‘Drag Race’ Producers Set ‘House On Fire’ For WOW Presents Plus & Discuss Building Their Streamer: “There Was An Audience Out There That Wasn’t Being Served”

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