Our Work

For a private client's 50th birthday party, Empire staged an elaborate and lavish full-day murder mystery at one of the world's top five resorts, and former Rockefeller country estate, The Point Resort in Saranac Lake, NY. The mystery was based on "Gosford Park" and entitled 'Foul Play at the Point.' A cast of 10 professional actors, 20 guests (who each had their own custom-written role), dozens of authentic period costumes and the use of many historically accurate props such as a working Victrola & original 78's, classic cars, lake boats, as well as live performances of 20's jazz, set the scene convincingly in the 1920s. The 12 hour murder mystery included a shooting party, a luncheon, a 'murder' and a surprise-filled dinner at which nothing was as it seemed and the mystery was solved.

When client J. P. Morgan held a special family premiere event at SONY Lincoln Plaza cinemas for the release of the first Harry Potter film, Empire was contracted to create a magical, thematic reception at the adjoining Reebok Sports Club for 600 people. For this parents & children event, Empire created a custom entry façade of THE HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY. Once inside Empire designed, produced and staffed a series of children's craft & magic areas which included a "Design your own Magic Wand," station and an area where children could learn to do sleight-of-hand magical illusions themselves. Thematic Buffet Decorations that included clusters of magic wands, wizard hats, volumes of books, owls, golden chalices, eyeglasses, quidditch, broomsticks, the Invisible Cloak, and the Sorting Hat. Empire also provided an entry façade that guests passed through on their way into the movie theater.

Empire often works with clients like J. P. Morgan to create exciting and innovative customer loyalty events that have a real, positive impact on our client's bottom lines.

For the Automobile Club of America's annual delegates meeting, Empire partnered with Ronnie Davis Productions and caterer Great Performances to co-produce a remarkable evening of entertainment designed to complement the historic surroundings of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. As guests arrived via ferry, they were greeted by a group of children waving flags of many nations. At cocktails, guests were entertained by a stride pianist dressed in sleeve garters and suspenders playing music from the early twentieth century. Upstairs in the main hall, guests entered to a sumptuous dinner for 600 and were greeted by a singing choir of 30 members onstage. The choir then harmonized to support a dramatic reading of the 1883 Emma Lazarus poem "The New Colossus" that is engraved on the Statue of Liberty ("Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."). Following the dinner, guests enjoyed an uplifting performance by Irish Tenor, Ronan Tynan, who sang songs about the immigrant experience and concluded with a rendition of God Bless America with the backing of the choir that brought the audience to their feet to sing along.

At a worldwide meeting of all SONY executives in Yokohama, Japan LUMA was included to create a spectacle of illumination for the opening and closing of the general session. LUMA utilized Ten foot wings with illuminated leading edges to create giant "fans" of light. LUMA also incorporate the SONY logo in a routine in which the logo was projected onto giant moving silk flags. The non-verbal nature of LUMA'a routines make them ideal for international audiences from the world over.

For the fourth consecutive year, Empire partnered with Kaleidoscope Productions to contract the talent and related production logistics for the annual dealer meeting of one of the world's largest automotive companies. This year's meeting was held at the Los Angeles Staples Center, and Empire's mission was to secure acts of the highest caliber to fill the roles of host/emcee, concert headliner, and star of the short films played during the general sessions. The talent had to reflect the client-established Academy Awards theme, exceed the expectations of senior management, and be consistent with the company's conservative culture. The result - Billy Crystal's clean, yet witty comedy and interactive repartee as host/emcee was rivaled only by an awesome 90-minute concert by international musical superstar Phil Collins.

The short films, featuring multitalented film and television star Jim Belushi, were extremely well received. As a last-minute addition, Empire arranged for comedian Kevin Nealon who in tandem with Billy Crystal, brought down the house with a hysterical performance satirizing Arnold Schwarzenegger. When it comes to securing the world's best known talent, more corporations turn to Empire Entertainment than any other firm.

Working with leading event designer Colin Cowie, Empire Entertainment helped to produced Instyle Magazine's book launch of Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry at prestigious auction house Christies with a party and charity auction benefiting the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. In addition to providing audio and visual support, Empire created multiple digital projection presentations of the jewels up for auction, including images from Elizabeth Taylor's book. Among the many notable celebrities in attendance, Sir Elton John introduced Elizabeth Taylor, who presided and bid on several of the jewels herself, at one point bidding against Caroline Rhea. To accommodate the last minute request by the client, Empire secured a camera crew to provide image magnification and live feed to the many television news crews outside the venue. Empire has been privileged to work with Colin Cowie Lifestyle for many years.

