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With voguing competition series Legendary, David Collins aimed to evolve the brand he\u2019d created over the years with acclaimed reality series like Queer Eye, providing \u201ctransformation through information, told with comedy that has heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Debuting on HBO Max in May\u2014as one of the centerpiece shows to launch the streaming service\u2014Legendary takes a deep dive into the world of ball culture, spotlighting various voguing teams, as they compete in fashion and dance challenges, with a $100,000 prize on the line.<\/p>\n
Over the years, with Queer Eye, three-time Emmy winner Collins has enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate the LGBTQ community. And with Legendary, the EP\u2019s goal was to place \u201cthis beautiful, bright spotlight\u201d on a community that is even more marganizaled.<\/p>\n
For Collins, the inspiration behind the series came after he was invited to a ball in West Hollywood. \u201cRenata [Lombardo] and Shant [Tutunjian] are executive producers on the show, and they\u2019re the ones that came to the table and said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go check this out,\u2019\u201d the Scout Productions co-founder says. \u201cThey had forewarned me that, \u2018It\u2019s not a big ball, but we really want you to come.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Collins got to the ball, he learned that what his colleagues had told him was true. \u201cThere was probably 100 people at best,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was folding tables and bright overhead lighting, nothing club-like or cool about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, at this ball, he ended up having the time of his life. \u201cWhat was amazing about it was that everybody was dressed to the nines,\u201d Collins says. \u201cEverybody was trying to bring a look and create a moment, and they all entered the gymnasium space and had their big moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the turning point in the evening that would drive the EP to create the show came as he left the event, taking the elevator down to the parking garage. \u201cI rode down with these two African-American boys who couldn\u2019t have been 16 or 17 years old, who were bawling crying, but also beyond giddy with joy and excitement, because they had just been asked to be in the House of Gucci,\u201d Collins shares. \u201cSo, just standing in the parking lot with them, I got goosebumps, I choked up, and I could feel the connection that they had to what was happening in that room.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was this moment that led Collins to take a step back and ask himself: What is ballroom? \u201cI had seen Paris Is Burning; I had heard about ballroom. Obviously, I knew about Pose, but I didn\u2019t know the history. I didn\u2019t know what this was really about,\u201d he reflects. \u201cWhen I went back to the office, I told [EP] Rob [Eric], \u2018This ball was amazing,\u2019 and he was like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve been to them since the \u201980s.\u2019 So, he had a different perspective than I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Out of the combination of Collins\u2019 \u201cexcitement and na\u00efvet\u00e9,\u201d and Eric\u2019s personal history and knowledge, Legendary was born, the EP says, \u201cand it was one of those moments where we realized, \u2018This has not been done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, in thinking about making a show based in the ballroom world, Collins and his collaborators went back and looked at each show that had been made in the past about this culture. \u201cThere was a show on VICE called My House, and some documentaries here or there. But they were all a little sad. They were telling the behind-the-scenes story, which is what the ballroom culture was born out of. It was born out of a need for so many young boys and girls who had been abandoned by their families of origin, probably because they were gay or trans. They ended up on the streets, and what happened was that these house parents, a house mother and a house father, would say, \u2018Hey, come on in. We\u2019ll all live together,\u2019 and they would act as a parent,\u201d the EP explains. \u201cThey weren\u2019t doing all things, but they made sure they got fed, they made sure they went to school, they made sure that they learned to dance, and then they performed in the balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
In My House, Collins saw the \u201ccultural foundation of the ballroom scene,\u201d which he hoped to celebrate in a big way. But at the same time, he saw the \u201cdocu-follow\u201d version of what his show could be\u2014a version that would potentially be a bit limiting. \u201cYou\u2019re going into that world, and you\u2019re seeing the actual day-to-day lives of all of the house members, as they prep to go to a ball each week,\u201d the EP says, \u201cand while that\u2019s great, what we really wanted to figure out is, how do we do a ball for every episode?\u201d<\/p>\n
In the real world of balls, Collins says, there are about three \u201chuge balls\u201d a year, with around 100 small-to-medium events in between. But on Legendary, the EP took on the challenge of shooting nine completely different balls, with totally different themes, challenges and categories, over the course of just nine weeks. Ultimately, each episode had to come in at no more than an hour. \u201cWe wanted the ball to be front and center, and so with the basic arcing competition format, we were like, \u2018All right, we\u2019re going to figure out how we\u2019re going to have a ball every episode, and a certain number of houses.\u2019 I will tell you, we went from 12 houses, to 10 houses, to eight houses,\u201d Collins says. \u201cAt one time, we were down to six houses, and it\u2019s still a lot of houses, because each house has a house parent plus four kids. So, you\u2019re starting, right off the bat, with a lot of characters to follow, and a lot of storytelling to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Collins, it was the balance of Legendary\u2019s ambitions, and the intent behind the series, that made hitting on the right number of houses one of the most critical considerations. \u201cWe knew that that storytelling\u2014that connection to those houses, to the house parents, and to the individuals\u2014was absolutely everything for us. Because, look. You can glitz up anything; you can make it shiny and bright. But if you don\u2019t have the heart behind it, it\u2019s not going to be the same,\u201d he reflects. \u201cSo, the format itself evolved over almost a two-year period, where we tore it apart and put it back together again, six ways to Sunday, with our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the number of balls brought to life in Legendary, one of the show\u2019s great accomplishments is its distinct visual style. In retrospect, Collins credits this part of the vision to Rob Eric, the Chief Creative Officer at Scout Productions. \u201cIt was critical that we celebrate [ball culture] properly, and not to take away from any other big, shiny-floor show, [but] we didn\u2019t want it to be shiny floor,\u201d Collins laughs. \u201cSo, we started calling it a \u2018matte finish,\u2019 because we couldn\u2019t come up with anything better than it had a cool matte finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
