World of Wonder Productions (WOW) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

founded in 1991 by filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey. Based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the company specializes in

documentary television Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

productions with a key focus on

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

topics. Together, Barbato and Bailey have produced programming through World of Wonder for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

, with credits including the ''

Million Dollar Listing ''Million Dollar Listing'' is an American reality television series franchise on the Bravo network. Each show chronicles the professional and personal lives of real estate agents based in a major American city as they sell high-end properties, g ...

'' docuseries, ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'', and the documentary films'' The Eyes of Tammy Faye'' (2000) and '' Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures'' (2016). World of Wonder is best known for its contributions towards LGBTQ programming, for which they won an

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

Annual Achievement Award in 2011. Their most well known production is ''RuPaul's Drag Race.'' They have managed the career of

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

and titular

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

since the early 1990s, eventually producing the television franchise alongside the majority of its live shows, podcasts, television specials, and conventions.

History

World of Wonder was co-founded as a record label and management company by Barbato and Bailey in the mid-1980s after meeting in

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's (NYU) graduate film program, with the name coming from a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

Bailey used to read as a child. The two formed Fabulous Pop Tarts, a

disco-pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes ...

rock duo, and began performing regularly at

Danceteria Danceteria was a nightclub that operated in New York City from May 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. The club operated in various locations over the years, a total of three in New York City and four in the Hamptons. The most famous l ...

and other clubs in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.Pike, L (2006). "Channel XYZ: drag queens, club kids, and amateur erotic filmmakers make WOW TV the online outlet for artists on the edge", ''Los Angeles Magazine'', a
archived on gcnext.com
retrieved April 4, 2009. They produced two albums, ''Age of the Thing'', which included their hit single ''New York City Beat'', and ''Gagging on the Lovely Extravaganza'', which included guest appearances by

Lady Miss Kier Kierin Magenta Kirby (born August 15, 1963), known professionally as Lady Miss Kier, is an American singer, songwriter and DJ. Lady Miss Kier was the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite. She is a social, environmental, and human rights activist. Ear ...

, RuPaul, Martyn Phillips, and Filthy the Dog. Barbato and Bailey moved on to begin organizing projects in television production and licensing, documentary filmmaking, and the career expansion of their friends and fellow artists, particularly RuPaul, whom they met in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

in the 1980s. They produced RuPaul's first album, ''RuPaul is: StarBooty!'', in 1986, and became his manager shortly after launching World of Wonder in 1991. They have since produced all of his television shows, his DragCon bi-coastal conventions and music productions, and have earned multiple

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. One of Barbato and Bailey's early television documentaries, ''Died on the 4th of July: Nelson Sullivan's World of Wonder'', shares its name with the production company. The documentary, a one-hour portrait of

Nelson Sullivan John Nelson Sullivan (March 15, 1948 – July 4, 1989) was an American videographer who chronicled life in Downtown Manhattan’s arts and club scene from 1983 until his death. His hundreds of videos documented daily life in the city, nights o ...

, was created from an archive of over 1,200 hours of video footage taken over the decade preceding Sullivan's death of a heart attack on July 4, 1989. ''Died on the 4th of July'' aired on the UK's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, was included on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary,'' and contributed to Sullivan's posthumous rise in notoriety. The early focus on Sullivan solidified the company's interest in documentary filmmaking. In 2014, Barbato and Bailey were honored with the International Documentary Association's (IDA) Pioneer Award, "celebrating exceptional achievement, leadership, and vision in the nonfiction and documentary community." World of Wonder operates out of the

Shane Building Shane Building, also known as Shane & Regar Store Building or Hollywood Center, is a historic four-story building at 6650-6654 W. Hollywood Blvd. and 1655 N Cherokee Ave in Hollywood, California. History Built in 1930, Shane Building was des ...

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...