After delivering Aerosmith in their first-ever corporate concert at a 2001 technology industry conference, Empire was challenged by the client to deliver an equally compelling concert event for 2002. Additionally, the concert would have to feature a world-class artist or artists that would draw both a domestic and international audience of over 5,000 people. Empire worked closely with the client's marketing department, and together determined that a demographically diverse, classically-American concert lineup would best achieve the objectives. Empire delivered an amazing double bill concert featuring platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winner John Mellencamp and soul legend Ray Charles who together provided the ideal mix of global and patriotic appeal, recognized hits, and the right tone to embody the post-9/11 American spirit.

Empire handled all contractual negotiations and worked on all production and travel logistics with both artists. The conference attracted more than the expected number of attendees, Mellencamp thrilled the audience with 75 minutes of back-to-back high-energy hits, and Ray Charles' closing rendition of "America the Beautiful" (accompanied by a multimedia montage of inspirational images) brought the audience to their feet.

Every year, a top global software and technology company brings together nearly 15,000 of its employees from around the world to attend its multi-day global summit. For this year's meeting held at both the New Orleans Convention Center and the New Orleans Superdome, Empire was contracted to secure all of the talent for the conference within the client's specific creative theme.To kick off this incredible meeting, Empire was challenged to deliver a performance that would capture the imagination of the attendees and introduce the overall meeting theme of recognizing and actualizing potential. Empire discovered and presented 10-year old prodigy violinist, Jeremy Cushman, who played an inspiring solo supported by video projection, aerialists, dancers, and spectacular pyrotechnics. This performance received a sustained standing ovation and exceeded the client's wildest expectations for setting the right tone for the meeting.

For this massive undertaking Empire also booked a wide variety of leading-edge talent including world-renowned technology illusionist Marco Tempest who opened general sessions to over 7,500 attendees, New Orleans-style jazz band The Flying Neutrinos performed the walk-in music, aerial troupe AntiGravity (who flew 4 performers up 150 feet over the heads of the astounded attendees), and for the 'All Night Party' multi-platinum rock group Sugar Ray performed a headline concert followed by a breakbeat dance set by UK artist DJ Rap.

For the 2nd consecutive year, Empire was privileged to work for one of the world's largest financial services companies on a client conference targeted towards Chief Financial Officers of major corporations. For this program, which was held in Chicago, IL, Empire was contracted to contribute a variety of creative elements that would add overall value to the conference. Empire provided elements ranging from design and construction of a general session set reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural work in Chicago, to the design, construction, and installation of a client resource center and email bank also inspired by concepts of architecture and design.

Empire was also responsible for producing two nights of Chicago-style entertainment. The first night featured the Second City sketch comedy & improvisation troupe and the second night was held at the Field Museum where The World Champion Trinity Irish Dancers performed and received multiple standing ovations. Empire also provided speakers for the conference including the Honorable Rudy Giuliani, Dr. John Sullivan and aging / demographics expert Dr. Ken Dychtwald. Empire was awarded this program for 2003, to be held in Las Vegas, NV.

For the release of a major motion picture with a CIA theme, Empire deftly navigated the sensibilities of post-9/11 New York, and simulated a CIA training environment at New York's Pier 88 Passenger Ship Terminal for the premiere party. The event, hosted by the filmmakers and attended by the movie's A-list stars, featured lighted map tables whose surfaces were enlarged, high resolution satellite reconnaissance imagery, a central bar featuring live and pre-selected digital surveillance imagery, guest activities that included martial arts training, polygraph testing, handwriting analysis, speed chess, and an authentic spy gear showcase where guests could try the latest in intelligence agency technology. For this high-profile event, Empire handled every aspect from venue selection, decor & design, to staging, sound, lighting, entertainment, and activities

Empire is a leading producer of motion picture premiere events.

