Singer Mary J. Blige and actor-director Tyler Perry are among the luminaries that The BET Network plans to celebrate at their second annual BET Honors.

The successful filmmaker and the R&B queen are set to join Magic Johnson, dance pioneer Judith Jamison, style guru B. Smith and South Carolina Congressman James E. Clyburn on Jan. 17.

The awards will air on the network Feb. 7. They are part of BET’s festivities for the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. BET is putting on its first inaugural ball that will air on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

The woman who claimed Perry stole her ideas to create “Diary” movie lost her case:

A woman who accused actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry of stealing material from her play for his movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” lost her federal lawsuit against the entertainer on Tuesday.

Jurors in the East Texas town of Marshall found Donna West did not present evidence that supported her claim of copyright infringement.

In the lawsuit filed in May 2007, West argued that Perry lifted material her “Fantasy of a Black Woman.” The play was performed three times in 1991 in Dallas and West contended Perry could have gained access to the script in 1998 when he presented his plays at the Dallas Black Academy of Arts and Letters.

Perry, who testified during the trial, insisted that his screenplay is an original work. His work on the film gained him several awards and nominations.

“We are very pleased that the jurors understood that Tyler Perry is an incredibly talented person who has no need to copy the work of others,” attorney Veronica Lewis said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Attorneys for West plan to seek a new trial.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed. We thought we’d made our case,” said Willie Briscoe, one of West’s attorneys. “I believe that we conclusively demonstrated that Mr. Perry had access to Ms. West’s work, that there were striking similarities between her work and his work.”

Aside from Perry, West sued the actor’s company, Tyler Perry Inc., because it sells the movie online and by mail. West also filed suit against Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc., which funded and distributed the film.

West, who lives in North Texas, asked for damages and profits made from Perry’s 2005 film, which earned some $50 million in theaters.

Perry, Steve Harris, Kimberly Elise and Shemar Moore star in the movie, which focuses on a woman whose grandmother helps her after she’s dumped for a younger woman by her husband.

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Tyler Perry took the stand in the copyright infringement lawsuit against him to explain his side of the story:

Donna West is suing Perry in federal court, arguing that Perry stole the idea for “Diary Of A Mad Black Woman” from a script she wrote titled “Fantasy of a Black Woman,” which was based primarily on her own experiences. She wants a jury to award her family all the profits made from Perry’s 2005 film, which earned some $50 million.

He insisted that his screenplay is an original work, but under questioning by West’s attorney, said he did not know whether anyone actually saw him write the script, The Marshall News Messenger reported for its Thursday editions.

Perry’s attorney said that his client doesn’t have an original copy of his script because he sends all of his work to the Library of Congress for a copyright.

West’s attorney, Aubrey “Nick” Pittman, suggested that Perry copied ideas from other movies and incorporated them into his box office hit. He asked Perry whether he had taken concepts from “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “The Color Purple,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” and Martin Lawrence’s role in “Big Momma’s House.”

“I never stole anything from anybody - never,” Perry said, locking his eyes with the jury.

Jurors on Tuesday watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West’s play which was performed in 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center.

L.D. Dabney, an associate of West and a theater arts enthusiast of the Dallas area, testified earlier Wednesday that when he first saw Perry’s film in July 2006, he thought it was based on West’s play because he knew what was going to happen from one scene to the next.

Testimony will resume Thursday.

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Tyler Perry went to court to face allegations that he stole material from someone else for his blockbuster film “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

Donna West is suing the actor-screenwriter for copyright infringement in U.S. District Court and wants a jury to award her family all profits made from the film.

“I can’t put my play on because the stories are basically the same and nobody wants to see that again,” she said.

West testified Tuesday that she developed a script titled “Fantasy of a Black Woman” based primarily on her own experiences. With her in the starring role, the play was performed in July 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center.

“The play was opened to the public. Anyone could have attended,” West said.

Perry’s movie, which earned some $50 million, came out in 2005. Jurors on Tuesday watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West’s play.

