Why Did I Get Married Too?, For Colored Girls, Madea's Big, Happy Family, Good Deeds and Madea's Witness Protecti on have all been met with massive commercial success, delighting audiences across America and around the world. He also starred in the Rob Cohen directed Alex Cross and helped release Academy Award-nominated Precious, a movie based on the novel Push by Sapphire, in conjunction with his 34th Street Films banner, Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films and Lionsgate.
2006 saw the publication of Perry's first book, Don't Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries On Life And Love, which shot to the top of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and remained there for eight weeks. It went on to claim Quill Book Awards for both "Humor" and "Book of the Year" (an unheard-of feat for a first-time author), and spread Tyler Perry's unique brand of inspirational entertainment to a devoted new audience. It is a brand that quickly became an empire. In 2007, Perry expanded his reach to television with the TBS series House of Payne, the highest-rated first-run syndicated cable show of all time, which went into syndication after only a year. His follow up effort, Meet the Browns, was the second highest debut ever on cable - after House of Payne. In late 2012, Perry teamed up with Oprah Winfrey in an exclusive deal to bring scripted programming to her cable network, OWN, and launched with the half hour sitcom, Love Thy Neighbor, and the hour-long drama, The Haves and The Have Nots, which made its debut in 2013 and has continued to break ratings on the network. This past summer, Perry debuted a new drama series called Too Close to Home on TLC, the network’s first scripted series. OWN recently premiered a House of Payne spinoff series, The Paynes, on the network in 2018. It was announced in July 2017 that Perry signed a multi-year content partnership with Viacom, in which he will produce original drama and comedy series across the Viacom networks, in addition to having a first-look feature film deal with Paramount Pictures group.
In the fall of 2008, Perry opened his 200,000 square foot Studio in Atlanta, situated on the former Delta Airlines campus in the Greenbriar area of southwest Atlanta. During the course of its operation, the space was home to production of over 15 films and over 800 episodes of Perry’s five television series. In 2015, TPS announced plans to expand operations with the acquisition of Fort McPherson, which sits on over 330 acres. Perry and the studio’s Atlanta-based employees will remain in production of Perry’s five current television series, in addition to major feature films and television shows filming in Atlanta. Production is already underway at the new studio, which will contain twelve soundstages ranging in size between 10,000 and 60,000 square feet.
Not one to rest on success, Tyler Perry and his Atlanta-based employees have been hard at work. His films include Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, released in March 2013 and his 34th Street Films banner, Peeples, released in May 2013. In late 2013, Perry starred in A Madea Christmas, adapted from his stage play by the same name. In 2014 he was seen in 34th Street Film’s production that he also directed, Single Mom’s Club. A show for OWN entitled If Loving You Is Wrong, based on the film, premiered in 2014. That year, Perry also garnered rave reviews for his role opposite Ben Affleck in David Fincher’s critically acclaimed box office hit, Gone Girl. He was also seen on the big screen in 2016 for Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows as the villain “Baxter Stockman.” In 2016, Perry reprised the role of “Madea” in Lionsgate’s smash-hit Boo! A Madea Halloween, which spent two weeks at number one on the US box office. The sequel to the film was released in October 2017 and took top spot at the box office on opening weekend. Never one to rest, in 2018 Perry also released Acrimony starring Taraji P. Henson with Lionsgate, and Nobody’s Fool starring Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter and Whoopi Goldberg with Paramount. Up next, Perry can be seen on Adam McKay’s feature film, VICE, about Dick Cheney, in which he will play “Colin Powell”, set to open in theaters on Christmas Day 2018.
But listen to Tyler Perry and you'll hear a man who hasn't forgotten about the people that have helped him reach the top of a mountain he could once only dream of climbing. He has been intimately involved and donated generously to civil rights causes through work with the NAACP and NAN. He also strongly supports charities that focus on helping the homeless, such as Global Medical Relief Fund, Charity Water, Feeding America, Covenant House, Hosea Feed the Hungry, Project Adventure and Perry Place - a 20home community that Perry built for survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. In January 2010, Perry pledged $1,000,000 via The Tyler Perry Foundation to help rebuild the lives of those affected by the earthquakes in Haiti.
Tyler Perry practices what he preaches, and what he preaches
has endeared him to millions of fans drawn by that unique blend of spiritual
hope and down-home humor that continues to shape his inspiring life story and
extraordinary body of work.
MARK E. SWINTON (Producer) is an acclaimed film and television producer, Mark E. Swinton first burst onto the scene in 2002 when he won the NAACP Award for Best Director and Best Playwright. A graduate of Syracuse University, Swinton directed renditions of West Side Story and Dreamgirls along with original works entitled Ephraim’s Song and Keep Movin’ On. Throughout an extensive career in entertainment he has become known as an accomplished playwright, television writer and director for both theatre and television. Mr. Swinton is the Vice President of Tyler Perry Studios, and as such, executive produces all of Perry’s plays, television shows and feature films. Among the plethora of powerhouse performers he’s collaborated with are Tiffany Haddish, Taraji P. Henson and Whoopi Goldberg.
