Exposing the Drag Race UK Contract: Not Much Betta! - YouTube

Hi Ugly, It’s me, Bussy! And welcome back to my channel.

In today’s video, we’ll be dissecting the Rupaul’s Drag Race UK Series 3 Contract

and comparing it to its US counterpart. We’ll be addressing topics like contestant pay,

exclusivity periods, NDAs and more… OH MY! And at the end of the video, I’ll be doing

my best to address some of y’alls lingering questions and concerns about contract enforceability

and how we should proceed in supporting Drag Race as a franchise.

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Now, let’s get started. As a disclaimer, I’ll be doing my best to interpret the dense

legalese of this document BUT you’ve been warned, I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal

advice, so please do not construe my opinions as such.

General Overview The Drag Race Series UK Series 3 Contract

is 44 pages in length; 9 pages shorter than the US Season 14 Contract and is comprised

of the following sections which loosely align with the sections in the US contract:

[Drag Race UK Series 3 Contract Sections] The Rupaul’s Drag Race UK Participant Agreement

Form The Rupaul’s Drag Race Production Protocols

Document The BBC Editorial Policies & Protocol Document

An Emergency Medical Release Form An Assumption of Risk and Release of Liability

The Actual Rupaul’s Drag Race UK Application Questions

A Personal Disclosure Form - 2 Pages And finally, a Non-Disclosure Agreement - 4

Pages

And for this video, We’ll mostly be focusing on that Participant Agreement Form, as that’s

where the juicy details about signing your entire life away live.

There are basically no differences in the beginning of this contract besides highlight

that they are producing the show for the BBC and not VMN, Viacom Media Networks like in

the US. It also gives some basic definitions that I’ll be using in the rest of the video

“Producer” means World of Wonder “Series” means the potential reality television

program, sometimes referred to as the “Program” “Project” means the Program, Interviews,

Additional Series Materials, and all elements thereof and all ancillary and derivative materials

of any kid… And the word option, in this contract, although

it sounds like it’s optional means an irrevocable requirement to require a contestant to appear

in a series or season of Drag Race.

One of the most shocking things we uncovered in my US contract video was the right for

the Producer to have participants appear in up to 5 additional seasons of drag race. That

same exact language exists in the UK contract.

“I hereby grant to producer five additional exclusive, irrevocable options to have me

appear as a participant, subject to the terms and conditions of this agreement in five additional

cycles of the series or Rupaul’s Drag Race: All Stars - “Additional Series Options”.

And the most important thing in that little paragraph is that it can require them to appear

in “Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars”, just like the US contract does.

It tells me world of wonder is potentially working on a way to incorporate contestants

from around the world in the same series, instead of making a spin-off of all stars

for every country.

I do want to highlight that this language appears to apply only to participation in

actual Cycles of the show, not guest appearances in episodes of other seasons.

In my last video, I pointed out this language could theoretically lock a contestant into

a 20-year cycle of Drag Race. Which is terrifying and scary, but keep in mind: World of Wonder

is not going to exercise these additional options unless these queens want to return.

Forcing somebody back to compete on drag race likely would not make good TV. But, put a

pin in this idea because things get dicey when things like exclusivity periods come

into play.

Concerning Participation and FIlming the actual series:

The UK version has a section called called Working Hours.

“To the extent the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 apply, I agree that

such hours worked may exceed the maximum weekly working time…”

This section is referring to a law in the UK basically guaranteeing workers a maximum

work week of 48 hours, 28 days paid holidays and so on.

Which, by the way, is AMAZING. Did y’all know that the US is the ONLY advanced economy

that does not federally mandate paid holidays? Ah… The American Dream.

Anyways, this provision basically makes our UK queens sign away those rights to have fair

working conditions. Bringing them down to the American Standard.

But remember, filming usually only lasts 4-6 weeks. But don’t get me wrong - they could

be spending 12 to 14 hours a day in full drag.

Next up, The sections about filming contestants 24/7 and placing recording devices anywhere

they please are almost identical. With one small, notable difference?

Both sections have this line in them: “I agree that I shall have no expectation

of privacy in such locations.”

However, The UK agreement adds this line after that:

“And Accordingly I further agree that by doing so, Producer shall not infringe or violate

the rights of privacy of me or any other party.”

Basically, both agreements let you know not to EXPECT privacy 24/7 during the recording

process… but the UK one at least says they’re not gonna violate that privacy. Whatever that

means?

Both require participants to be available for additional taping,

“Including but not limited to pre-records wrap-arounds and Additional Series Materials”

Which are “cram sessions, recap episodes, reunions, or best-of programs, remix episodes,

extended episode content, enhancement materials, voiceovers, mini-episodes, behind the scenes

content, promotional spots, gaming content, audio content…” and more.

Exclusivity Periods Next, please welcome to the staeeeege: Exclusivity

Period!

Both the UK and US agreements lock participants into a 12-month exclusivity period. It starts

when the agreement is signed and ends “12 months after the initial broadcast of the

last episode of the Program in which [the contestant] appears.”

“If i wish to appear on, authorize production of or participate in any project in any media

then I shall request the Producer’s permission in writing in advance and the producer shall

determine in its sole absolute discretion whether to grant its permission in each instance.”

And while both agreements require contestants to request permission to do pretty much anything

during this period, they do Both include exceptions for “Live Performances”, provided of course

those “Live Performances” do not constitute a tour.

From what I can tell, this language is designed to keep queens available for those World of

Wonder sanctioned tours. Like, the UK Series 2 one happening right now. They tried to get

away with casting like only the top queens and the fan base uproared online, and they

finally decided to graciously put everyone on this tour.

