“Its wonderful to see that our little show, that we still have that little team of heart that we bring to it, is connecting with so many people across the world in a large way,” says editor Jamie Martin. “The stories we tell really resonate with a lot of people, and it’s wonderful to see it get that attention.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race is a reality competition series where a group of drag queens compete in a variety of fashion challenges to become America’s Next Drag Superstar. “I think I was a good fit for the franchise and for the style of the show and the mixture of heart, but also fun and comedy,” says Martin. “It was just a really good connection, so I’ve been on it since 2012.”
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Though the growth of the fanbase has changed since Martin began in 2012, she says they still put the same level of care into telling every queen’s story. “We’ve always been this tight little group of the team that puts the show together in post, and we’ve always brought the heart, we’ve always brought the care. We care about all of these queens so much. Every season we want to tell their story so truthfully and authentically.”
For a competition show like this, it’s important for the edit to reflect how every queen is feeling, especially if something happens that affects their performance. “We have to make sure that everyone’s headspace is properly represented,” says Martin. “If something in The Werk Room happened to one of the queens and that affects their mood going into a challenge, we have to properly show what happened to put them in that space and how that affected their performance in the competition.”
The Werk Room also brings out heartfelt stories from the queens, which Martin says is one of her favorite parts to edit. “It’s showing their heart when they’re not really aware they’re trying to show their heart,” she says. “That’s really important to include whenever we can and that happens so authentically with these queens, because they really are amazing people. I love hearing all of the stories that they bring through their lives and everything they’ve gone through, and how willing they are to share that on the show.”
One of the trickiest sequences to edit is the “Lip Sync for Your Life,” where the bottom two queens need to compete in a lip sync battle to save themselves from elimination. With the passion and talent being shown by both contestants, it can be difficult to figure out what the edit should focus on. “You have to put yourself in this space of, ‘If I could only watch one person, what in a club or on a performance stage would I be focused on,'” says Martin. “Also, trying to see what the final decision was and what are the things that Ru saw and the judges saw that leads them to their final decision.”
Sometimes those moments are obvious, such as when Anetra leapt over Marcia Marcia Marcia in a battle. “I remember watching that in raw footage and I was just so amazed,” she says. “We do get those every once in a while, these amazing iconic moments.”
Click the video above to watch the full interview.