On logistical and creative levels, Collins gained a greater understanding of how to produce the show, after attending New York\u2019s \u201chumongous\u201d Porcelain Ball with showrunners Jane Mun and Josh Greenberg. \u201c[There were] thousands of people waiting in line from 3:00 in the afternoon. The ball didn\u2019t even start until 9:00, and it went until 5:00 AM. So, we were there, our feet bleeding at hour four, and we realized how complex the balls are. There\u2019s literally hundreds of categories, and one category bleeds into the next,\u201d he explains. \u201cOne category is more dance, versus more runway, which is all the various elements of voguing\u2014there\u2019s five that make it up. So, we really had to figure out, how do we showcase all of the important pieces, and also cram it all into an hour, and not lose the beauty of the ball, and the absolute joy that you feel when you come to a real ball?\u201d<\/p>\n
In Collins\u2019 description, the Porcelain Ball was \u201ca three-ring circus, a cluster of insanity.\u201d So, this level of scope naturally gave the EP pause. \u201cThe executive producers and I kept looking at each other like, \u2018Oh my goodness. If this is what a ball is, we\u2019re in trouble,\u2019 because there were just so many things happening,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we realized less is more, simple is better and we thought, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s just shoot reality until our heads pop off.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Collins and his team got around to casting Legendary, they took a multi-pronged approach. \u201cWhat we didn\u2019t realize is that ballroom had become an international dance sport. It\u2019s all over, and we were first thinking, \u2018Oh, are we going to shoot in LA? Maybe we\u2019ll just do LA-based houses.\u2019 And then we started to open that up,\u201d he says. \u201cWe came to find out, there\u2019s hundreds of houses, some bigger than others. There\u2019s also houses that have historical importance: Willi Ninja, the House of Ninja, who is considered the godfather of ballroom and voguing. We couldn\u2019t not have the House of Ninja. So, we started to use simple things like that, where we realized, \u2018Okay, House of Ninja, for sure.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When meeting with voguing teams and house parents in LA, the EP found it important to listen as much as possible, and seek input, with regard to the kind of voguing show they\u2019d like to see. \u201cWe stopped, and we\u2019re like, \u2018Listen, we want to help you tell your story. We want to celebrate you, but you\u2019ve got to tell us how. What do you need? What do we do right, and what do we do that\u2019s wrong?\u2019\u201d he shares. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell you, that was probably the smartest decision we made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Particularly critical notes came to Collins from Dashaun Wesley and Leiomy Maldonado, two icons in the world of ballroom, who appear in the series. \u201cThey were very cautious about, \u2018Look, it\u2019s got to stay authentic. You can\u2019t start adding all these formatic tropes that television sometimes does,\u2019\u201d the EP recalls. \u201cFor TV, we push things in to fit that little box, but we realized we wanted to stay as authentic as possible. So, we just kept them in the loop.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Collins, one of many highlights of making Legendary was the first meeting he and his team had with executives at HBO Max. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to say this a lot about making TV, but I will tell you from day one, Bob Greenblatt invited us to come in and meet Kevin [Reilly], Sarah [Aubrey] and Jen [O\u2019Connell], to talk about various shows, and all kinds of stuff that we had coming up,\u201d he says. \u201cFirst of all, you don\u2019t get the entire four heads of the network, sitting in one room at the same time, so we were so grateful and so blessed that that moment happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the EP presented a sizzle reel he\u2019d put together for the show, the experience was magical, in a different way than he had ever seen. \u201cSarah instantly gravitated to it and said, \u2018This has to be made. This is important. This is a story that must be told,\u2019 and they bought it right there in the room. So, for us, that beginning couldn\u2019t have gotten any better. Like, you sell a show in the room\u2014that doesn\u2019t happen anymore,\u201d he notes. \u201cBut we did, and it was because of that moment that we knew we had great partners. And honestly, that is what makes the difference, when the producers, and the creative vision, and the network work as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Legendary is still in the thick of its first season, Collins hopes for many more seasons to come, as well as further expansions of the format. \u201cOne thing that we\u2019re doing with Queer Eye that we would love to do with Legendary is make international versions, especially because as I said, this is an international dance sport,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, I think there\u2019s a lot of opportunity for the format.\u201d<\/p>\n
View this article at Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David Collins Places \u201cBeautiful, Bright Spotlight\u201d On World Of Ballroom With HBO Max\u2019s \u2018Legendary\u2019: With voguing competition series Legendary, David Collins aimed to evolve the brand he\u2019d created over the years with acclaimed reality series like Queer Eye, providing \u201ctransformation through information, told with comedy that has heart.\u201d Debuting on HBO Max in May\u2014as one
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