Creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong and showrunner Ilene Chaiken talked to BuzzFeed News about being at the helm of network TV’s biggest success story in years, how they made it happen, and their hopes for Season 2 (Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, and Spike Lee, to name a few).
Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) on Empire
Chuck Hodes / Fox
Artist Kehinde Wiley's naturalistic paintings of black people have been featured throughout the debut season of Fox's massive hit Empire, hanging on the lush walls of the tony pad and executive offices that belong to music legend Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). The Brooklyn-based artist is also friends with the series' creator Lee Daniels, whom he called one recent Wednesday night to ask him to skip watching his own show to instead hang out with some buddies of his.
"I said OK, because I'm just trying to get more art for next season. I'm willing to sell my soul!" Daniels joked to BuzzFeed News over lunch with fellow Empire creator Danny Strong and showrunner Ilene Chaiken. He headed downstairs and popped into Wiley's car, which was already filled with two other friends.
"One guy says, 'Lee … I'm Swizz Beatz. We met at Oprah's. I'm Alicia's husband,'" Daniels recalled.
And, once they got to his 11th Avenue music studio, Beatz — who's responsible for creating major hits for artists including Jay Z, Beyoncé, T.I., DMX, and Drake (and husband of 15-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys) — couldn't help himself. As Daniels recalled, Beatz leaned toward him and said: "Right now, I'm freaking out because I'm not seeing the show. I'm with you."
"I was like Cinderella going to the fucking ball," Daniels remembered.
Beatz is just one of an ever-increasing number of fans that Empire, which chronicles the salty and delicious behavior of a successful hip-hop family, has amassed since it premiered in January. (Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes is another.)
Daniels, Strong, and Chaiken have all grown accustomed to a very uncommon practice for anyone working in television these days: When they wake up on Thursday mornings, they see just how much higher their series' ratings are than the week before, a history-making feat. Last week, Empire brought in 14.7 million viewers, helping it become the biggest network hit in years. "I am still surprised," Daniels admitted. "Are you kidding me?! I sit by my phones on Thursday morning, nauseous."
Bryshere Gray, Jussie Smollett, Trai Byers, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, creator Lee Daniels, creator Danny Strong, showrunner Ilene Chaiken, and Francie Calfo, the head of Imagine Television (the studio that produces Empire), during the Empire panel at the 2015 TCA winter press tour
Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
The premise for Empire — the power struggles and opulence of the hip-hop world — came from Strong, who, Daniels joked several times over lunch, is so entrenched in black culture that he's a black man passing for white. The two have built a dynamic over the past few years since collaborating on 2013's The Butler, which Strong wrote and Daniels produced and directed. While working on the film, Strong brought the seedlings of what became Empire to producer Brian Grazer, hoping to turn it into another film. He also mentioned it to Daniels, who, as a fan of '80s primetime soaps, thought the concept would work better on television. Soon enough, Empire was a go.
But they needed someone to run the series day in and day out. Enter Chaiken, who is best known for creating the groundbreaking series The L Word, which centered on an underrepresented group of people in Hollywood: gay women. Now, with Empire, Chaiken is breaking boundaries with another marginalized population in Hollywood.
"Ilene was the perfect showrunner. L Word was so compelling and groundbreaking," Strong said. "We're all interested in talking about social issues and social justice. It makes the work more interesting. And I think that's what happening with Empire."
"This story is not just the African-American dream," Daniels added. "But the American dream."
On Empire, the visualization of that dream is former couple Cookie and Lucious Lyon — played by Oscar nominees Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard — who used drug money to help fund Lucious' burgeoning music career in the midst of the hip-hop/pop crossover music boom of the late '90s. Just as Lucious' career was about to catch fire, Cookie was busted in a drug deal and ended up serving 17 years in prison, leaving Lucious to raise their three sons — Andre (Trai Byers), Jamal (Jussie Smollett), and Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray). When the series begins, Cookie is newly freed from jail and reimmersing herself in her family members' lives, which couldn't be more different than the one she left behind: Lucious has found the type of success as a musician, producer, and businessman that he and Cookie couldn't have dreamed up in their down-and-out days.
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