![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786962203_256_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s no secret that Hollywood has dealt with a significant production downturn since the end of the streaming content boom three years ago. But the programs that have stuck to the Southland have reaped the benefits. And that goes for a slew of major-category Emmy nominees such as \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race,\u201d which has filmed on stages all over L.A. County since its inception.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, it\u2019s the people. I love the local people, but the people that come to Hollywood with a dream, with a drive, and their dreams sometimes get all twisted and turned, but they still have that ambition,\u201d \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u201d executive producer Tom Campbell says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I love working with L.A. crews, and I love L.A. We\u2019ve got 19 seasons in the can right now, and we\u2019re about to start our 20th in not too long. To be with people that get to go home to their pets, or wives, or husbands, or children, makes for a different vibe on set. That\u2019s kind of an incredible [bonus]. It\u2019s a quality-of-life thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other iterations of the franchise have filmed all over the globe, from Colombia to Portugal to the Philippines, but Campbell doesn\u2019t see how a hub in South America would allow guest judges such as Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Teyana Taylor or Cardi B to appear in person. He notes, \u201cThe celebrities don\u2019t make or break the show, but the stars have to align that they have a day off when we\u2019re shooting. And I think that kind of access and availability could only happen in L.A. I don\u2019t think we\u2019d get Cardi B for a day if she had to leave L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n
For \u201cDrag Race\u201d production designer Jen Chu, the ability to acquire raw materials in a short period of time is game-changing. She bluntly observes, \u201cSometimes you just need the assurance that you can go down the street and get that unusual prop or get that super-specific acrylic Plexi or anything that we could possibly need. It is somewhere in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michelle Visage, left, RuPaul, Jamal Sims and Carson Kressley in \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Jordin Althaus \/ World of Wonder)<\/p>\n
Chu\u2019s 15-person team also has an encyclopedic knowledge about where to get what they need and whom to ask at a moment\u2019s notice. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very common for somebody to be like, \u2018Can you make a giant six-foot-tall pill bottle by tomorrow?\u2019\u201d she adds. \u201cI think in those situations, we\u2019re definitely calling on our resources and our friends and colleagues that we\u2019ve known for so long. So, it could be anything from calling your laminate dealer that you\u2019ve had in your phone for 20 years, or it\u2019s literally like calling another dresser because you know that they have a life-size teapot in their backyard for some weird reason. It\u2019s not uncommon for somebody to be like, \u2018I know a guy that has a giant pickle or a huge frying pan\u2019 or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d producer Patrick Schumacker is about to shoot a new Netflix series in L.A. and says it\u2019s where to find the \u201cmost skilled, most experienced and best of the best\u201d in all aspects of production. A lot of the onscreen talent happen to be pretty darn funny too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, so many hysterical actors are based out of here, and it makes it so much easier with regard to guest cast in a comedy,\u201d Schumacker admits. \u201cCasting becomes infinitely easier versus trying to get people to fly in from L.A. to a production elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quinta Brunson\u2019s landmark series is set in Philadelphia, but Schumacker credits location manager David Lyons for finding \u201coutstanding places\u201d that double for the city. He recalls, \u201cWe had a whole mall arc when the school had to relocate, and that was based on Franklin Mills, which is a real mall in Philadelphia that has the giant Ben Franklin head in it. The other part of the two-pronged attack is Michael Whetstone, Suzan Wexler and our entire art department, who have transformed the back lot at Warner Brothers into West Philly. They keep building out more and more of it every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"ABBOTT](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786962204_985_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Sheryl Lee Ralph, right, in \u201cAbbott Elementary.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Gilles Mingasson \/ Disney)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also incredibly difficult to fake another city for Los Angeles. Can you imagine the L.A. romance \u201cNobody Wants This\u201d trying to duplicate Silver Lake, Los Feliz or Koreatown in Atlanta?<\/p>\n
\u201cA real location helps the dialogue sound better. It looks better. It helps the actors know they\u2019re in a real place. It helps the audience feel like they\u2019re watching a real scene,\u201d series creator and executive producer Erin Foster says. \u201cWhen you think about \u2018Sex and the City\u2019 in its heyday, you would recognize the places that they\u2019re at. You would recognize that they are actually authentic, real places that are cool. And it mattered. It made you take the characters seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Executive producer Jenni Konner adds, \u201cAnd it sometimes informs story. We shot at Max & Helen\u2019s, a notoriously difficult-to-get-into restaurant, and we had a story point where they weren\u2019t able to get in because they didn\u2019t realize how competitive it was. That was really fun to be able to highlight that truth of L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n
And not to take shots at Hollywood\u2019s East Coast rival, but after the Netflix show recently shot scenes in New York for its upcoming third season, executive producer Bruce Eric Kaplan observed that the Big Apple presents drawbacks L.A. doesn\u2019t. \u201cIt feels like the Los Angeles crew is a lot more concerned about our safety,\u201d says the onetime \u201cGirls\u201d producer, lightheartedly. \u201cI don\u2019t remember ever having this many safety conversations, but you could shoot in the middle of anything in New York, and no one\u2019s telling you to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMight be a sign of the times,\u201d Foster wonders.<\/p>\n
\u201cErin, I think you\u2019re right,\u201d Konner replies. \u201cAt first, I was like, \u2018Oh, but it\u2019s 10 or 15 years later, so safety rules have changed.\u2019 But the truth is we shot in New York, and it did feel scary again. We were in the middle of the street in SoHo \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Foster adds, laughing, \u201cAnd they were just like, \u2018We\u2019ll just figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret that Hollywood has dealt with a significant production downturn since the end of the streaming…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1006277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,11259,2451,52057,402769,402772,14107,8055,2961,224,2444,5337,7088,405,3546,1311,402771,402770,1628],"class_list":["post-1006276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-cardi-b","tag-city","tag-drag-race","tag-guest-judge","tag-highlight-l-a-crew","tag-hollywood","tag-l-a-county","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-lot","tag-new-york","tag-people","tag-philadelphia","tag-real-place","tag-schumacker","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117110363130850188","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1006277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}