. Designed by architects S. Tilden Norton and Fredrick H. Wallis and erected in 1930, the building served as the original home of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

. The World of Wonder Storefront Gallery now occupies the ground floor retail space, with production and management offices occupying the upper three stories. The basement, once home to the punk rock club

The Masque The Masque was a small punk rock club in central Hollywood, California which existed from 1977 to 1978. It is remembered as a key part of the early LA punk scene. History Considered the “CBGB of the West”, The Masque was founded by Scotti ...

, now houses the company's video archive and a soundstage.

Television

World of Wonder primarily produces television content for networks in the US and UK, including BBC, Channel 4,

FIVE 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

, HBO,

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, Showtime, A&E, MTV, VH1 and Bravo. Productions over the past three decades include ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', ''Manhattan Cable'' with Laurie Pike, ''

Takeover TV Takeover TV is a Channel 4 public-access television series first broadcast in the UK in 1995, with a second series in 1996, and a third in 2002 broadcast on E4. It is known as the television show that first gave a break in television to Adam B ...

'', ''

The Adam and Joe Show ''The Adam and Joe Show'' is a British television sketch comedy show that originally ran from 6 December 1996 to 28 May 1999 on Channel 4 for the first three series and then moved to E4 from 13 March to 17 April 2001 for the fourth and final ...

'','' Tori & Dean: Inn Love'', ''Good Work'', ''Million Dollar Listing'', ''Heli-Loggers'', '' Pam: Girl on the Loose'', '' Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce'', and ''Island Hunters''. World of Wonder also produced the documentary series '' One Punk Under God'', '' Sex Change Hospital'', and '' TransGeneration'', one of the first unscripted television shows to focus on the transgender community, which won the 2006

GLAAD Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

for Outstanding Documentary. Another franchise by World of Wonder, ''Million Dollar Listing'', debuted in Los Angeles in 2006, and has since expanded to include New York,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

series. The spin-off, ''Sell It Like Serhant'', featuring one of ''Million Dollar Listing New York'''s top brokers,

Ryan Serhant Ryan Matthew Serhant (born July 2, 1984) is an American entrepreneur, tech CEO, investor, real estate broker, author, and reality television personality. He starred on Bravo (U.S. TV network), Bravo's television series ''Million Dollar Listing ...

, launched in 2018. In 2021, Barbato and Bailey produced and directed '' Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes'' and '' Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump'' for HBO. The company has received several Emmy Awards nominations for their documentary programming.

''RuPaul's Drag Race''

World of Wonder produced ''

The RuPaul Show ''The RuPaul Show'' is an American talk show, talk, variety show that premiered on VH1 in 1996. Hosted by the Drag queen, drag performer RuPaul, the show had many famous musical guests and was notable as being one of the first national television ...

,'' hosted by

from 1996 until 1998. The company partnered with RuPaul to pitch the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' to

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...

, which was immediately picked up for a season and aired in February 2009. The company also produced multiple spinoff series: * ''

RuPaul's Drag U ''RuPaul's Drag U'' (as in "Drag University") is an American reality television series that debuted July 19, 2010, on Logo TV. Its final episode aired in August 2012. It was hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors". ''Drag U'' was ...

'', which lasted for three seasons from 2010 until 2012 * '' RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'', beginning in 2012 and featuring returning drag queens * '' RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked'', a behind-the scenes after show aired following each new episode of the original series World of Wonder's work in television has been honored with over two dozen Emmy nominations, including multiple wins for ''RuPaul's Drag Race.'' The show has notably received awards for Outstanding Reality Competition Program and Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program."RuPaul's Drag Race"
''Emmys''. Retrieved 2018-03-30.

Documentary films

World of Wonder has produced many feature-length documentary films, many focusing on provocative subjects, several of which have garnered

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

awards and nominations. These include '' Inside Deep Throat'', which premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, HBO

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

'' Wishful Drinking'', starring

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars original trilogy, original ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The F ...

