{"id":8210,"date":"2021-05-17T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2021-06-22T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T20:00:11","slug":"drag-race-goes-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/","title":{"rendered":"Drag Race Goes Global"},"content":{"rendered":"

World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato talk to <\/em>TV Formats about the global language of drag culture, their fiercely independent approach to making content that speaks to and celebrates LGBTQ audiences and their plans for expanding their SVOD service WOW Presents Plus.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the 12 years since RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> premiered in the U.S. (first on Logo, before moving to VH1), the World of Wonder-produced series has become a pop-culture phenomenon and, more recently, a global format hit. The journey to globalize the beloved show began in 2015 when The Switch Drag Race<\/em> premiered in Chile. But it was the arrival of the Thai version in 2018 that marked a turning point, says World of Wonder co-founder Randy Barbato. \u201cThat is when it became so clear how strong the format is, and how in many ways you didn\u2019t even need to understand the language to watch it and enjoy it. That\u2019s also when World of Wonder understood how we could work with various production entities and broadcast partners to translate the format and share enough of the key beats but also respect the local flavor and flair of the queens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the last few years have seen a dramatic expansion in Drag Race<\/em> format activity, with versions for BBC Three in the U.K., Crave in Canada and Videoland in the Netherlands. This month, RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race Down Under<\/em>, an Australian and New Zealand version, premiered on TVNZ and Stan. In a few weeks, Drag Race Espa\u00f1a<\/em> arrives on ATRESplayer in Spain. And all these versions are finding audiences outside of their home markets (the series and format are represented by Passion Distribution). BBC Three, for example, snapped up RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race Down Under<\/em>. And WOW Presents Plus, World of Wonder\u2019s global platform, is the home for all things Drag Race<\/em>, bringing the adaptations\u2014and a host of other content\u2014to subscribers worldwide.<\/p>\n

The success of the adaptations lies in the casting. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the queens,\u201d says World of Wonder co-founder Fenton Bailey. \u201cThat\u2019s the hidden strength, the secret sauce of the format. Drag is a rich, vibrant culture in pretty much every country. It just hasn\u2019t necessarily been on TV or had that kind of platform or exposure. So it\u2019s trusting the queens and their aesthetic. And that\u2019s what makes each version unique. One of the anxieties was, Oh, the British queens are very different from the American queens; they are going to be so much less Hollywood! There was an anxiety that it wouldn\u2019t be as good. And, of course, it\u2019s fabulous in a whole bunch of different ways. The moment Baga Chipz walked out and talked about battered sausage and Daddies hot sauce, it was like, oh my god, we\u2019re in a totally different world here!\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another integral element, Barbato adds: \u201cI do think the crack cocaine of Drag Race<\/em> is the surprising amount of heart the show has. Fenton says it\u2019s the queens that make the show a success, and that\u2019s true. And even more specifically, it\u2019s their heart and their humanity that always shines through. That is global. The most important thing when casting this show is to cast for authenticity. People who will reveal themselves\u2014who are open to being in front of a camera and not only sharing their look but sharing their hearts. I do think that\u2019s been responsible for the success of each iteration. I sort of expected that, but it\u2019s a little surprising how much heart there is all across the globe. Drag queens have heart, who knew!\u201d<\/p>\n

On Down Under<\/em>, in particular, Bailey observes, \u201cI\u2019m super impressed by the rudeness of the Australian queens, hurling fabulous insults to each other\u2019s faces and no one seems to get upset! It\u2019s extraordinarily candid and so viscerally direct; it\u2019s great!\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as the American original has found audiences worldwide, the adaptations are striking a chord with audiences in multiple markets, Barbato and Bailey note. \u201cThere is a kind of joy discovering a different country\u2019s queens,\u201d Barbato says. Bailey adds: \u201cUnderpinning it is something Ru has said a million times and will say a billion more: You\u2019re born naked and the rest is drag. That is true wherever you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

On further expansion of the format, Bailey says there are other versions in the works, and the team has \u201ca couple of dream-come-true territories\u201d they\u2019d like to see the show arrive in, including Russia and China. \u201cI think drag has healing powers,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s the interplanetary version!\u201d Barbato quips.<\/p>\n

World of Wonder was able to produce three seasons of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> since March of last year, reflecting the company\u2019s ability to navigate the challenges of working amid a pandemic. \u201cWe have the most amazing team and they were able to pivot from in-person in the office to remote working, especially with postproduction,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cIt was a lightning-fast transition\u2014and not one we\u2019d ever really contemplated making. But now, 12 months hindsight, we can see some very beneficial differences to the way we work moving forward. We never had a work-from-home policy, and now we do! [Laughs<\/em>] This is something Ru said: The art of drag is about the art of flexibility, of being able to make something out of nothing. People\u2019s willingness to adapt to a highly adversarial, hostile situation brought out the finest in everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic also saw accelerating gains at WOW Presents Plus, resulting from both audiences having more time at home and the platform\u2019s growing content selection. The service \u201chas exceeded all of our expectations,\u201d Barbato says. And with that success, World of Wonder is now devoting more resources to original content for the platform, including recently completing Painted with Raven<\/em>, a makeup artist competition series with Drag Race<\/em> runner-up Raven. \u201cShe does RuPaul\u2019s makeup,\u201d Barbato notes. \u201cShe is one of the best makeup artists on the planet, and one of the best drag queens, and an incredible personality. So we\u2019ve produced this competitive reality series [for WOW Presents Plus] that is the sort of show we\u2019d normally take out and sell to a broadcaster. RuPaul is a guest on the first episode. Increasingly, I think we will be starting at WOW Presents Plus, investing the money and hooking up the talent. We have such a huge talent pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the company is working on shows with Drag Race<\/em> Canada <\/em>winner Priyanka, Drag Race U.K.<\/em> winner Lawrence Chaney and Down Under<\/em> contestant Art Simone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fiercely independent, so we can do the content the way we want to,\u201d Barbato says.<\/p>\n

And that ethos extends to WOW Docs, World of Wonder\u2019s documentary division, which recently released Wojnarowicz<\/em>, about New York City artist David Wojnarowicz and his activism during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s (he died of the disease in 1992). \u201cIt\u2019s weird that the film would be finished and come out at this particular time,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cSo much of what he was about was trying to get people\u2019s attention on the fact that there was a disease raging out of control, and no one was doing anything about it. It was a little bit of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other WOW Docs projects include Freedia Got a Gun<\/em>, following as New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia returns to her hometown to confront the plague of gun violence, and Explant<\/em>, which focuses on Drag Race<\/em> judge Michelle Visage as she embarks on a journey to have her breast implants removed. \u201cThat film will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, but again, part of what we\u2019re doing with documentaries is making films that we don\u2019t go out and try to sell to anyone,\u201d Barbato says. \u201cWe\u2019re making films we think our audience will appreciate, doing them independently, taking them out on the road, getting exposure at festivals and maybe a streamer for a limited window, but ultimately, they will all end up on WOW Presents Plus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato talk about the global language of drag culture as a local version of Drag Race gears up to launch in Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":8211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[1548],"class_list":["post-8210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-world-of-wonder","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nDrag Race Goes Global - TVFORMATS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drag Race Goes Global - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato talk about the global language of drag culture as a local version of Drag Race gears up to launch in Spain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-17T12:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-22T20:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/07\/FentonBailey-RandyBarbato-521.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/\",\"name\":\"Drag Race Goes Global - TVFORMATS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-17T12:00:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-22T20:00:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/drag-race-goes-global\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Drag Race Goes Global\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\",\"name\":\"TVFORMATS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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