In her opening remarks to the jury, Perry’s attorney, Veronica Lewis, said her client is an “immensely talented” individual “who has no need whatsoever” to use the materials of others.

Lewis noted that Perry had experienced considerable success before and after the film, “so why would he need to copy Ms. West’s script?”

Testimony was expected to resume Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis told jurors he anticipates the case will be completed by next Tuesday.

Source

A jury was selected in Marshall’s federal court this week to hear a copyright infringement case against Tyler Perry of Atlanta, Ga.

The playwright, actor and film director is probably best known for his comic female character, Madea.

Jurors have been instructed to return 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, to hear evidence before U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis.

Perry was present, under heavy security, for Tuesday’s jury selection process. Reports are that his appearance was deliberately kept secret.

The Marshall News Messenger was told of the matter Friday by a local resident who knew someone who was a part of the jury pool.

The lawsuit was filed May 21, 2007, on behalf of Donna West, who is described in the document as “residing within the state of Texas.”

Ms. West’s Dallas attorneys claim Perry’s film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” was “copied largely from plaintiff’s copyrighted script.”

Ms. West is suing Perry individually and doing business as Tyler Perry Company, Tyler Perry Company Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Inc.

Perry’s attorneys, of Longview and Los Angeles, have filed answers to the lawsuit, denying all allegations of copyright infringement.

The answers say “the materials claimed … to have been copied from plaintiff’s work are not protected by copyright law because they are ideas, facts, conventions or clich?s of story-telling, script-writing or movie-making.”

Furthermore, Perry’s attorneys say “defendants were not aware and had no reason to believe that their acts constituted an infringement of copyright” because “defendants’ motion picture was created independently of plaintiff’s allegedly copyrighted script.”

The answers also claim Ms. West has no recourse under the Copyright Act because of her “failure to register her work prior to the alleged infringement.”

Lions Gate Entertainment “participated in funding, releasing and distributing the film” in February 2005, Ms. West’s complaint says.

It also states Ms. West “created an original script” entitled “Fantasy of a Black Woman” in November 1990 and “performed the script in a play in Dallas” in July 1991.

She obtained a copyright certificate for her musical on March 20, 2006.

Ms. West is asking the jury to grant her pay for “actual damages, plus the amount of defendants’ profits attributable to the infringement.”

She is also seeking “prejudgement and post judgement interest” and “reasonable attorney fees and costs of court.”

The lawsuit also asks that the defendants ” be enjoined during this action and permanently …. from publishing, selling, marketing, or otherwise disposing of any copies of the infringing material.”

Ms. West’s attorney are also asking the court to have Perry “deliver to be impounded” and “for destruction all infringing copies and all plates, molds, electronic files and other matter for making infringing copies.”

Ms. West is represented by Aubrey “Nick” Pittman of The Pittman Law Firm, and Joe Kendall, Willie Briscoe and Hamilton Lindley of Provost Umphrey Law Firm, both of Dallas.

Perry and his companies are represented by Rickey L. Faulkner of Longview and Louis P. Petrich of Leopold, Petrich & Smith of Los Angeles.

“Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” stars Kimberly Elise, Shemar Moore, Cicely Tyson, Steve Harris, and Perry, who plays Madea in the film.

A Web site describes the movie as “a mix of comedy and drama,” based on Perry’s “immensely popular” play by the same name.

It tells of an Atlanta woman’s heartbreak when her husband of 18 years announces he wants a divorce and literally throws her out of their mansion to make room for the other woman.

The star “finds that the tragic events of her life soon become comic, especially with the guidance and help \- mostly unsolicited \- of her pot-smoking, gun-toting, and much beloved, grandmother figure, Madea,” the Web site says.

Perry, 39, began his writing career in 1992 by keeping a journal, “in part to cope with the repercussion of abuse,” his Web site says.

He developed characters to voice different ideas in the journal, with this work eventually becoming the musical, “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” about adult survivors of child abuse, the site says.

“Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” which follows a working-class, African-American household of three family generations, ran briefly on television in the spring of 2006.

He also stars in “The Tyler Perry Show.”

In February 2008 Perry announced he would soon be creating a “kid friendly” animated TV show featuring Madea, the Web site says.

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Tyler Perry unveiled a new multimillion-dollar TV and film studio Saturday on 30 acres in southwest Atlanta.

His renewed commitment to the city came after he once flirted with departing. Perry said he had considered leaving Atlanta for good after neighbors complained about noise and traffic at his old studio in a neighborhood close to downtown.

“Even though it was a studio there for 15 years, there was a lot of resistance in everything I was doing,” Perry said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press earlier in the week. “I was thinking about leaving at one point, but this is home for me.”

His new Tyler Perry Studios contains more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space in an area that once housed Delta Air Lines’ finance, reservation and computer center. It was vacant when Perry found it.

The guest list included Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Hank Aaron and Whitney Houston. R&B singer Mary J. Blige was to perform.

Perry, 39, said the studio features five sound stages that will be named after Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson - with one still unnamed. He will shoot his TBS sitcoms “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns” along with other film projects at the studio.

Perry said he knew the new location would be an improvement. His old building was on property zoned commercial, but the street next to it is residential.

“I knew spiritually I was in the wrong place,” said Perry, whose projects include “Tyler Perry’s the Family That Preys.”

“You can never be upset with the people who forced you into your dream or up higher,” he said. “They forced me out into a higher situation. It’s worked out much better for me.”

Perry drew criticism from the Writers Guild of America, West, after Perry fired four writers from “House of Payne” earlier in the week. A guild spokeswoman said in an e-mail Saturday that the four, along with supporters, planned to picket Sunday morning at Perry’s Atlanta home.

Four writers involved with a Writers Guild of America organizing effort at writer-director-producer Tyler Perry’s cable TV show “House of Payne” have been fired.

The production company says they were fired for cause, but the union said Thursday that they were dismissed because they were involved in the organizing effort. The WGA West plans to picket Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta when the facility opens the weekend of October 3.

The guild claims that the problems began in April when the writers — Kellie Griffin, Christopher Moore, Teri Brown-Jackson and Lamont Ferrell — were among seven scribes seeking to negotiate a first WGA contract with Perry’s production company, House of Payne. The company produces “House of Payne” and the upcoming TBS show “Meet the Browns.” No contract has been signed.

Perry’s attorney, Matt Johnson, said that the four were fired because of poor work performance. Griffin, Moore, Brown-Jackson and Ferrell had worked on more than 100 episodes of Perry’s TBS series, now syndicated on Fox. The three remaining writers were asked to stay on, and two did.

“We continue to work toward a resolution of their contract,” Johnson said.

The WGA has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the four were fired unjustly and that Payne’s company bargained in bad faith.

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This is a sneak peek into Tyler Perry’s forthcoming comedy “Madea Goes to Jail”. This trailer is less than a minute long and it focuses on the arrest of Mabel “Madea” Simmons. Surrounded by the authorities from land and air, she somehow makes the effort hard for them.

The film focuses its story on Madea whose trouble making puts lands her in jail. This time, she will try to rescue the character Candy who is played by Cosby star Keshia Knight Pulliam. Candy is a fellow inmate who becomes the subject of bully by a large woman named Big Sal. The film also stars Vanessa Ferlito, Sofia Vergara, Derek Luke, Keke Palmer and others. It has been set to be released on February 20, 2009.

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For a few minutes on Tuesday morning, relief finally flickered across the face of Hosea Feed the Hungry executive director Elisabeth Omilami.

For weeks, the Atlanta charity started in 1971 by Omilami’s father, civil rights icon Hosea Williams, has battled bare shelves. There’s been a steady uptick in folks needing food from the nonprofit as the economy has headed further and further south.

But Tuesday morning, Atlanta director/writer/producer/actor Tyler Perry showed up with a Publix truck full of food to feed more than 1,000 families for two weeks.

