​Nothing could have prepared Lee Daniels for the breakout success of his Fox primetime soap opera Empire, the show’s creator and executive producer said Wednesday, but the hardest part was learning to work as part of a team.

“At first, I bucked the system, because I’m so used to going it alone,” he told the Hollywood Radio and Television Society’s Hitmakers Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton, while also acknowledging his partner on Empire, Danny Strong. “This wasn’t us fighting with Harvey Weinstein over a cut, this was a group of people, with many ideas, and I learned to collaborate.”

That sense of collaboration extends to the talent on the Number One new show on broadcast television, with some actors—namely star Taraji P. Henson—given a bit of creative license when it comes to how closely they must hew to the script.

“She’ll add a line or a word and make it sparkle,” Daniels said of Henson. “It has to be honest and it has to come from a place of truth. Sometimes they’re more aware of the truth than I am.”

Daniels was one of four show-runners at Wednesday’s event who collectively are responsible for five of the most acclaimed hits across broadcast, cable, and streaming: Sarah Treem (The Affair), Michelle King (The Good Wife), Noah Hawley (Fargo), and Jill Soloway (Transparent).

When moderator Stacey Wilson of The Hollywood Reporter asked each of them what they needed in order to write, Soloway was didn’t flinch.

“I used to say ‘marijuana’, but that’s not true anymore,” Soloway said as the ballroom erupted in laughter.

Daniels asked her if there was any truth to the claim that pot made one’s writing better.

“Pot doesn’t make it any better, it just makes you think it’s better,” Soloway said. “And either way you have to go back and fix it.”

She’s also prone to critiquing her work, even after its locked, edited, and shipped, and told the crowd that’s one reason she has never sat down to watch Transparent.

It’s really good,” Treem told her, eliciting another round of laughs from the room.

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