Joining us on this edition of Cinemafile is Antoinetta Stallings, the Head of the MAXSCENE Division at Tyler Perry Studios, a new specialty division dedicated to expanding theatrical opportunities for filmmakers with distinctive voices. This new arm of Tyler Perry Studios will focus on creator-first and audience-focused projects that are unbound to any blueprint. Maxscene will develop, produce, and distribute films across various genres — giving storytellers the opportunity to build upon an established audience while forging one of their own.

The division is named in honor of Tyler Perry’s mother, Maxine Perry, whose belief in her son shaped the studio he would go on to build, and now, the storytellers it intends to champion. Antoinetta Stallings, Head of Development & Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios, will oversee the Maxscene division. A studio veteran, Stallings previously served as VP of Unscripted Programming, where she launched and led the studio’s joint venture with Pantheon Media Group — making Maxscene the second creative arm she has built at TPS from the ground up.

About the filmmaker – Antoinette (Hairston) Stallings – Antoinetta Stallings is an Emmy nominated producer and creative executive, currently serving as the Vice President of Development and Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios. Previously she held roles as producer and post producer on acclaimed projects with networks such as PBS, BET, Centric TV, ITV America, and A. Smith & Co. Productions. Stallings has built an impressive portfolio, starting as a producer for the Black Girls Rock Award show for BET. She went on to co-produce Crank That Vote, a project highlighting youth civic engagement, and served as supervising producer on the docu-series BEING on Centric. Notably, her short documentary The ATL Waterboyz received the Best Society Film award at the July 2023 Toronto Documentary Festival. She also served as Vice President of Unscripted at Tyler Perry Studios where she oversaw the end-to-end development and production of unscripted content. Other credits include Associate producer on TV series such as All the Queen’s Men, House of Payne, and Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living. Stallings was an Executive Producer on Sincerely, Love, a romantic dramedy, and a Creative Executive at Tyler Perry Studios for the film The Six Triple Eight, starring Kerry Washington.