Roger Bobb

By Toure Muhammad

As a youngster, Roger Bobb loved movies, but never thought he could make them. Today, with two hit shows on the air and seven films which have grossed over $300 million Bobb cannot imagine doing much else.

In the late 1980’s, Bobb never dreamed about filmmaking as a career until he watched Brooklyn-based filmmaker Spike Lee’s movieShe’s Gotta Have It. “I knew I loved film and television. I always had a passion for it, but at that point, I was this young black kid in New York and I thought film was something white people did in Hollywood, far, far away,” he said in an exclusive Bean Soup interview. “I never really thought I’d get involved with it. Then Spike Lee came and just blew that out the water.”

Initially, he was a paralegal and destined for corporate America. But while out of town on work, Bobb saw the production of a film and stood mesmerized for three hours watching the entire process. “I can do that,” he told himself. Unable to immediately attend film school, he read as many books as he could find, and then shot his first film which starred a then unknown Hill Harper. Well, when the law firm he was working for found out, they fired him. Getting fired allowed him to focus on his passion.

Bobb seized an opportunity as one of six applicants chosen into the Directors Guild of America’s Assistant Director Trainee Program. For two years he received guidance from some of Hollywood's top directors such as Woody Allen, Robert Altman, and James Mangold.

After completing the program, Bobb worked as an assistant director on over forty feature films and then he went on to become the only person in the history of the American Black Film Festival to twice receive the “Best Film” Award. Bobb’s hard work ethic and passion for film proceeded to capture the attention of the industry’s elite, including renowned casting director and producer Reuben Cannon. In 2005 Bobb teamed with Cannon and joined Tyler Perry who was building a formidable following through DVD and Internet sales of his plays. Perry was looking for a team to turn his playDiary of a Mad Black Womaninto a film. With Bobb’s film experience, and a shared passion for portraying positive African-American stories on film, he made a perfect fit. Together, they are building on a brand that Perry started with his stage plays.

“Everyone has the right to make the kind of film they want to make. We choose to make these kinds of films. It is not to say that other people cannot make the kind of films they want, i.e.Boys in the Hood, Menace to Society, Crash, etc. Those films are valid expressions of our art. What we are saying is this is what we believe. We want to put positive images of African Americans on film and we want to shoot films that have redeeming social and family values and have a message because that is what is in his, Tyler Perry’s heart,” explained Bobb. “We are not apologizing for them because one, we believe in them, two they are successful and three, there is nothing negative about making a film which preaches values of faith, family love and redemption. Whether or not you like him or like his movies, you cannot not like the message that we are giving.”

Over the last five years Bobb, Cannon and Perry have achieved unprecedented results. With an investment of a $5.5-million dollar budgetDiaryopened at No. 1 at $21,905,089 (a whopping $14,771 per screen) and has grossed over $100-million dollars in theatrical and DVD sales to date. Bobb worked with Perry again, and served as a Co-producer onMadea's Family Reunion, which opened to box office records at $30-million and was the No. 1 for two straight weeks, and also grossed over $100-million dollars in theatrical and DVD sales and rentals. The trio has gone on to produce an astonishing seven films in four years with six of the films opening at No. 1 or No. 2 at the box office.

In 2008, Bobb received an NAACP Image Award for producingTyler Perry's House of PayneTV series which debuted as the highest rated first-run sitcom in basic cable television history and is the executive producer for the second hit sitcomMeet The Browns; He is currently preparing for the filming/production of two new movies,Why Did I Get Married Too, andI Can Do Bad All By Myself(formerly known asBethesda).

Most recently, Perry created34th Street Films to help other film makers get their messages across, but do not necessarily fit the Tyler Perry brand, explained Bobb. “We purchased a film in conjunction with Lions Gate and Harpo calledPush.It’s based on a novel. It’s one of the most powerful and emotional films you have ever seen. They are going to give Monique, yes Monique, an Academy Award because she just does an incredible job. It has won several awards at Sundance and we picked it up and it will be released at the end of the year. It is Rated R and tells the story about life in the inner city through the eyes of a 16-year-old.”

Take that law firm.