Besides producing two hit television dramas for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), his work has been featured on TLC and TBS. His work for the latter network even garnered him an NAACP Image Award, which far extended his audience base. Theatre has and will always be Swinton’s first love, thus his collaboration with Stan Lathan on the Tony Award winning show Def Poetry Jam. His admiration for the stage has also inspired his philanthropic pursuits, among them the founding of the Stephen and Carrie
Odell Theatre Arts Academy in Los Angeles as well as The
Youth Arts Initiative for at--‐risk youth. For his work, Swinton won the Teach
For America Educator of the Year Award, the LAUSD Gold Star Award, and
nominations for the National Disney Teacher Award.
OZZIE AREU (Producer), prior to assuming duties for Tyler Perry in 2006, Ozzie Areu began his career in 1995 with Warner Bros. in Burbank, California. He worked for Bright Kauffman Crane Productions on the sets of NBC's Veronica's Closet and Jessie along with one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, the Emmy Award winning, Friends.
From 1999 to 2005, Areu worked professionally for two of the most successful entertainers from Hollywood's A-list, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Next, Areu worked with Daytime Emmy® Award winner Ellen DeGeneres.
As the recent former President of Tyler Perry Studios, Ozzie Areu had overseen all facets of the studio including feature films, television shows, and stage play productions. In this role, Areu had managed the Tyler Perry Studios vision "A Place Where Even Dreams Believe," intertwining worlds through story-telling and family friendly entertainment, while inspiring audiences with real-life and thought-provoking issues.
In addition to Areu’s previous duties as President of Tyler Perry Studios, he has produced numerous films and hit television shows for Perry including House of Payne, Meet the Browns, For Better or Worse and The Tyler Perry Show, and the popular, The Haves and the Have Nots and If Loving You is Wrong, as well as the situational comedy, Love Thy Neighbor.
Films credits include For Colored Girls, Madea’s Big Happy Family, Good Deeds, Madea’s Witness Protection, Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselo r, Single Moms Club, A Madea Christmas, Boo! A Madea Halloween, BOO2!, Acrimony, and now Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral.
Tyler Perry’s production arm, 34th Street Films, was also overseen by Ozzie, which discovered the film, Precious, at the Sundance Film Festival.
Other notable highlights of mention include:
2015 Georgia Highlight Award given by the Georgia
Entertainment Gala. Recognized as one of
Who’s Who Top 100 Presidents. 2016 Hispanicize Latinovator Award. 2016 CEO
Executive for Excellence in Entertainment Award by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce. Recognized by Fox News Latino for Hispanic Heritage Month. 2017
Selection for the Untold Stories Award by the Black Women Film Network.
WILL AREU (Producer) was born and raised in California. At a very young age, he knew that he wanted to somehow be involved in movies and television.
Areu began his journey lighting sets on productions such as ER, Batman and Robin, The Jamie Foxx Show, and Ally McBeal, to mention a few. As Areu began working closely with different crews, he quickly learned how a successful production should be put together, whether shooting on stage or on location.
In 1998, Will began working at Modern VideoFilm, Inc., a Post Production company located in Burbank, California, across from the Warner Bros lot. Having worked in Production and wanting to expand his knowledge of the production process, he felt it was very important to gain an understanding in how the two come together, and that having experience in post-production was the best way to achieve this goal.
During his 11 years at Modern VideoFilm, Inc., Areu excelled quickly in many areas and gained hands-‐--‐on experience with tape operations, editing, Telecine, DVD re-‐-‐-‐mastering, audio prelay, audio mix, graphics, visual effects, international, domestic and home episodic television/theatrical distribution and operations.
Areu is currently Senior Vice President at Tyler Perry Studios, located in Atlanta, Georgia, where he oversees all aspects of the day-‐-‐-‐to-‐-‐-‐day television, film and stage play productions, and post-productions.
Areu has produced many of Tyler Perry's sitcoms, including TBS’ highest rated comedy, House of Payne, the popular Meet the Browns and For Better or Worse. In May 2013, two new Tyler Perry television shows began airing on the OWN Network, The Haves and the Have Nots and Love Thy Neighbor, which Areu has also Produced. These shows set records for OWN, with The Haves scoring the highest ratings ever for a series premiere and the highest overall ratings in the Network’s history. Love Thy Neighbor
acquired the second highest-‐-‐-‐rated series program on the OWN Network, after the The Haves and the Have Nots. In 2014, another scripted drama, If Loving You Is Wrong, also launched on the OWN Network.
TLC Network started production with Tyler Perry Studios on its first scripted series Too Close To Home. Production began in Atlanta at Tyler Perry Studios new studio lot located on the former Fort McPherson army base. With its return premiering in 2017, it was by far the highest rated telecast of the series giving TLC a #1 ranking.
Under Perry, Areu has also been the Supervising Producer on many of his stage plays such as Laugh To K eep From Crying, Madea's Big Happy Family, A Madea Christmas, Aunt Bam's Place, I Don't Want To Do Wrong, Hell Ha th No Fury Like A Woman Scorned, Madea's Neighbors From Hell and Madea On The Run.
Will Areu has also been a Producer on many of Tyler Perry’s feature films, including BOO! A Madea Halloween, which was number one at the box office two weekends in a row with a $74 million-‐dollar worldwide box office. A Madea Family Funeral is the latest feature in which Areu also serves as Producer.
