Getting into the world of RuPaul’s Drag Race is something however peculiar, so think about having to design that world from the bottom up.
Although manufacturing designer Jen Chu didn’t draft the look of Drag Race from its daybreak in 2009, she did have the tall order of giving the present’s set a much-needed revamp after 16 seasons of the identical iconic primary stage. And, sure, “iconic” is the phrase to explain the famed set of the MTV actuality competitors, outlined by that primary stage the place lots of of queens have sashayed, shantayed and lip-synced their solution to drag royalty. The present received 4 consecutive Emmys for excellent actuality competitors program between 2018 and 2021, with RuPaul nabbing the win for excellent host for a actuality or competitors program eight years in a row, from 2016 to 2023.
With that historical past of acclaim, Chu tells THR she felt “an excellent quantity of strain” to get the redesign good.
“It was a little bit of a course of getting all people snug with the concept of a brand new set,” says Chu. “We haven’t had a totally new primary stage ever, actually. It was an enormous deal for us. … It by no means seems like there’s a good time to go away behind one thing that works.”
Whereas the Drag Race stage hadn’t misplaced its seems to be, it lacked performance. “We needed to replace our stage out of necessity,” explains Chu. “Among the tools grew to become out of date, and it grew to become clear that it was time to maneuver ahead.”
As RuPaul Charles would say, “You ain’t gotta reinvent the wheel” — and that wasn’t what Chu was seeking to do with season 17’s primary stage. As an alternative, she “pulled inspiration from inside” the present to pay homage to its herstory. “That’s really all anyone does on Drag Race — pay homage to one thing,” says Chu. “I used to be desirous about find out how to create a set that may really feel historic or nostalgic, as a result of this present is at all times referencing the previous. They’re at all times referencing traditional actors, traditional movies, and I wished a stage that didn’t essentially really feel flung into the longer term. I moved within the route of making a stage that has a sense of nostalgia.”
Chu’s preliminary inspiration for the redesign was a constructing, wealthy in artwork deco particulars, on Hollywood Boulevard owned by Drag Race‘s manufacturing firm, World of Surprise. Chu settled on mimicking the constructing’s construction, which mirrored Drag Race‘s regal but campy atmosphere.
“I began desirous about how artwork deco buildings resemble costumes — they’ve plenty of ornate detailing and really symmetrical, fascinating metalwork,” Chu explains. “I began taking a look at [World of Wonder’s] constructing as a constructing that wears a crown, and I started to design a stage that was sporting a crown.”
To execute the transform, Drag Race enlisted the assistance of FTB Design, a Los Angeles-based surroundings store that Chu says got here to the desk with plenty of “fascinating, intelligent options” to points that Drag Race was working into with the prior set, together with ease of meeting (and disassembly).
“One factor I’ve realized as a designer is placing up a set that’s shot as soon as is simple — placing up a set that should come aside and go collectively repeatedly really makes the workload 50 to 100 instances extra sophisticated,” she says.
Development on the stage, which incorporates display screen panels on the again.
Courtesy of MTV
Plus, there have been the monetary issues. “I feel generally individuals are stunned, however Drag Race shouldn’t be a super-high-budget present,” Chu admits. “The extent of success that they’ve achieved shouldn’t be equal to the funds that they need to pour into design on a regular basis, and I’m completely happy to work inside these forms of parameters.”
One standout component of the brand new set is the inclusion of display screen panels in the back of the stage. Chu says that the screens “opened up plenty of potentialities” for primary stage inventive imagery for herself and Gus Dominguez, Drag Race‘s lighting designer and Chu’s key collaborator within the redesign.
“As soon as the screens got here into play, it grew to become a way more layered dialog,” she explains. “Display content material might be bought, designed customized, static, it may well transfer. … We’re at all times making an attempt to determine find out how to create a cohesive look however not take an excessive amount of consideration away from the queens.
“For a present like this, it’s plenty of stage look modifications and display screen exercise,” she continues, noting that there might be 12 to 14 contestants onstage at a time. “A giant a part of my duties final yr with season 17 — the primary yr we had the screens — was conserving observe of the totally different seems to be. … There was a large spreadsheet going round simply making an attempt to maintain observe of all of the seems to be.”
One other notable distinction was a brand new, shiny black ground that proved to be a downside for contestants with an all-black wardrobe, who discovered themselves mixing into the stage.
“Our set typically seems to be like a housing for lighting, so what you’re actually seeing is plenty of lighting, display screen content material and shade. You’re not really seeing the surroundings that a lot,” Chu says, including that the particular technical parameters and lack of ready lighting created the problem.
“This yr [with season 18], the lighting division has added lights, so when you’re sporting black towards the black background, the lights will hit your shoulders from the again, so it’ll create extra form and description round” the contestants, Chu says.
To cite RuPaul as soon as extra, “New mates silver, previous mates gold.” It seems Drag Race has discovered a cheerful silver-gold medium with its new primary stage, boosted by the group of creatives which have at all times backed the cultural phenomenon that’s RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“It was very broadly collaborative as a result of so many individuals on the present, their careers have been rooted on this present for many years,” says Chu. “I simply wished to ensure that all people felt at house right here.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone problem of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click here to subscribe.