For has ordered to pilot director Lee Daniels’ collaboration with his The Butler writer, Danny Strong, and super producer Brian Grazer – a hip hop drama series titled Empire.

The project, which reportedly sparked a bidding war among the 4 major broadcast networks last year, has received a pilot commitment from FOX, and is described as a drama series about a family-run hip-hop empire.

Danny Strong will pen the pilot script, which Lee Daniels will direct, with Strong, Daniels, Grazer and Francie Calfo executive producing. 

If the series is eventually picked up to series by FOX, or another network, it’ll mark Lee Daniels’ initial foray into episodic TV. 

I’m actually intrigued by the premise, so let’s see how this goes.

Daniel’s next big screen project will likely be his Janis Joplin biopic, the long-in-development project titled Get It While You Can, which Amy Adams is attached to star in.