, which received two Emmy nominations, and ''Becoming Chaz'', which premiered at Sundance as the Oprah Winfrey Network's (OWN) first ever documentary and was nominated for three Emmy awards. World of Wonder has also produced feature films '' Party Monster'', starring

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor and musician. Considered one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, Culkin has received a Golden Globe Award nomination and other accolades. In 200 ...

and

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

, and '' Menendez: Blood Brothers'', starring

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, Love has had a career spanning four decades. She rose to promi ...

, Nico Totorella, Benito Martinez, and Myko Oliver. Barbato and Bailey have produced a host of other original documentaries, including ''Party Monster: The Shockumentary,'' ''The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Monica in Black and White,'' '' Gender Revolution'' with

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...

, and ''The Last Beekeeper''. In 2017, ''Out of Iraq'', a documentary chronicling the relationship between two soldiers serving in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

won a

daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

for Logo TV. In March 2018, the documentary ''When the Beat Drops'', directed by Jamal Sims, premiered at the

Miami International Film Festival The Miami Film Festival, formerly Miami International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida, each March. Since 2015 the festival also runs a smaller Fall Festival, known as the Miami Film Festival GEMS, which presents ...

, where it won the Knight Documentary Achievement Award."Argentina Takes Top Prizes; US Docs, Spain, Venezuela Make Strong Showings At 35th MDC's Miami Film Festival Awards"
''SW The Magazine''. Retrieved 2018-03-30.“When the Beat Drops”
Miami Film Festival. Retrieved 2018-03-30. In 2018, World of Wonder produced and directed ''Liberty: Mother of Exiles'', an HBO documentary examining the history of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

. The company was also commissioned by

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

to create ''Stonewall Outloud'', a documentary based on the Stonewall protests of 1969, using the audio recordings of

StoryCorps StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization which aims to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. Its mission statement is "to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and po ...

founder, Dave Isay.

Content

Over the years, World of Wonder has expanded its presence into new media types, including conventions,

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, and

blogging A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. ''The WOW Report'', a blog providing daily coverage of the pop culture and nightlife sectors, was named Best Counter Culture Blog by ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' in 2011. In 2015, World of Wonder added conventions to their portfolio with the launch of

RuPaul's DragCon LA RuPaul's DragCon LA is an annual Trade fair, expo of Drag (clothing), drag culture held in Los Angeles billed as a "convention that celebrates 'the art of drag, queer culture and self-expression for all'", which debuted in 2015. Its sister even ...

, located at the

Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center located in the southwest section of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It hosts multiple annual conventions and has often been used as a filming locat ...

. The company is also responsible for

RuPaul's DragCon NYC RuPaul's DragCon NYC is an annual fan convention and expo of drag culture held in New York City, which debuted in September 2017. It is based on the successful RuPaul's DragCon LA which was launched in Los Angeles in 2015 billed as a “conventi ...

, launched in 2017 and hosted in

Javits Convention Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan), Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street (Manhattan), 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, ...

. The New York City edition of the convention is largest collection of drag art and culture in the world, with over 50,000 attendees in the sell-out first year. DragCon and World of Wonder expanded to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2020 with

RuPaul's DragCon UK RuPaul's DragCon UK is a multi-genre entertainment convention held annually at the ExCeL London, Exhibition Centre London located in London, England. The two-day event primarily features prominent drag performers for executives, fanatics, and o ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, DragCon LA was hosted online as Digital DragCon. In January 2020, the production company began their first

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Strip Strip, Strips or Stripping may refer to: Places * Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya * Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Nami ...

residency, ''

RuPaul's Drag Race Live! RuPaul's Drag Race Live is a concert residency featuring several past competitors from the television series of the same name and its franchise. The performances are held every weeknight at the Flamingo Showroom and co-produced by Voss Event ...

'', where former contestants from the Drag Race franchise perform at the

Flamingo Las Vegas Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly the Flamingo Hilton) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The Flamingo includes a casino and a 28-story hotel with 3,460 rooms. The reso ...

