Ms. Pat at BET+, and discovered its writer, Brooklyn playwright Jordan E. Cooper, at a show at New York s Public Theater. With the success of
Empire, he has a seat at the table now and wants to open that door for up-and-coming diverse voices, says Marc Velez, president of television at Lee Daniels Entertainment. He s got great taste, and he can tap into the zeitgeist before all of us see it.
Daniels found time to direct a feature for the first time since
The Butler in 2013, he says, partly because
Empire and its spinoff,
Star, have ended. Another planned
Empire spinoff featuring Taraji P. Henson s character has been shelved, he says. It s time to move on, Daniels says. We did it with