Tyler Perry had generated over $12,000 in 1992, and he spent every bit of it on a play that almost nobody came to see. According to Forbes, which profiled Perry in 2020, the loss left him unable to pay rent and sleeping in his car for months. Less than three decades later, the same publication estimated Perry had earned more than $1.4 billion in pretax revenue since 2005 and had built a 330-acre studio in the same Atlanta neighborhood where he went bankrupt. This is the part of Tyler Perry's story that is most often quoted. Less often discussed are what he learned during the transition period and what he chose not to do after he became successful.
A $12,000 bet that left him with nothing
The show was named "I Know I've Been Changed," and it drew on Perry's own experience of childhood abuse. He saved $12,000 from his job as a used-car salesman and bill collector, and he had no theatrical or commercial training. Perry wrote, directed, and starred in the show himself, even selling popcorn during intermissions to help cover costs. Turnout was modest, and the production did not cover his rent payments. After that, for about three months, Perry continued to live in the same car he had used while working as a bill collector. He took up various jobs to afford another production, trying to save up enough money for his next show, Forbes reported.
Six years, one play, and a slowly built audience
Instead of quitting, Perry kept staging the same play, revising it each year from 1992 to 1998. This helped him build a following by performing in small theaters on the Chitlin Circuit, a network of venues that mainstream Hollywood largely ignored but that catered to Black audiences. Though the 1992 setback left him broke, years of steady touring slowly built both an audience and a revenue base. By the time he started making films in 2005, profiles of Perry from that period estimated his combined pretax earnings from ticket sales, merchandise, and video sales of his stage plays at more than $150 million. He built an audience before Hollywood took notice.