Last Spring, Empire produced the national sales conference for over 1300 employees of a global financial services company at the Wyndham Anatole in Dallas, TX. For this most important annual program, Empire served as executive producer, responsible for all aspects of delivering two general sessions, eight breakout sessions, multiple awards programs and a banquet event and party. Achieving the right message for this conference was especially important as the client company sought to strike the right balance between focus on positive growth opportunities and acknowledgement of 9/11-related setbacks. Moreover, it was necessary to meet the challenge of delivering a conference of the highest quality consistent with past years' programs, with a greatly reduced budget. Empire's work on this program met all of our client's objectives and achieved very high ratings from attendees in terms of the value of content as well as the quality of execution. The success of this conference was instrumental in helping the client move beyond the recent difficulties, and to focus clearly on the opportunities of the future.

On June 11, 2002 Empire Entertainment produced for the 3rd year in a row, the Gerry Red Wilson Foundation Comedy Benefit Show in conjunction with The Toyota Comedy Festival at Town Hall in New York City. Each year, Empire works within the national comedy community to deliver the Toyota Comedy Festival's centerpiece show. The 2002 lineup featured performances by headline comedians including Dave Attell, Lewis Black, Jim Breuer, Eddie Brill, Adam Ferrara, Greg Fitzsimmons, Kevin Meaney, Patrice O'Neal, Colin Quinn, and Jon Stewart, with musical support by The Fenwicks.

Empire handled all talent booking, coordination, production & logistics for this public show, which has raised more than $100,000 for the Foundation. The Gerry Red Wilson Foundation is an organization dedicated to heightening awareness of and raising funds for research into a cure for meningitis.Empire is a leading producer of festival entertainment and is the industry leader in presenting comedians for corporate events.

As part of the First Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a star studded premiere charity screening of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was held at New York's Embassy Suites. The event, held to benefit the Children's Aid Society, was held immediately prior to the film's first New York screening and attracted over 1000 children and VIP guests including Natalie Portman, Denis Leary, Susan Sarandon and Michael J. Fox. For this event Empire provided a team of amazing face painters to transform children and adults into Star War characters as well as some of New York's top swordsmen and women who, costumed in authentic Jedi garb, did battle with real light sabers throughout the party on catwalks high above the event floor. Another highlight of the event planned and executed by Empire was the Jedi Training camp where the children were taught some authentic Jedi moves and received their very own light sabers upon graduation.

In May of 2002, Empire Entertainment produced the first-ever TriBeCa Family Festival, a major public outdoor street festival that was a central component of the TriBeCa Film Festival sponsored by American Express. Empire designed and executed virtually every aspect of the Family Festival, whose purpose was to revitalize economic and community activity in lower Manhattan's TriBeCa district post-9/11.

Presented in an area encompassing 10-city blocks in the heart of TriBeCa, Empire brought together an outstanding team who successfully produced the event, managing the wide-ranging issues and concerns of the community, local businesses, and over a dozen city agencies. Empire's production team designed, arranged, and coordinated all aspects of the event including permitting, tenting, staging, power distribution, sound, lighting, signage, decor, and security. The Family Festival drew over 100,000 attendees and involved the construction of 50 tents, including an activities tent (sponsored by MTV), an arts & crafts tent (sponsored by Barilla Foods), a reading room & story-telling tent (sponsored by Scholastic), a sports games tent, a carnival games tent (including displays by Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum), a community organizations tent, a community schools tent, a massive outdoor cafe area served by over a dozen neighborhood restaurants, speed chess, sidewalk chalk art, and a face-painting area among many other features and activities. The Festival also featured a main performance stage, several smaller performance stages, and more than 100 stage and street performers.

Highlights of the event included storytelling by Whoopi Goldberg, a martial arts performance by the USA Shaolin Temple, and an outdoor concert by Arista Recording Artist, Kelly Levesque. The Family Festival was instrumental in generating revenue and restoring a sense of community to TriBeCa, and was one of New York City's major event successes of 2002.

Empire is already organizing an even larger TriBeCa Family Festival for 2003.

For a global pharmaceutical firm, Empire booked and produced a perfect evening of beach music under starry Caribbean skies with musical legends the Beach Boys (featuring original members Mike Love and Bruce Johnson). The event took place on the remote island of St. John in the U. S. Virgin Islands where all staging, sound, lighting, power and band equipment had to be brought in by boat. At this wildly successful party, guests danced in front of the stage, on the sand and even in the water to all of the Beach Boys hits including "Good Vibrations," "Surfin' USA," "California Girls" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice." The client was thrilled with the show and the opportunity proves that Empire can work its magic even on difficult, foreign shores.

