Film Spotlight: Bust in Show!

Illustration provided by Mason Willie

This summer, I had the privilege of getting a behind-the-scenes scoop on “Bust in Show,” a 2-D
indie film that’s currently in the pre-production process. Directed by Mason Willie, the plot
centers around two drag queens competing with one another to sell tickets to their
performance…with the looming threat of another underdog queen that might sell out the show!

One of the film’s main characters is Rhiannon Ceruss, your typical comedy queen: loud,
charismatic, with a large poofy wig. She reminds me a lot of classic Houston drag, where bigger
is always better. Sabrina McMicheals is Rhia’s main rival. Described as a glamour queen,
Sabrina is all about serving high fashion looks at her shows. She’s a great performer and dancer,
and she looks exquisite while doing it. The final queen essential to this film is Gnarpina. She is
an unorthodox, artsy, alien queen with a clear aesthetic. She is portrayed as the underdog in the
story, but you know what they say: never underestimate an underdog…

As an avid fan of drag, I was very excited to see that this film was going the indie route for
production. I believe that drag has slowly become more mainstream, with shows such as
“RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and “We’re Here” gaining widespread popularity. However, I don’t think
that the artistry of drag is represented enough in animated media. The only example I could find
within recent years was a Trixie Mattel cameo in Nickelodeon’s “Monster High.” This is one of
many reasons it’s important to showcase different backgrounds and cultures in animated media,
so I cannot wait to see how this film progresses.

So far, the pre-production for this project is bright and colorful, with a heavy concentration on a
flat and graphic animation style. The color scripts have been utilizing a lot of pinks and blues,
which adds exuberance to the scenes. It’s very cool to see the environment match the color
schemes of the characters; I adore the character designs, as the shape language used for each
matches their personality. As of now, production is looking to begin animation shortly, and the
team for “Bust In Show” is looking to recruit sound design team members. If you are interested
in aiding in this fabulous indie film please reach out to: bustinshow@gmail.com or @vampozer
on either Instagram or Discord, and please be sure to follow @bustinshow on Instagram to see all
of the amazing progress!