Clubhouse Conversations — RuPaul's Drag Race

In this episode, cinematographer Michael Jacob Kerber, lighting designer Gus Dominguez, lighting programmer Thomas Schneider, and gaffer Steve Moreno are joined by interviewer Shana Hagan, ASC to discuss their work on "The Wicked Wiz of Oz - The Rusical!" — an episode of the reality-competition series RuPaul's Drag Race.

In "The Wicked Wiz of Oz - The Rusical!", contestants are presented with the challenge to perform a musical-theater production inspired by Wicked, The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz. Their work on the episode called for balancing bold, theatrical lighting with the expected technical demands multi-camera reality television.

In this interview, Kerber, Dominguez, Schneider and Moreno discuss the challenges of lighting drag performers, whose makeup, lashes and glam aesthetics require carefully angled, high-output setups; their approach to treating the series as “three shows in one” (concert-style main stage, naturalistic workroom, and ever-changing challenge stage); their execution of live-to-tape episodes without rehearsals; programming thousands of time-coded lighting cues for the episode's lip-sync performances; managing the production without a dedicated rigging crew, and more.

Michael Jacob Kerber is a cinematographer whose credits include the series RuPaul's Drag Race, Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, Bill Nye Saves the World and Bone Detectives.

Gus Dominguez is a lighting designer with credits including Project Runway, Top Chef, Top Gear America and Making It.

Thomas Schneider is a lighting programmer on RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which he transforms design concepts into precise, repeatable cues across three simultaneous productions.

Steve Moreno is a gaffer and chief lighting technician whose credits include Craft Wars, The X Factor, and Shark Tank. On RuPaul’s Drag Race, he oversees the execution of lighting designs on stage and in the workroom.

Shana Hagan, ASC is a cinematographer who has shot Oscar and Emmy-winning documentaries with such distinguished filmmakers as Michael Apted, Jessica Yu, Morgan Neville, Lauren Greenfield and Rory Kennedy and scripted television content with Jenny Bicks, Paul Feig and the Duplass brothers. Her documentary work includes the Academy Award-winning Breathing Lessons, Academy Award-nominated Walk Run Cha-Cha and 21 Sundance Film Festival selections, including Generation Wealth, The Queen of Versailles, Taylor Swift: Miss Americana and Shakespeare Behind Bars.

You’ll find all episodes in our ASC Clubhouse Conversations discussion series here.