Acclaimed director and screenwriter, Tyler Perry pleads with actors not to run billboard ads after Racquel Bailey places $2K billboard ads in Atlanta hoping to score acting work.
A well known screenwriter and director has pleaded with actors to stop taking out billboard ads in the hopes of working with him.
Tyler Perry, 49, shared a photo of a billboard featuring actress Racquel Bailey, 32, that read, ‘ATTENTION MR. PERRY Racquel Bailey Is Your Next Leading Lady.’
Perry shared the photo on his official Facebook page, but not to applaud the NJ based actress on her creative outreach.
‘Auhhh…. soooooo…… here’s the deal. This is not the way to get my attention if you’re looking for a role in one of my shows,’ Perry posted. ‘Please DON’T DO THIS, SAVE YOUR MONEY!! This is the third time that someone has done this. PLEASE STOP! To audition is FREE!! I’m sure you can use that money for a better purpose.’
He continued, ‘I love that you want to work with me, and I love that you invest in yourself. But when you do things like this it puts my team on high alert and makes me look at you sideways. I know the message that you want to send is a positive one, but this comes across as the opposite.’
‘Again, the best way to work for me is to AUDITION and it’s FREE! We post breakdowns all the time for actors. JUST COME AND AUDITION,’ he added.
He next directed his message to Bailey, telling her, ‘And by the way, you were great in THE NIGHT OF! It was my favorite show a couple years ago. I ALREADY SAW YOU!! So just audition and keep your money!! Again, I appreciate your effort, but that’s not the way to work for me. God bless you dreamer. I have no doubt you will make it one day!!’
Racquel Bailey actress: ‘I’ll do whatever I have to catch your attention….’
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bailey has starred in a handful of TV shows and short films, including The Jim Gaffigan Show and in two episodes of The Night Of, both of which aired in 2016.
The media outlet reports Bailey paying $2,000 for two billboards, with the first one appearing, May 6 and the second, May 7, near Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta in the hopes of getting the lauded director and screenwriter’s attention.
Despite Perry’s Facebook message, the actresses’ gambit paid off when a casting agent called her and she was granted an audition for a pilot show Perry is working on.
While Bailey hasn’t heard back yet, she told AJC she was excited by the opportunity.
‘I’m patiently waiting,’ she told the media outlet.
According to People, the ruse creative outreach isn’t the first time she’s payed for a billboard. She paid $1,400 seven years ago for a billboard near Perry’s first studio when she was looking for work.
That chance didn’t pay off, but the mom of two said she got the idea after watching Halle Berry in a HBO biopic, ‘Introducing Dorothy Dandridge’ whose message was that the way to catch an agent’s attention was to plaster her face on billboards.
‘I didn’t get the results I wanted the first time so as they say if you don’t succeed, try, try again,’ Bailey said.
In the time since the first billboard Bailey has taken acting classes, been in plays, and in 2016 even landed a recurring role on HBO’s critically acclaimed series The Night of.
As for why she was so focused on Perry, Bailey said, ‘He’s one of the best. His caliber of work is something that I can definitely see myself in.’
Because getting ahead in America is sometimes a matter of what you can afford and outwit ….
