Entertainment mogul Tyler Perry says that after seeing a demonstration of a new text-to-video artificial intelligence model, he isn’t going forward with a massive planned expansion of his studio campus in Atlanta.
Atlanta-based movie and television mogul Tyler Perry at the Academy Awards in 2010.
Perry told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday that the expansion, which would have added 12 soundstages to Tyler Perry Studios at the former U.S. Army base Fort McPherson, “is currently and indefinitely on hold” after witnessing OpenAI’s text-to-video Sora program in action.
OpenAI earlier this month released the software, which produces realistic, minute-long video clips based on text instructions from a user. Perry was impressed enough with the quality of Sora’s videos that it made him question the need for additional studio space at his Atlanta campus.
“I was in the middle of, and have been planning for the last four years, about an $800M expansion at the studio, which would’ve increased the backlot a tremendous size — we were adding 12 more soundstages. All of that is currently and indefinitely on hold because of Sora and what I’m seeing,” Perry told THR. “I had gotten word over the last year or so that this was coming, but I had no idea until I saw recently the demonstrations of what it’s able to do. It’s shocking to me.”
Perry is one of the pioneers of the burgeoning film and television industry in Georgia that has grown to rival Hollywood in its number of annual productions. Perry’s initial studio launched in 2015 after he purchased 330 of the more than 400 acres at the decommissioned Army base for $30M. Last year, Perry acquired an additional 37.5 acres from the Fort McPherson Local Redevelopment Authority for $8.4M with plans to add studios and a host of other facilities.
Unlike the walled-off main studio campus, Perry vowed the expansion would be open to the public and blend an entertainment district into the surrounding community. That vision may never see the light of day.
Perry said he believes AI-generated filming could be a “major game-changer” for cost-sensitive studios, one that could endanger innumerable production jobs, from the talent to the backstage workers and accountants.
Perry’s president of studio operations, Steve Mensch, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment on Friday, nor did Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens or Atlanta City Council Member Antonio Lewis, whose district covers the Fort Mac area.
Despite his concerns, Perry said he isn’t above using AI for his own films and told THR that he already used the technology in two upcoming productions.
“That kept me out of makeup for hours. In post and on set, I was able to use this AI technology to avoid ever having to sit through hours of aging makeup,” he said. “For me, I’m looking at my business and the bottom line, but I’m also very concerned about all the people that I have trained and brought up in this industry. I’m concerned about what will happen to them.”
