Production designer Jen Chu says “RuPaul’s Drag Race” teams have to be ready to overhaul sets and rebuild props overnight when executives feel a moment isn’t working—especially when the goal is nonstop heart and humor on camera.
A set can look perfect one minute—and then it isn’t funny enough the next. On “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” production design means staying sharp, staying flexible, and being willing to pivot fast when the show needs a bigger laugh.
Production designer Jen Chu, who’s been on the series for the last three years, laid out that reality during IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables with her peers. Her point was blunt: “If a producer at an executive level does not think something is funny, they will pivot, and they will pivot hard.”
Chu said those pivots can be immediate. “We’ve had entire sets have to change overnight,” she said. She also described moments when ambition runs right up against time—“We’ve had ambitious props that had to be made at the 11th hour”—all to protect what the team is actually chasing: “achieve as much heart and humor as possible.”.
The work isn’t just about aesthetics. Chu emphasized that the team’s job is to shape the stage so the entertainment lands. “If we can set the stage for them a certain way, so that the entertainment is more entertaining, we do have to pivot, and we do it all the time,” she said.
Flexibility, in Chu’s description, is also about making room for the performers to fully take over. “We’re trying to create the best possible environment for the drag queens to really werk it on the runway. ” she added. With “a tremendous amount of people on camera at all times. ” the runway moment can shift quickly—so the build has to keep up. “They could do anything at any time. Flexibility is a big part of it.”.
For Chu and her team’s work on Season 18 of “RuPaul,” the target is still the same, but the tools are evolving. “We’re trying to modernize and figure out how we can create scenery that’s a little bit more flexible that can bring us into this era.”
The Craft Roundtables conversation is part of a broader look at the craft behind TV, and it’s streaming now on @PBSSoCal and the PBS App, as well as IndieWire.com and IndieWire’s social channels.
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