EURweb |
TYLER PERRY’S ‘HOUSE OF PAYNE’ SOLD TO TBS AND FOX: Madea creator signs distribution deals said to be worth $200 million.
*Tyler Perry’s television show “House of Payne,” which was taken out for a test drive this summer in such cities as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago and Dallas, has inked distribution deals with TBS and Fox reported to be worth about $200 million.
The Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury sitcom sold 100 episodes to cable’s TBS, which will get exclusive rights to the show starting in June 2007. Beginning September 2008, four Fox-owned stations will have syndication rights for the series. Seventy-five episodes will be available to TBS by June, with 25 additional episodes to be ready by the time the Fox deal kicks in for fall 2008.
Perry decided to circumvent the five main networks by using his own money to produce a two-week test run of the sitcom in 10 major markets. The filmmaker decided to go this route after realizing that a network deal would mean he’d have to give up control and ownership of the series.
Debmar-Mercury, acquired in July by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp., paid for marketing costs and convinced the test stations to promote the show as though it were a regular series in exchange for getting the test episodes for free.
"We selected 10 stations across the country and we said, 'Let's let the audience choose and if they don't like it, fine,"' Marcus told the Hollywood Reporter. "This breaks a lot of barriers."
The ratings success of the test episodes allowed Debmar-Mercury to sign up TBS and WCIU-TV in Chicago for the first run, and News Corp.-owned Fox stations in New York, Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C. for syndication.
“Let me say thank you to all of you, especially to the ten cities who helped me with “House of Payne,” Perry wrote in his latest e-mail to fans. “Again, thank you to all my folks in, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, New York, Philly, Raleigh and D.C. You made this show work and now the rest of the country gets to see it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“House of Payne” stars Allen Payne as a member of a multi-generational family living under one roof.
.jpg)
