Tyler Perry, ever the man of efficiency, has wrapped a marathon two months of shooting four different shows in quarantine, one right after the other.
According to Deadline.com, season two of his BET+ relationship comedy “Bruh” wrapped Sunday, September 6, after shooting 19 episodes in four days.
In recent weeks, Perry spent well into six figures to provide thousands of virus tests while keeping a crew of about 360 safe on his 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios campus. He used a combination of existing and rental housing to keep everyone on campus. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month he budgeted an extra $18 million to make this happen.
Since he started BET’s relationship drama “Sistas” on July 9, Perry produced and directed 82 episodes of four shows. After “Sistas,” he took a week off and moved on to “The Oval,” a BET White House drama. He took another week off, then went back to back with BET+’s “Ruthless” (a spin-off of “The Oval”) and “Bruh.”
To ensure there were no issues upfront, Perry had everyone tested for COVID-19 entering campus and then sequestered them until the results came back. In the end, they had four positives before “Sistas” began and one cast member of “Ruthless” had coronavirus before that production began. The “Ruthless” schedule was re-jiggered so that actor could still be used without any real delay. Better yet, no coronavirus cases were reported once people were on campus and production happened.
This past week, two shows Perry shot before the pandemic — the return of “House of Payne” and the new “Assisted Living” — debuted on BET to strong ratings.
It’s unclear what Perry’s next productions will be, but he will take a small break. His 51st birthday is September 13, and the Emmys will honor him with the Governor’s Award a week later.
Perry, who writes all his shows and films, spent part of the early pandemic period in the spring writing, so hewill have plenty of future TV shows, movies and seasons of existing shows in the till.
Forbes last week placed the Atlanta mogul on its cover and declared him a billionaire.
The state of Georgia currently has 29 shows listed in active production, according to the film office. Many more are returning to production in the coming weeks.
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