Father and son team Jason A. Farmer and Jason A. Farmer II plan to make BLP Film Studios the second largest Black owned movie studio in the U.SA., following in the footsteps of Tyler Perry.

Memphis, TN is already known worldwide for music. Now Black Lens Production (BLP) wants Memphis to be equally noted for film and television productions.

Father and son team Jason A. Farmer and Jason A. Farmer II want to “make Memphis  the international epicenter for producing films and projects led by Black and Brown creators on the production and directing side of those projects.” NBC’s short-lived Bluff City Law, starring Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Rogue One, Kevin Rosario in In the Heights) was set and filmed in Memphis. If this planned studio comes to fruition, more TV shows and movies might be filmed in Tennessee. Maybe the time travel movie Time Boys will finally escape post-production and be released.

BLP Film Studios is still in the planning stages.  June 10, 2021, the Land Use Control Board approved the zoning adjustments necessary to build “BLP Film Studios,” an 85-acre production facility in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, not far from Elvis Presley’s Graceland. Despite the name, Whitehaven is a primarily African-American community in south Memphis, not far from the state line with Mississippi.

Farmer, Sr. is a business executive and a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, but has no experience in filming or TV production. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported he and his son hope BLP “will attract investors as film and TV companies work to address the “diversity, equality and inclusion” concerns that have sparked debate within the entertainment industry.”

-30-