World of Wonder (WOW), the award-winning production company behind RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE (Logo), Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (HBO), Out of Iraq (Logo), and the MILLION DOLLAR LISTING franchise (Bravo), announces two new original series to kick off its 2017 digital programming slate: Haus of Edwards and Detox's Life Rehab.
Haus of Edwards is an unscripted series immersed in the world of famous drag performer and
RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE contestant Justin Johnson, known by his stage name Alyssa Edwards along with his "drag daughter" Laganja Estranja, Jay Jackson. The non stop, high energy weekly show follows Justin's insanely busy life running his dance studio, filled with his diva dancers, their deeply involved moms and crazy staff.
Detox's Life Rehab features the quick-witted Detox from
RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE as she offers serious life hacks. The ultimate homemaker who always keeps her martini glass nearby, Detox will also welcome surprise guests to share their secrets on how to make life less of a drag when you're in a time crunch.
"Our goal is to create engaging content with truly original voices across all platforms." says Fenton Bailey of World of Wonder. "Justin and Detox bring a unique combination of comedy and drama to everything they do. We're thrilled to team with them to bring fans these exciting new series that will showcase their incredible talents."
World of Wonder saw explosive growth in its online presence in 2016, reaching more than 1 million UMVs for The WOW Report and producing 19 weekly shows for its owned and operated
Youtube channel WOW Presents. The channel, which has 599,000 subscribers and 298 million total views, was up 53% in views in 2016.
World of Wonder is also adding key appointments as it ramps up original programming across its digital platforms and WOW Presents
Youtube Channel.
Todd Radnitz re-joins the company as Senior Vice President of Creative & Digital. Radnitz, who returns to WOW from
Bravo where he was Vice President of Production, is tasked with overseeing digital production as well as a slate of TV production..
Tom Wolf, who's spent 8 years as VP of Production with WOW and helped establish the WOW Presents Network and pioneered the growth of WOW's digital business, has been promoted to COO.
The company also promoted Thairin Smothers to Senior Vice President of Talent. Smothers manages WOW's talent relationships across traditional and digital platforms. He is tasked with expanding WOW's relationships with leading online content creators, from developing new series in partnership with influencers to integrating talent into existing WOW Presents programming.
"Tom, Todd, and Thairin all bring years of strategic experience and leadership that will help us meet the increasing demand from our global audience for online content," says Randy Barbato, co-founder of World of Wonder. "The new roles and investment in programming signify World of Wonder's commitment to doubling down on our digital business, and we are excited to be scaling our leadership team to match this expansion."
The company will continue to invest in new digital programing throughout 2017, including the premiere of the 9th season of their award winning digital series Untucked: RuPaul's Drag Race. Premiering in March,
UNTUCKED: RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE will give fans backstage access to the most exciting cast in Drag Race's history.
ABOUT WORLD OF WONDER
Innovative and Emmy® Award winning production company World of Wonder is behind such entertaining hit series as
RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE (Logo), Million Dollar Listings (Bravo), Transcendent (Fuse) Big Freedia (Fuse),
THEN AND NOW WITH ANDY COHEN (Bravo),
ISLAND HUNTERS (HGTV) and the recent documentary Out of Iraq: A Love Story (Logo).
MILLION DOLLAR LISTING NY was a 2015 Emmy® Award nominee for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program.
RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE won the 2014 TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming and RuPaul won the 2016 Emmy® for Outstanding Reality Host. The success of all things Drag Race inspired them to create DragCon, a two-day conference with a total of 35,000 attendees the past two years.
The company has created multiple award-winning films and documentaries such as Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (nominated for two Emmy® awards), Inside Deep Throat, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Wishful Drinking, Monica in Black and White, and The Last Beekeeper, which won an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Nature Programming. Many of their films have premiered at the
Sundance Film festival including
BECOMING Chaz and Party Monster (both the documentary and the feature film starring Macaulay Culkin).
World of Wonder has created a substantial digital footprint with its Youtube channel WOW Presents, along with an award-winning blog, The WOW Report. With over 592,000 subscribers and over 295 million views, the channel currently airs twelve weekly original series with a new episode every day of the week. In addition to its signature channel WOW Presents, they have launched the WOW Presents Network, comprised of more than 150 Youtube channels with nearly half a billion cumulative views and over 2.2 million subscribers. The popular WOW Report blog, which can be found at www.worldofwonder.net, receives more than 1 million visitors per month and was awarded the Best Counter Culture Blog by LA Weekly. Co-founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey authored The World According to Wonder, celebrating 21 years of production, which can be found online at http://mkt.com/worldofwonder/.
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