Tyler Perry Studios has announced the launch of Maxscene, a new specialty division dedicated to expanding theatrical opportunities for filmmakers with distinctive voices. This new arm of Tyler Perry Studios will focus on creator-first and audience-focused projects that are unbound to any blueprint. Maxscene will develop, produce, and distribute films across various genres — giving storytellers the opportunity to build upon an established audience while forging one of their own.
The division is named in honor of Tyler Perry’s mother, Maxine Perry, whose belief in her son shaped the studio he would go on to build, and now, the storytellers it intends to champion.
“Everything I’ve built in my career carries my mother with it, and Maxscene is named in her honor. My mother, Maxine, believed in me before anyone else did, and that belief is the reason I never stopped chasing this path. Maxscene exists to be that same source of belief for the next generation of storytellers. It’s about taking the confidence and encouragement she poured into me and paying it forward by championing filmmakers who need someone to believe in them, open the door, and help them reach the audience waiting on the other side,” said Tyler Perry, Founder, Tyler Perry Studios.
Antoinetta Stallings, Head of Development & Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios, will oversee the Maxscene division. A studio veteran, Stallings previously served as VP of Unscripted Programming, where she launched and led the studio’s joint venture with Pantheon Media Group — making Maxscene the second creative arm she has built at TPS from the ground up.
“I’ve spent my career working alongside filmmakers and watching incredibly talented storytellers struggle to find distribution for films that deserved to be seen. That’s why launching Maxscene is such an exciting and necessary moment. We’re creating a home where independent filmmakers can build a career, not just release a movie. Maxscene gives creators the resources, support, and a path to distribution so their films have every opportunity to reach the audiences who may not have otherwise discovered them,” said Antoinetta Stallings, Head of Development & Acquisitions, Tyler Perry Studios.
That work is already underway. Unlike traditional studio distribution models, Maxscene is designed as a filmmaker-first venture, providing strategic releases, audience development, marketing support, and exhibition partnerships tailored to each project’s needs, and connecting a new generation of storytellers and audience who are discovering the experience for the first time along with the audience that has followed Tyler Perry from the stage to the screen for more than two decades. Maxscene’s first projects will include a suspenseful thriller, a romantic comedy, and a coming-of-age story. Titles, casting, and release plans will be announced in the coming months.