“When you feed the hungry, you become that job,” Omilami told Buzz. “It follows you home every night. So many people are struggling just to pay their rent and put gas in their cars right now. It’s wonderful to have Tyler stand with us again as he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He understands our needs because he’s been there.”

Perry joked with the assembled media pointing cameras at him as he maneuvered a large hydraulic hand truck loaded down with a pallet of spring water. “The Family That Preys” director was inspired to make the donation after seeing the empty shelves on TV during a report on the donation-challenged charity last week on WSB-TV’s news.

“[WSB reporter] Carol Sbarge just showed up last week,” Omilami recalled. “We didn’t call her. And then Tyler saw the piece and decided to act. It’s faith that gets you through situations like this.”

Perry, casually dressed in jeans, a blue shirt and matching Braves cap, gamely constructed boxes as he helped Omilami pack up the donations of green beans, stew and other staples.

The actor said the charity was close to his heart because he’s been out on the street himself.

“I can’t imagine being in that position right now, especially with children,” Perry said, shaking his head. “If more people who are in my position or corporations who are in an even better situation all do their share, we could help a lot of people in need right now.”

Still, Omilami knows one exceptionally generous donation won’t single-handedly solve the problem.

“People can’t forget about the working poor right now,” she said. “They need us more than ever.

The world would be a much better place if more people cared about being a humanitarian. Seems that people are concerned with animals here more than other human beings.

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Things got so contentious between Tyler Perry Studios and its Inman Park neighbors last year, the Atlanta filmmaker considered moving his multi-million dollar film and television empire out of his adopted hometown.

“When we were in Canada shooting ‘[Tyler Perry's] Why Did I Get Married?’ I talked about moving the entire operation,” Perry told the AJC Wednesday. “I was extremely angry.”

While the studio facility itself sits on property zoned as commercial, an adjacent street is residential. Perry’s studios employ 300 people, and he estimates that his multiple film and TV projects bring in $100 million to the metro area annually.

“The neighbors complain every day,” Perry said. “They call about the lights and the traffic and they call about the air conditioner being too loud. They were upset that I was trying to build a parking lot. Finally, I said, ‘OK, these people truly do not want me in this neighborhood.’ I absolutely feel that I was forced to go to another place.”

Perry says his staffers talked him out of leaving Atlanta.

The director has since found an expansive area on Continental Parkway near Greenbriar Mall in Southwest Atlanta and built a new multimillion dollar TV and film studio facility where he will shoot episodes of his TBS sitcoms “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns” and his future film projects. The director-writer-producer plans to move his operation to the new space in the coming weeks.

Cliff Bramble, who co-owns Inman Park eateries Rathbun’s, Kevin Rathbun Steak and Krog Bar, says he’ll miss Perry and his staff.

“They’re great neighbors,” Bramble told Buzz on Wednesday. “We’ll hate to see them leave. Tyler loves our lobster tacos. But maybe they outgrew the space here. He’s experiencing a lot of growth with everything he’s doing.”

Inman Park Neighborhood Association president Lisa Burnette said Wednesday: “In my tenure since June, the association hasn’t had any problem with the studio. I think this was more a case of individual neighbors taking issue with noise and traffic.”

Burnette added that when she chaired the Inman Park Festival in 2006 and 2007, Perry’s studio graciously loaned the use of its parking lot to festival vendors.

Perry, meanwhile, is delighted with his new neighborhood. On Sunday, he drove up to the property and saw a jogger picking up litter out front.

Said Perry: “She told me, ‘What you’ve done here is so beautiful. We’re so happy you’re in the neighborhood. We want you to know you’re welcome here. This is my little way of saying thank you.’”

Those dumb asses almost cost the city of Atlanta $100 million. I’m sure that once their taxes went up they would have been complaining. You don’t take away revenue like that. Also, why do people move to areas that are zoned commercial and then complain about the noise.

Source: http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/entertainment/stories/2008/09/03/tyler_perry_studios.html