Tyler Perry, DeVon Franklin Partner To Produce Faith-based Films

Two of the more well-known Black public figures are teaming up in a faith-based film deal.

Tyler Perry and DeVon Franklin are getting into business with Netflix to produce faith-based movies in unison, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The first film under the new partnership will be R&B, written by Mike Elliott (Brown Sugar) and Cory Tynan. Essentially, this movie is the modern-day retelling of the story of Ruth and Boaz, an iconic Biblical love story.

With the movie set in Tennessee, R&B is about a young woman who escapes the Atlanta music culture to care for an elderly widowed woman, eventually finding the love of her life and gaining the mother she never had. The partnership between Tyler Perry Studios and Franklin is a multi-year and multi-picture first-look deal.

“I’m so excited to be working with DeVon on this and future projects. I think in this polarizing world, and at a time where the world seems to be growing colder everyday, we both share the common goal of wanting to spread some good. And there’s no better place than Netflix,” Perry said in a statement.

Perry and Franklin will share producer credits and align with Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios. The first-look deal also expands Perry and Netflix’s creative partnership, which will have Perry write, direct and produce movies as well as TV series.

Upcoming Perry projects include The Six Triple Eight, which will star Kerry Washington, and the drama series Beauty in Black.

This partnership also highlights the long-withstanding friendship between Perry and Franklin.

“Tyler and I have been great friends for over 15 years, so when he called me to team up on movies that can uplift the human spirit, I jumped at the chance and we couldn’t have a better partner than Netflix to help us inspire the world,” Franklin said in his own statement.

Netflix earlier streamed a bevy of Perry’s movies, including Perry’s Mea Culpa, which stars Kelly Rowland and Trevante Rhodes.

“We couldn’t be more excited to expand our relationship with Tyler Perry Studios. Tyler and DeVon have created some of the most inspiring movies in the faith-based space, so they are perfect partners to help us bring even more of these stories to our members,” Niija Kuykendall, VP of Netflix Film, said in a statement.

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