Tyler Perry to live the dream at Natpe

Producer, director, actor and screenwriter Tyler Perry will keynote an event for students and young professionals on Martin Luther King Jr Day ahead of Natpe Miami in January.

Tyler Perry

The inaugural Living the Dream: A Career in Content event is being presented by Natpe in association with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA).

It will be held on Martin Luther King Jr Day, Monday January 21, 2019, one day before Natpe Miami 2019 starts, at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

The event is designed to assist students, young professionals and others with a desire to enter the entertainment and media industries to learn more about how their dreams can become a reality.

Both the NHFA and the NAACP are committed to raising awareness of diversity and inclusion in front of and behind the camera.

Perry will give the keynote address remarks followed by a panel headlined by CSI: Los Angeles’ Esai Morales; Benjamin Lobato, showrunner on USA’s Queen of the South; and Gloria Calderon Kellett, showrunner on Netflix’s One Day at a Time, as well as other leading talent, executives, producers and writers.

The final portion of the day’s presentations will be followed by a Celebration of Creativity, in which three students selected from the NAACP’s Hollywood Bureau film and education programme present story ideas dealing with diversity live onstage to a panel of industry-leading development executives.

Natpe president and CEO JP Bommel said: “This will be a very special day – a day to honour Martin Luther King Jr and to inspire and empower young people as they begin a career in entertainment and media. We are honoured to be presenting this event, headlined by Tyler Perry, and in association with two of the most respected organisations in America.”