https://www.cbr.com/horrible-empire-fox-series/

Empire (https://www.cbr.com/tag/empire/) co-creator Lee Daniels speaks on his time working on the hit drama series and why he hated his experience behind the scenes.

Lee Daniels Clarifies Calling "Empire" his "Worst Experience"
by Shania Russell
September 24, 2024


Lee Daniels is walking back his comments about having "the worst experience" while making the hit Fox drama, "Empire".

The acclaimed filmmaker recently joined Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM radio show, where he clarified that his issues with the project were not about the show itself, but the experience of working under strict studio supervision.

“What I meant was, the worst experience because all of my films have been independently financed,” Daniels explained. “It was the first time that I was taking notes from anybody.”




The writer-director said, "You have to understand, no one gave me notes to do anything” and added that the experience was ultimately quite “jarring.”

That said, Daniels went on to say said that "things really changed" over the course of the show's six season run.




“You have to understand, when Empire was around, there weren't any Black writers in any rooms. There weren't any Black directors on television,” Daniels said. “There wasn't Black Panther, there wasn't Insecure, there wasn't any of that. So we were learning as we were growing.”

He continued, “There were all these rules and Black people were not able to be employed creatively because the system was not for us, so it was a bit of a struggle. I think that I had a great experience with them and they really understood that things had to change.”

Overall, Daniels concluded, “It was challenging for me. It was a nightmare in the beginning, but then it was great.”

https://ew.com/lee-daniels-clarifies-empire-was-worst-experience-8717735