Tyler Perry Responds To Criticism About Not Having Writers’ Room; Reveals He Had One In The Past, But Ratings Dropped

While on a press run for his new Netflix movie “A Fall From Grace,” Tyler Perry responded to the recent backlash he faced after revealing he writes all his scripts by himself.

Perry sat down with Essence News, where the interviewer brought up the absence of a writers’ room at the Tyler Perry Studios.

The interviewer then pointed out that many felt that adding a writers’ room would give a lot of people new opportunities.

Perry explained that the reason he does not have a writers’ room currently is because of the writers’ room “nightmare” he faced in the past.

“What people don’t know is early on I had a writers’ room, and it was a nightmare for me,” he said. “Not only that, I had writers writing shows- they were turning in scripts that really didn’t speak to my audience, and my ratings took a dip. So what I started to do was I said I’ve got to write this because my audience knows my voice . They want to hear from me. They want to hear what I’m saying.”

Perry has seen much success over the years from shows including ‘House Of Payne,’ ‘Meet The Browns,’ ‘The Haves and The Have Nots,’ ‘If Loving You Is Wrong,’ and his two new series on BET ‘Sistas’ and ‘The Oval.’

But as Perry continued, he revealed that the success of his shows further proves that his audience knows his voice. “I don’t know what people are complaining about, because I’m writing specifically for my audience. Specifically for them. And ‘The Haves and Have Nots’ just returned to number one, ‘The Oval’s’ number one on Wednesday nights,” he said.

Despite the backlash, Perry has always been one to give people job opportunities and plans to continue doing so by creating another writers room for shows beginning development at the Tyler Perry Studios. He even invited the interviewer to come write for the studio after she expressed interest, responding, “Come on. Let’s bring it.”

“I understand wanting other people to have their opportunity as well, so what I will do, is these other shows that are being developed by the studio that are not my shows, they’ll have a showrunners and writers room,” he said.

Perry will, however, continue to write his own shows.

Perry’s new Netflix movie ‘A Fall From Grace’ will premiere Friday, Jan. 17.