By Karen Stokes
Eric Haywood
From writing screenplays to directing and producing movies and music videos, Milwaukee native Eric Haywood has built an impressive resume.
The most recent addition to his career is writing for the powerful family, musical drama “Empire”.
Empire, which debuted in January was co-created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong who also collaborated on the movie “The Butler”.
The runaway hit show centers around the Lyon family headed by Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) who runs the hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Enterprises.
Along with his ex-wife Cookie (Taraji P Henson) and their three sons, the family tackles illness, betrayal, homosexuality and bipolar disorder.
“The family is the spine of the show. I love the idea of seeing a Black family on TV dealing with these issues,” Haywood said. “These aren’t necessarily Black issues, they’re universal human issues.”
Born and raised on Milwaukee’s north side, Haywood 44, attended Custer High School,( presently known as Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education).
It’s been awhile since he’s hung out in Milwaukee.
“It’s a little heartbreaking that Capitol Court and Northridge don’t exist anymore, I feel pieces of my childhood are being erased,” Haywood said.
But Milwaukee was where his career began.
“This may sound corny but I feel like I always was a writer. It was more like I became aware that this was always my passion,” Haywood said.
“Between my junior and senior year in high school, I realized there were schools for filmmaking, writing and directing. When I realized that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) had a film program, it was like a match made in heaven.”
While attending UW-M, he directed videos and wrote screenplays in his spare time consciously preparing himself for a career as a filmmaker.
After graduating with a BA in filmmaking, Haywood relocated to Atlanta in 1994, where he directed and produced music videos for artists including Usher, Outkast, New Edition, Cee-lo Green and Bootsy Collins.
In 1999, Haywood moved to Los Angeles and focused on writing.
“One of my screenplays opened doors for me in television and I was offered my first job as a writer on “Soul Food: The Series” for Showtime,” Haywood recalled. “I’ve been writing for TV ever since.”
Writing for television led to other noteworthy projects including the NBC drama “Hawaii” and Executive Producer Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama “Private Practice”. Then came “Empire”!
On acquiring the coveted job on the “Empire” writing team, Haywood explains, “Every summer, networks meet with writers for the fall schedule.
There’s roughly 100 writing jobs with 1000 writers competing. In my case, my background in the music business helped me stand out.”
According to Nielsen TV Ratings, “Empire” has grown in total viewership since its premiere from 9.90 million to over 14.2 million viewers last week. Fans are clamoring for some information on season two.
There are even rumors that Denzel Washington will guest star on an episode next season.
“I can’t address rumors,” he said. ‘We haven’t written season two yet, possibly in April. One thing I can tell you, the season one finale is going to be amazing.”
“Empire” airs at 8 p.m. on Wednesday nights on FOX 6 and Milwaukee has been watching.
“I’ve been told Milwaukee has really embraced the show,” Haywood said.
“I can’t thank Milwaukee enough for supporting “Empire.”