Fox is capitalizing on the hit show status of hip hop drama “Empire” that films at Cinespace, with season two 30-second spots selling for around $500,000, and sometimes even higher, according to media buyers.
Spots on the Sept. 23 premiere are sold out and ad time for the season finale is said to be almost filled.
“People will love the show even more,” said director Lee Daniels at “Empire’s” recent Vanity Fair launch party in New York. “There’s fashion! Sex! Intrigue! Fights! Catfights with weave pulling and pearls falling all over the floor.”
The series will focus less on Cookie and Lucious’ opulent life and more about how they grew up in the ghetto,” said Daniels. “Their family and friends who are still there, their sense of loss and what becoming successful financially does to your headspace,” said Daniels.
“To me, you’re that same person. Just because I’m wearing ostrich-skin Gucci shoes right now, doesn’t change the fact that I was once the guy from the ghetto. People are the same from where they come from and we are showing that with Cookie and Lucious.”
An expanding cast of characters include Marisa Tomei in a surprising role.
