EXCLUSIVE: Drag Race Producer World of Wonder is about to set the House on Fire. It has snagged the titular reality series for its streaming service WOW Presents Plus.
House on Fire is set in New York and follows the pre-eminent ‘House’ in the Ballroom scene, the House of Miyake-Mugler. Produced by ITV America, Good Company and Hey, Man Productions it follows the house’s family members and the heads of the household, Yusef Mugler and Exotic Mugler, as they juggle the pressures of competition and mentoring their talented cohort. It follows in the footsteps of documentary film Paris is Burning, which offered a first glimpse into New York’s drag ball competitions, voguing and house culture.
“It is something we feel absolute confidence that our audience is going to eat up,” World of Wonder cofounder Randy Barbato told Deadline. “It’s anchored in ballroom culture, which is such an inspiration for so much of drag, so much of the language of it is the language of drag, and the show has incredibly compelling characters with huge hearts.”
Launching House On Fire marks a deeper move into acquired and original programming for WOW Presents Plus. Acquisitions to date include a catalog of Elvira movies and classic marionette series Thunderbirds. Original fare includes stand-up comedy show House of Laughs, Grag Hearts Drag and RuPaul’s Drag Race Live Untucked, which goes behind-the-scenes at RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! Vegas show.
“It’s a build it and they will come story,” World of Wonder’s other cofounder, Fenton Bailey, said about the company’s streaming service. “It’s similar to when we launched [convention] Drag Con, we had this hunch that there was an audience out there that wasn’t being served, and also we were very excited to do more original content with many of the artists from Drag Race.”
WOW Presents Plus launched in 2017 and is available globally. Drag Race has been the engine for the SVOD service with the U.S., UK and other international versions available. WOW won’t break out numbers, but the company founders said subs are up 30% and hours viewed by 75% in the first quarter of the year. Brazil, France, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, and the UK and are the biggest international growth territories.
Fenton said that he sees a greater cultural openness to queer content, which is no longer considered marginal or niche, and added that a boutique streamer can connect with viewers in a way the generalists cannot.
“I think one of the challenges facing the mega streamers is how do you find anything, or what’s the point of view,” he said. “I think that people like to feel that they belong to something, and by creating WOW Presents Plus, along with Drag Con, our shows on linear channels, Drag Race Live Las Vegas, it’s a more rounded experience, and there’s an identity.”
Barbato said WOW Presents Plus is “a modern platform with an OG approach… we’re non-binary and the platform’s non binary.” He added: “It’s not a slave to the algorithm. Our motivation was to tap into a community that we felt was underserved, and we’re a part of that community.”
The rush to scale in big media has created openings for indies and for curated services, according to Barbato. “We were not looking to put Max or Netflix out of business,” he said. “With the growth of these huge media empires, the irony is that it’s also creating opportunity for fiercely independent creators and talent – in the shadows of these monoliths, I think there’s opportunity.”
