Opening February 13 on NETFLIX, Film Commission client Tyler Perry’s Joe’s College Road Trip showcases the best of Memphis in 60 seconds!
Beale Street never looked better, and the Hernando de Soto Bridge is spectacular! Even some of the best of Memphis music is heard in the film – STAX and SUN recordings. Also, Bobby Rush performing “I Don’t Want Nobody Hangin’ Around” and “We Got That Thang,” performed by David Porter featuring Kevin Whalum, and written/produced by David Porter and Gary Goin.
In an effort to teach him about the real world, Madea’s brother Joe takes his grandson B.J. on a cross-country college road trip where tensions get high but life-changing lessons are learned. The hilarious and “R” rated road trip highlights Memphis along the way and takes the duo across Mississippi, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Mississippi receives more screen time than Memphis – with Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale in the spotlight. To no surprise to Tyler Perry fans, the laughs are non-stop!
Tyler Perry Studios President of Production Angi Bones has left Memphis and the Mid-South as a fan –
“It was truly a pleasure for our entire team to work with The Memphis & Shelby Co. Film Commission, the local cast and crew, and city officials of Clarksdale, Mississippi, along with the incredible local community. From the moment we landed in Memphis to our departure, we felt welcomed and highly supported. Memphis and Clarksdale were essential partners in the success of our shoot!”
According to Linn Sitler, Memphis & Shelby County Film Commissioner,
“Tyler Perry’s filming day in Memphis was very well prepped. Memphian Princeton James reached out to the Film Commission and its many resources the moment he was hired as Memphis Assistant Location Manager.”
"I love film and Tyler Perry is my inspiration! I wanted this to be perfect…and it was! This was a dream come true!”
This blog was written by Linn Sitler
- Memphis & Shelby County Film Commissioner since 1987. Longest consecutively serving Film Commissioner in the world.
- Prior entertainment career includes local and international broadcasting credits as producer, writer, and on-camera personality. Syndicated TV consumer travel reporter: 40 U.S. markets and Good Morning, Australia. Member of first Memphis TV crew to travel overseas on a shoot (WHBQ- TV’s PM Magazine: 1982). Has reported from Israel, Chile, Fiji Islands, China, Mexico, and the Netherlands.
- Honors graduate, Memphis Central High School. Cum laude graduate, U.T. Knoxville.
- M.A., TV/Film Concentration: University of Memphis. Is one of the first film commissioners in the world to achieve Association of Film Commissioners International Certification.
- Credited with turning Memphis into a movie and television center; co-creator of first significant Tennessee state production incentive in 2006. Honored by The Commercial Appeal that year as one of “12 Persons Who Made a Difference.”
- Credited with creating one of the first production wage refund training programs in the country in 2007.
- Credited with spearheading recruitment of all Memphis-based big budget productions BEFORE Tennessee even had a production incentive as a recruitment tool. Key in post-incentive recruiting of the television series CMT’s Sun Records, NBC-Universal’s tv series Bluff City Law and Young Rock. More recently, spearheaded recruitment of the Memphis portions of ABC’s Women of the Movement.
- During her tenure, hundreds of independent productions continue to be recruited and/or coordinated by The Memphis & Shelby County Film and TV Commission/Foundation Office – innumerable commercials, network tv episodes, corporate videos, webisodes, and other genres. With Sitler at the Commission helm, MovieMaker Magazine has selected Memphis fifteen times to its annual “Top Movie Cities” list.
- Recent awards include: Memphis Magazine “Who’s Who”; Memphis Business Journal “25 Superwomen of Memphis Business”; and Memphis Magazine “Power Players.”
- Selected by The Peabody Hotel for her name to be embedded in the sidewalk outside the hotel (2017); Selected Tennessee’s “Communicator of the Year” (2016); Honored by the Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis as a “Memphis Legend” (2016).
- Led Film Commission’s efforts to assist production community through grants and stipends during Pandemic.
