There is no show out there like RuPaul’s Drag Race. A reality drag competition series that has run for 16 seasons with repeated Emmy nominations, year after year? “Drag Race is so unique it almost shouldn’t exist,” says EP Tom Campbell. “The fact that it does is so much about RuPaul and his vision and his drive and his ability to market drag for the world.” The series has received 10 Emmy nominations this year, bringing the main series total to 71.
RuPaul’s Drag Race opened their doors to give Deadline a tour of their set and sit down with some of their Emmy-nominated creative team and winner of season 16 Nymphia Wind. Our visit starts with the Werk Room, where contestants prepare for all of their challenges, and where we are treated to a video of RuPaul introducing us to the “gag-worthy” tour and warning us “not to slip on the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent because baby, it is everywhere.”
One of the first topics of discussion is something everyone at Drag Race is very excited about, their first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming. The day before the set visit, choreographer Jamal Sims took part in recording a virtual panel for our Contenders TV: The Nominees event, where he gave some insight into why this is such an achievement. As opposed to the other series nominated for choreography, Drag Race is the only one where the dancers are not professional.
“It’s such a big deal and it feels like home every time I come and I meet these incredible talented queens, that I kind of wrote off getting a nomination just because it felt like I was just trying to do enough for them to look good,” says Sims. “But now not only do they look good, they’re phenomenal dancers and they’re killing it.”
Not letting Sims stay humble, Campbell chimed in saying, “Jamal has a magic touch with people, as you know from meeting him. He has a special touch, year after year, of meeting the queens and pulling out the best in them. They say anyone can sing… that’s not true. But anyone can dance with Jamal Sims.”
One of those incredible, talented queens working with Sims is Nymphia Wind, winner of season 16, who recently achieved her dream of being the first East Asian winner of Drag Race. “It’s pretty amazing because it turned from a childhood thought, to a possible dream into actually happening,” she says as we sit in the Untucked Lounge. “I was living in Taiwan before and it was like I heard a voice summoning me to come to America… Sometimes in life, you really need to just jump out of your comfort zone and really go for the unknown, because you never know what’s going to happen if you don’t try.”
Nymphia Wind says she has been watching Drag Race from a young age and it was always an inspiration for her, which is the exact kind of response Campbell was always hoping for with the show. “Representation is great and we represent a lot of queer people, but we take it a huge step further,” he says. “We celebrate, we honor queer people and queer culture. We’re a queer show made by queer people, starring queer people.”
If you are looking for a celebration, you only need to watch the finale every season, where a crowd of people cheer as they watch some of the best drag performances of a lifetime. While the finale usually takes place offsite, this year the main stage was transformed into an “in-house” theater. “That was a unique opportunity for us because we usually have our one and only main stage we’ve been using for many seasons and it has only been adjusted a little bit over the years,” says production designer Jen Chu. “Getting to design something completely new that’s not necessarily tethered to all other episodes is a pretty unique opportunity for us.”
“We wanted to keep it within the family and keep it more intimate, but give it a bigger feel at the same time,” adds director Nick Murray. “It’s kind of oxymoronic, but that was part of the mindset, to give it an extra little visual twist and keep it in Ru’s house essentially.” By now, the main stage has returned to its normal size as we are brought through and given a moment to walk the runway before continuing.
Obviously, any change to the design of a series like this doesn’t come easily. “Whenever we’re going to change something, every single person in every single department needs to bless it and just assure us we’re not spatially making it worse for people,” says Chu. “We’ll literally tape out a giant floor pattern on an empty stage and people will actually walk it and model, and then watch the footage over and over again just to make sure that everybody feels good about what the final outcome is going to be before we commit to anything.”
One person who definitely enjoyed filming the finale in-house was audio supervisor Ryan Brady, who was able to rely on the infrastructure of speakers and mics they already had set up. “It was just about being able to pivot with the changes of the set because we have specific locations for our speakers, like how we hang our speakers for the stage to hear. That’s all based off math and the size of the stage,” he says.
While many of the other crew members are nominated for individual episodes or performances, Brady is nominated for the series body of work which he says is great because every episode is so incredibly different. “What makes this so challenging for us is that it is the epitome of a variety show,” he says. “We’re doing a game show, then we’re doing a talent show, then we’re doing a scripted performance… And each one of those kinds of shoots requires a different approach in our department.”
“Ryan just said it, our show is like no other show because we do everything,” says Murray. “We do all the other shows in one show. It’s a big variety, reality, performance, dance, scripted sketch, comedy, drama… you name it. And from a being on a show standpoint, the queens work harder. They’re more talented than I would have to be, and I definitely couldn’t be a contestant on this show.”
And if this show was giving anything less than everything, would it have run for 16 seasons? Received 71 Emmy nominations in total, with 10 this year, and 29 wins? And would a show like that be such a draw for drag queens looking to perfect their art?
“Performing on Drag Race is an opportunity to really elevate your drag creation, your creativity, your expression to the next level, because you really have to bring your best,” says Nymphia Wind. “For me, Drag Race is an opportunity to challenge myself and see where I can bring my drag and how far Nymphia Wind as a drag persona can go. In season 16, everyone was well-versed, the personalities were giving, everyone brought their best to the runway… The whole cast elevated each other and season 16 as a whole.”