When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and live shows were indefinitely paused, RuPaul’s Drag Race star BenDeLaCreme decided it was the opportune time to try her hand at a lifelong dream – filmmaking. In a speedy six months, DeLa teamed up with drag bestie Jinkx Monsoon, who won season five, to co-write, produce and direct The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special, available on Hulu. Featuring Santa and his stripper elves, the spirit of DeLa’s grandmother in a glass of eggnog, glittery costumes, and lots of choreography, the one-hour creation encompasses all aspects of the holiday season, both good and bad.
Currently, The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special is included in the first phase of Emmys voting. DeLa, who appeared on Drag Race season six and Drag Race: All Stars season three, during which she famously eliminated herself from the competition, is slated to hear in mid-July if her debut film receives a nomination. In the meantime, she spoke to Screen Rant in an exclusive interview about the highs and lows of filming a holiday special during a pandemic, the importance of having representation behind the scenes, and what her future as a director looks like.
Let’s rewind to 2020 (not that anyone wants to). What was the impact of COVID-19 on you and your work?
I live my life largely on the road. I’ve been a live entertainer for 18 years. These last few years, in starting my own production company [BenDeLaCreme Presents] and producing my own tours, I’ve been writing and directing more and more. Obviously, this was a huge hit. All the momentum comes screeching to a halt and so it was very, very scary at first.
There were a lot of people in the drag community who had to quickly pivot, and certainly this is true for everyone, but drag and burlesque are my homes. Fortunately, I think there’s no better community than drag queens to figure out how to make things work under adverse circumstances. That’s kind of where drag comes from.
How and when did the idea for a holiday special come about?
Jinkx and I have had a holiday show that’s existed since 2018. We were supposed to continue the tour in 2020. Not only is that our passion and our livelihood, but it’s also something that we know audiences have come to count on, that a lot of people have begun to treat as their own personal holiday tradition. That message of creating space for people who don’t always necessarily feel all the joy we’re supposed to feel about the holidays, when we’re inundated with messages about family and homecoming, it was important for us to still bring that message in the best way possible.
What was it like creating such a project during a global pandemic?
Production itself was breakneck. It was six months from inception to delivery, which is not what people do. And of course, with all the COVID-19 safety, we were very careful and I’m glad to say no one got sick during our entire process. The project itself saved me from a lot of the doldrums of the year. It gave me something that really felt important to focus all of my energy on 23 hours a day.
The holiday special included literally everything, from Jesus to Santa Claus. How did you choose what to include?
The holidays have always meant something very specific to me. They’ve always had two very opposing things in my mind. One is, the holidays are amazing. They’re camp, they’re over the top. Let’s be real, the holidays have a super gay aesthetic. Suddenly everyone’s bursting out in song wearing sequined sweaters. At the same time, it can be very alienating to these very same communities.
There’s all the fun imagery, Santa and the elves. We make them strippers because of course we do. But also, you have to grapple with the religious aspect because that’s something that affects all of us. And you have to grapple with the personal and family elements of it. So, in terms of choosing, I’m not sure how much we actually chose. I think we just chose everything and stuffed it all in there.
Many aspects of the holiday special are reminiscent of cheesy classics. Did you have any favorites growing up?
For the most part, I hated the holidays, actually. I kind of dreaded it. I had a very big New England family and that togetherness was always sort of rough for me. But I took a lot of solace in those holiday specials. I loved the Judy Garland Christmas special growing up, which of course says a lot about how gay I am.
I remember being completed fascinated by Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas special, which was a huge influence here. I always want to pay tribute to Paul Reubens for being such a part of my artistic awakening. It’s truly brilliant. It’s one of the most bizarre fever dreams to make it onto major television. And that felt like the right format for us because it is something comforting. It is ultimately to bring joy, and it’s a form we’re all familiar with. We also subverted it in some ways that I think were unexpected and fun. People don’t always expect a true character arc and a journey out of the format, so it was a good bait and switch technique too.
Did you and Jinkx write all of the songs and choreography?
This thing is entirely created by Jinkx and I and a team of amazing, queer artists and crew. I designed the costumes and literally, if you look at the floors and staircase in this thing, I painted a lot of that. This was an all-hands-on-deck thing. We were determined to make something that surpassed what anyone expected us to do with the timeline and the means that we had.
Tell me more about the team of queer artists and crew.
It was not entirely queer, we also had straight allies on the team as well. But we see more and more queer stories being told on screen, and I think it’s important that the tellers of those stories also be people of those experiences. We see many examples of those stories being told in the media by people who don’t have those experiences. I think for the voices to be genuine, those people need to be in the room. Representation behind the camera is as important as representation in front of the camera. There is a real culture of gatekeeping in this industry, so any way that we could make sure to have queer people, people of color, women on our team, that was really important to us.
How would you rate your first experience directing a film?
I directed for the stage for a long time, but the transition to film is daunting. In some way, I’m grateful that these terrible circumstances forced us to make the plunge. It’s a world I’ve loved for a long time. It’s something I’ve wanted to dive into for a long time. It’s scary, but COVID said, ‘Nope, it’s happening now.’
I also think if I had more experience, I would never have signed on for doing all of this in six months. But there is no better way to learn, and fortunately, there were some wonderful people involved who were able to help me understand the ropes. The world of directing film is unique, but I also discovered that my lifelong passion for that medium provided a lot more understanding and expertise than I ever realized.
Can fans look forward to another film directed by DeLa?
One hundred percent yes. It’s that thing where immediately you drop dead and you’re hyperventilating on the floor like, ‘Oh my God, that was horrible. I’ll never do it again, but when can I do it again?’ I’m currently working on my next screenplay, but I am not going to do a six month turnaround again. This is a thing where, I’m getting to work on this and we’ll see how the timeline plays out with all the other touring and live performances that’s happening. But it’s in the works. I’m really excited and passionate about making it happen. It’s actually so much fun that, if I have my way, it’ll be much sooner than later.
How does it feel to be in the first phase of Emmy voting?
We’re running our For Your Consideration campaign right now, and it’s available to Emmy voters to nominate. They can view it on Hulu or the official Emmy portal right now. This is something I’m so proud of. I really hope that, while we are not able to run the huge campaigns that some other people have access to, that people will realize how important it is to take this kind of indie and queer work seriously, and seriously consider these types of projects within the same breadth of some of the larger studio things with real backing that are also contenders.
What feedback did you receive from fans after the holiday special was released?
It was incredible. You put something like this out there and it’s so scary because when you’re performing in real time, of course you have real time feedback. You can make adjustments for the following night. This was a thing where it’s like, ‘OK I have to focus everything I can into making this product and put it out there and wait,’ which is scary. But immediately, not only did fans and viewers start posting about how funny it was, how much joy it brought them in this terrible time, but also I got tons of personal messages from people being like, ‘Thank you for expressing feelings that I have, for reflecting parts of my experience that I have not seen represented in media. Thank you for not just acknowledging them, but for giving a message that it’s alright to have them and that it’s a shared experience.’
That was the fan response, and then three days later we got picked up by Hulu. There is actually no greater validation when you create something independently with no idea how it’ll be received. I feel truly blessed in that regard.
Is there anything upcoming you’d like your fans to know about?
The big thing right now is that we’re looking forward to that Emmy nom coming up. We are on the verge of the official announcement about all of the exciting ways that people can see us return to the stage this year, and all the ways that the tour is going to be expanded both in length and all the various parts of the world that we are getting to visit this year.