, directed by RuPaul and Jamal Sims. World of Wonder also has a YouTube channel with the name ''WOWPresents'', which features over 5,000 videos and has more than 1.9 million subscribers.

WOWIE Awards

First introduced in 2013, the WOWIE Awards are World of Wonder's tribute to the best in LGBTQIA+ entertainment, trailblazers, activism, artistry, and pop culture. The awards coincided with World of Wonder's annual holiday party until 2022, when they included it as a closing event at DragCon LA. Since 2020, the awards ceremony is streamed live on the ''WOWPresents'' YouTube channel. Categories include Best Drag Queen Music Video, Best Red Carpet Look, Best Breakout Star, Best Blog or Website and Best LGBTQ Comedian.

''WOW Presents Plus''

In November 2017, World of Wonder launched the subscription streaming service

WOW Presents Plus WOW Presents Plus (also called World of Wonder Presents Plus or WOWPresents+) is a subscription-based streaming service owned by production company, World of Wonder. The subscription service was founded in November 2017, by Randy Barbato and ...

. The service contains a multitude of original series and live events spanning the realm of pop culture and

society. Exclusive original series include: ''

Sketchy Queens ''Sketchy Queens'' is an American sketch comedy television series premiered on WOW Presents Plus on September 15, 2022. It marks the streaming service's first sketch comedy original programming. The series stars Jinkx Monsoon and Liam Krug in va ...

'', '' UNHhhh'', and ''

Painted with Raven ''Painted with Raven'' is a makeup competition television series hosted by Raven, which premiered on WOW Presents Plus on November 25, 2021. RuPaul serves as co-executive producer alongside Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey, and Tom Campbell of Worl ...

''. The service is also the main international distributor in some regions for ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and the international versions of the franchise. It also includes many web series found on WOWPresents' YouTube channel, such as ''Detox's Life Rehab'' and ''La Vida de Valentina.''

Awards and nominations

* Best Counter Culture Blog, awarded to ''The WOW Report'' by ''LA Weekly'' in 2011. *

Television Critics Association The Television Critics Association (TCA) is a group of approximately 200 American and Canadian television critics, journalists and columnists who cover television programming for newspapers, magazines and web publications. The TCA accepts appli ...

(TCA)

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming, awarded to ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' in 2014. * GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Reality Program, awarded to ''Big Freedia'' in 2014. * IDA Pioneer Award, awarded to Barbato and Bailey in 2014. * Nomination for Emmy Award for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program, ''Million Dollar Listing: New York'', 2015. * Nomination for Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, ''Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures'', 2016. *

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Special The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Special is an Emmy Awards given to "single original program." Fiction, non-fiction, music, and variety events are all eligible for this single category. Categories similar to this have been awar ...

, awarded to ''Out of Iraq'' in 2017. Nellie Andreeva, Deadline Hollywood. April 29, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017 Dan Avery, Logo. May 1, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017 * 29 Emmy Awards nominations and 13 wins for ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', including Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program in 2016 and 2017, as well as Outstanding Makeup and Outstanding Editing in 2017. * ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' has been nominated for twenty-nine Emmy Awards and has won thirteen, including Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program in 2016 and the same award in 2017 along with Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program. * Knight Documentary Achievement Award, awarded to ''When the Beat Drops'' in 2017."Miami Film Festival 2018 Awards: A Sort of Family, La Familia, and Others"
''Miami New Times''. Retrieved 2018-03-30. * 2

Streamy Awards The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wr ...

nominations for Show of the Year in 2017 and Best Unscripted Series in 2019, ''UNHhhh.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World Of Wonder Mass media companies established in 1991 American companies established in 1991 British companies established in 1991 Companies based in Los Angeles Film production companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United States Television production companies of the United Kingdom Television production companies of the United States World of Wonder (company) LGBTQ-related record labels