For the fourth year in a row, Empire Entertainment served as event producer for The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's Kids For Kids event. This star-studded event took place at New York's Wollman Rink, which is located in the heart of Central Park. For this large, upscale event, Empire designed and supervised every aspect of the production from tenting, staging, and entertainment, to permits, activities, and security. Empire took on the formidable challenges of heavy rains and flooding to make the show go on. The 2002 Kids for Kids event was attended by over 2,000 people and featured games and activities hosted by over 100 celebrities including Richard Gere, Zhang Ziyi (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Michael Douglas, Carmen Electra, Al Franken, Natalie Portman, Caroline Rhea, and many others. This year Empire booked the musical guest, J Records recording artist O-Town. In past years, Empire has delivered headliners including Mandy Moore, Eden's Crush and Destiny's Child.

Kids for Kids 2002 was chosen by industry publication BizBash as one of the Top 100 Events of 2002.

When a multinational computer company needed to find a special speaker with unique criteria for an incentive program in Hawaii, Empire worked with the company's chosen production company to identify an out-of-the ordinary choice that would far exceed the client's expectations. The speaker needed to appeal to employees throughout Asia but, if possible, would also have an American or Hawaiian connection. The client wanted the speaker to deliver a wow! factor but they also wanted a compelling and inspiring life story. Leveraging our connections in Japan, Empire was able to identify and deliver the highly respected, just-retired Sumo wrestling Yokozuna (Grand Champion), Akebono, to appear at the program. Akebono, an American (a Hawaiian native) and a sports celebrity in Japan on par with Michael Jordan in America, was a knockout with the hundreds of attendees, almost all of whom waited to greet the star personally after his speech. Empire is the industry's leading one-stop-shop for speakers of every genre and is the ideal resource when you are looking for 'Out-of-the-box' ideas that are hard to find on the 'usual suspects' speaker bureau lists.

In another example of creative cross-fertilization between industry-specific event forms and the fusion of Empire's creative, talent & production expertise, Empire produced a stunt-oriented fashion show for an automobile manufacturer to help them launch their new line of sportswear and accessories along with a new vehicle. The event was held in conjunction with the New York Auto Show at New York's notoriously challenging Jacob Javits Center. For this high-energy, one time only press event, aerial/acrobatic troupe Antigravity provided both audience thrills and the runway models to style the new line, Empire supervised all staging, sound, lighting, image projection, technical design & rigging, union labor negotiations, talent, stage management, music, costuming, choreography and special effects including a surprise vehicle reveal.

For the fourth consecutive year, Empire produced and staged the Twentieth Century FOX Retail Summit at the St. Regis Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. This year's program included a keynote presentation by movie icon Shirley Temple Black and a live performance by world-renowned ice sculptors Fear No Ice that was inspired by the FOX animated feature Ice Age. Empire was again successful in delivering a conference that greatly exceeded the expectations of our clients, managing every aspect from program development, staging, sound, lighting, video and creative design, to décor, onsite management and logistics. A leading global producer of filmed entertainment, Twentieth Century FOX repeatedly turns to Empire Entertainment for assistance with their business communications productions.

When 20th Century Fox sought to use a segment on the Today Show featuring original M*A*S*H* motion picture actors Elliot Gould, Tom Skerret and Sally Kellerman to promote the DVD release of the M*A*S*H* movie, Empire was hired to create a background for the segment. Working with limitations such as a small space on the Today Show set and an extremely short amount of set-up time, Empire created a realistic and convincing background that properly set the stage for the interview and created a visual that helped FOX to accomplish the promotion it sought. The Today Show segment aired on January 9, 2002.

When 20th Century Fox released the DVD version of their critically acclaimed film Moulin Rouge, they called upon Empire to create an engaging, interactive and exciting environment in which they could give the media a first-hand introduction. Utilizing a series of guest rooms on a single floor of New York's Morgans hotel, Empire created highly detailed vignettes depicting various scenes from the film. Media guests were treated to stimulating visual feast as they moved from room to room to experience and view the special features of the Moulin Rouge DVD.As the elevator doors opened on the Moulin Rouge floor, press members were greeted by costumed courtesans who escorted them to the reception salon and then to each of the six viewing rooms as follows: The Entrance, the Reception Salon, the Writer's Garret, Sateen's Boudoir, the Producer's Office, the Spectacular Spectacular Backstage, the Absinthe Bar, and the Moulin Rouge. At the end of their tour, guests were invited to conduct a one-on-one interview with the film's director, Baz Luhrman in a final, richly-appointed suite.

