Named for Willie Maxine Perry, the specialty label turns a mother’s belief in her son into an opportunity for the next generation of storytellers.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
August 27, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Tyler Perry Studios launched Maxscene, a development and acquisition label that will help independent filmmakers secure resources, distribution, and theatrical audiences.
- Perry named the division after his late mother, Willie Maxine Perry, and said it will pay her belief in him forward by championing the next generation of storytellers.
- Development and acquisitions chief Antoinetta Stallings will oversee Maxscene as Perry expands his 365-acre Atlanta studio, including a new virtual production stage.
Tyler Perry is turning one of the most important relationships of his life into a new pipeline for filmmakers.
Tyler Perry Studios has launched Maxscene, a specialty development and acquisition label named for Perry’s late mother, Willie Maxine Perry. The new division will focus on independent filmmakers and distinctive voices that might otherwise struggle to secure distribution, providing selected projects with development re
“Everything I’ve built in my career carries my mother with it, and Maxscene is named in her honor,” Perry said to Variety when announcing the venture. “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 samenued. “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.”
Antoinetta Stallings, Tyler Perry Studios’ head of development and acquisitions, will oversee Maxscene. Stallings previously served as the studio’s vice president of unscripted programming and helped launch its joint venture with Pantheon Media Group.
“I’ve spent my career working alongside filmmakers and watching incredibly talented storytellers struggle to find distribution for films that deserved to be seen,” Stallings said. “We’re creating a home where independent filmmakers can build a career, not just release a movie.”
Maxine Perry, who died in 2009 at age 64, spent much of her life working as a preschool teacher at the Jewish Community Center in New Orleans. Her influence has remained visible throughout Perry’s career: she helped inspire the voice, strength and wisdom behind his signature Madea character, and their relationship became the emotional center of the 2023 documentary Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.
The launch comes as Perry continues expanding Tyler Perry Studios beyond his own film and television slate. The 365-acre Atlanta campus is also developing a virtual production stage with Synapse Virtual Production, featuring LED volume technology, camera tracking and real-time 3D environments. Perry has said that the project is being designed to embrace new filmmaking technology while keeping traditional production crews working.
That balance between expansion and opportunity has also surfaced outside the studio. Earlier this month, Perry covered the remaining Harvard Graduate School of Education tuition balance for Tuskegee University graduate Janay Duberry.
In March, he provided $1,000 gift cards to unpaid TSA workers during a partial government shutdown, and in November 2025, he donated nearly $1.4 million to organizations assisting families facing reductions in SNAP benefits.
