In Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, 14 queens compete for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” Celebrity guest judges include Katy Perry, Sandra Bernhard, Adam Lambert, Betsey Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross, among many others. Jamie Martin (pictured) is an editor on
RuPaul’s Drag Race, and says the show comes together, initially, from strings from the story department, with the editors then cutting a first pass of each episode.
"As each challenge is usually based on a unique genre, this stage of the editing process involves a lot of transforming each genre into our Drag Race style," she explains. "We then go through rounds of notes with our executive producers and network executives to arrive at the final cut that airs."
Martin and the editing team cut RuPaul's Drag Race on Avid systems, though the show was initially posted using Apple's Final Cut Pro before making the switch following Season 10. For this year's Emmy Awards, Martin is submitting Episode 1701: “Squirrel Games,” which served as the premiere episode for the season.
"We got to start with a bang and wanted to showcase our playful style of mixing camp and dramatics," she shares. "The 'Squirrel Games' episode was packed with energy and fast-paced challenges. Cutting ‘Squirrel Games’ was such a pie-throwing, fun, comedic experience. When we edit sequences that pay homage to another genre or show, we really start by studying what elements we can emulate and pivot into the RuPaul's Drag Race style. For ‘Squirrel Games,’ we turned elements of
Squid Games, such as the music, shot choices and graphics, and made them fit into the world of
Drag Race.”
In terms of keeping everything fast paced, Martin says the editors benefit from great footage from the MTV show’s talented cast.
“The challenge is always getting as much of the great content we have into the time we are allotted, so the natural tone of the show becomes rather fast paced. The first episode of each season is always especially challenging to accomplish this, as we want to give each of the new queens moments of highlight so the audience can connect with their individuality. When making time cut decisions, we put the importance of what says in the final cut on comedy and character development."
Martin also points to the ‘Drag Baby Mamas’ episode, which features makeovers and the challenge of striking the right emotional tone, especially considering the heartfelt stories of the contestants and their families.
"We want to have the edit of the show uplift the emotion that was naturally captured on-set," she reveals. "In this episode, that emotion was huge and wonderful, and we highlighted that as much as possible. It was incredible to see the representation of supportive family dynamics for the members of the LGBTQ community. In that this episode had so much positivity and levity, a challenge was keeping the stakes of the competition element of the show present. We had to find a balance between that tension and keeping all the heartfelt moments that were important to see.”