When the CEO of a top beverage company sought to entertain his top executives, they turned to Empire to deliver the right, all-American entertainment. The event was to be held at a private home in Greenwich, CT, just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The entertainment was to be an after-dinner surprise for an intimate group of fewer than 30 top executives. To meet this challenge, Empire was able to deliver iconic American singer / songwriting Don McLean to perform with just guitar and keyboards. Empire also designed a professional sound & lighting installation that would work inside the intimate environment. McLean performed his well-known hits "American Pie" and "Vincent" as well as 5 or 6 other songs that also included a new song, which he had recently written for his daughter. To the guest's delight, Don McLean played longer than he was contracted for, interacted with the crowd and encouraged them all to join him for a group sing-along along on "American Pie". The attendees were thrilled with his performance.Whether for the largest events for hundreds of thousands of people, or for intimate settings, Empire can provide the right entertainment solution.

In November 2001, Empire Entertainment once again produced 80's and 90's superstar act Huey Lewis & The News at the Mark Etess Arena in the Trump Taj Mahal Resort & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey. This fabulous 75-minute headline performance was sponsored by Commerce Bank for The League of Municipalities. The band played a greatest hits concert which included songs such as "Power of Love," "Heart of Rock N Roll," "Hip to Be Square," and "If This Is It" among many others. The event was a huge success for the audience of over 5,000 who were dancing and singing along before the first few songs were over. Empire was responsible for contracting the talent, and handling all logistics and production including image magnification via giant video projection screens. The event concluded with an enormous balloon and beach ball drop organized by the client.

In November 2001, Empire presented Grammy Award-winning artists, The Wallflowers featuring Jakob Dylan to entertain 1,000 attendees at the conclusion of a three-day business conference for a European Investment Bank. This spectacular show was held at The Pavillion at The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, Phoenix Arizona. The Wallflowers, an awesome roots-rock band fronted by Bob Dylan's song, Jakob, performed for over 75 minutes, playing many of their hits from their album One Headlight Missing and several cover songs. This amazing performance was very audience interactive as Dylan brought an attendee up on stage to sing David Bowie's "Heroes" alongside him. The event was produced in collaboration with Susan B. Green Associates.

When Microsoft founder & CEO Bill Gates - one of the world's most innovative entrepreneurs - launched his book, Business @ The Speed of Thought, Empire Entertainment was contracted to produce his keynote presentation at New York's Ziegfeld Theater.Business @ The Speed of Thought focuses on how business and technology – specifically digital infrastructures and information networks - are interconnected. On March 24, 1999, Gates spoke to more than 1,000 Columbia University and New York University business students at the Ziegfeld Theater. The students warmly received Bill Gates’ inspiring & engaging keynote remarks, and moderated question & answer session. He followed his speech on the future of technology with an oft-shown gag video featuring Jay Leno and his long-time friend, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer.

The event was a complete success and Empire helped to plan and implement all aspects ibncluding venue selection and contracting, production desigm, creative develiopment, staging, lighting, audio, video and graphics projection, secdurity, logistics, press integration and decor. Empire Co-President J. B. Miller also worked creatively with Bill Gates to develop the presentation for the audience.Empire is a leading provider of keynote speakers from every walk of life and is also deeply experienced in producing individual speakers in theatrical presentations. Whether you require a motivator, an inspirational speaker, an expert speaker or just someone to engage the audience, Empire is the ideal one-stop-shop for every type of keynote speaker.

When Twentieth Century Fox held their International Rental Summit, which brought together over 140 Fox clients from 17 countries, Empire Entertainment was chosen to be the producer of the entire conference. The three day, multi-function program was held in mid-December and included general sessions that explored emerging trends in the international distribution of filmed entertainment, and previewed forthcoming video releases such as "X-Men," "Me, Myself & Irene," "Bedazzled" and "Big Momma's House" among others. The presentations required simultaneous translation into 7 languages. Empire Entertainment provided full-service management of this program including site selection, contracting the Four Seasons Hotel, destination management, banquet supervision, theme attendee activities such as helicopter tours and "Cosmic Bowling" and all aspects of the design, staging and production of the business sessions as well as all entertainment. The challenge: To excite, inspire and entertain top customers from around the world in the entertainment industry who have seen and done everything. The result: in the words of Fox senior management, Empire's work created "The best Summit yet!"