The UK agreement guarantees queens “One Thousand Pounds (1,000)” per show, while

the US agreement guarantees queens “One Thousand Dollars (1,000) per show”.

And while that is a lot of money and I’m sure the queens are thankful to have it, remember

these queens could be commanding a lot more on their own.

DragCon And DragCon attendance is also part of the

deal for both agreements. UK queens will receive one thousand pounds

per european con and three thousand pounds per non-european con.

Remember, our US queens similar numeric amounts, but with the exchange rate considered, the

UK queens are actually winning out here.

However, as nice as those payments sound I do want to point out that Willam said in a

recent episode of The Beat Down reacting to my first contract video, said that queens

actually have to pay for their booths.

[WILLAM] They will also make you pay for your booths.

And electricity in that booth if you want electricity. Wi-Fi if you want sales. They

will make you pay for it all. That money they pay you won’t amount to anything.

Both contracts stipulate WoW as the de-facto manager of the queens, have provisions for

requiring access to all digital media made and used by the queens, and have the same

stipulations for sponsor activity and press appearances - all required without additional

pay.

However, we have seen apparently lenient enforcement of this language, at least in the UK. A’whora,

Bimini Bon Boulash, and Tayce for example, are all signed to modeling agencies. And both

Bimini and Lawrence are signed to Bimini Bon Book deals. Congrats to both of them and everyone

else in that series- y’all are so amazing.

But, it begs the question. Is there just a lack of book deals and modeling agencies knocking

at their doors? Or, are we just seeing a tighter enforcement of that exclusivity period in

the US?

Regardless, I would speculate World of Wonder is probably giving our queens more free reign

in general, in light of the, you know, world-wide pandemic - that stifled so many of their incomes.

ESPECIALLY in the UK with that 7 months (filming) period break.

Ellie diamond experienced homelessness during that period. And Joe Black sold all of his

unused runways so that he could pay his rent.

And then Rupaul of course, had the nerve to yell at hiim for wearing an H&M dress when

he returned to the competition.

That said, the exclusivity period presents an interesting conundrum for queens that are

either invited back to the show right after their original season like Veronica Green,

Cynthia Lee Fontaine, and Eureka and queens that are immediately invited to All Stars

after their initial season.

In their positions, I imagine it would be extremely difficult to say no to such an invitation

or technically “required option” because knowing if you said “no”, World of Wonder

technically has all of this over power over you. They could potentially make your life

hell if they wanted to.

Jan recently tweeted, “Some of you don’t understand the entertainment industry and

the importance of taking opportunities and it shows.” Which sort of exemplifies how

when WOrld of Wonder asks you to do something, like return to their show, you kinda have

to say “Yes”, or you may never see that opportunity again.

Okay, now the section you’ve all been waiting for. Let’s talk about MONEY and copyright.

The UK contestants sign over the same “ideas, gags, suggestions, themes, plots, stories,

characters, characterizations, dialogue, text, designs, graphics, titles, drawings, artwork,

merchandise,” - “digital works, songs, music…” and more collectively known as

“Material”.

And in this section, there’s also a fun little paragraph that I left out in my US

video that I think will interest you. “I acknowledge that producer may depict

or portray my Likeness, and/or my life story either accurately or with such libertities

and modifications...for the purposes of fictionalization, dramatization or any other purposes, including

without limitation to achieve a humorous or satirical effect…”

UK queens also sign away the same merchandising rights, allowing World of Wonder to forever

profit off of their likeness as it relates to the show. So - all of that is the same.

Payment Unfortunately, the biggest difference in these

two agreements is rights payments.

UK series 3 contestants will receive two hundred and fifty pounds per regular episode that

they film. Which, is quite a bit less than their US counterparts even after taking into

account the currency conversion.

For additional series materials, however, which as a reminder include things like reunions

and behind the scenes stuff, they will get paid 200 pounds per day of work which is a

little bit more than the 250 dollars per day of work those queens will receive.

But the main rights payment that they receive on a per episode basis feels SO low. Especially

when you take into consideration that there is no prize pool for winning the season, and

there is no episodic prize for winning challenges either. Well, you know, other than that valuable

Ru Peter Badge.

And this is all compounded by the fact that UK series are shorter than the US ones overall.

Series 2 was only 10 episodes in length compared to US’ season 13’s 16 episode monster

season.

A queen making it halfway through a US season with one win might walk away with, let’s

say: nine thousand dollars.

while a queen with one win making it halfway through a UK series will walk away with about

1,250 pounds - and a ru-peter badge.

And by the way, there are no cash prizes on the UK series not because, like, the BBC is

too cheap to pay them or anything, but because the BBC is a publicly funded network.

This means the general population of the UK pays for programming on the BBC. This however

is made worse by the fact the BBC does not accept sponsors. Which makes sense to keep

news outlets impartial, but it clearly puts certain programs (like drag race) at a disadvantage

to their other country counterparts.

Other Projects The biggest win for UK contestants, in my

opinion, is found in the Other Projects clause which says,

“If from the effective date of this agreement until 12 months after the initial broadcast

of the last episode of the program in which I appear, I desire to render services in connection

with another television program, motion picture, internet production…” etcetera, etcetera,

“I shall give the producer written notice of that intention and I will negotiate with

Producer…”

So, either way it does kinda suck to have that in your contract, BUT the US version

has that other projects clause for 24 months instead of the UK’s 12.

And another big win for UK queens is found in the NDA section of their contract. For

breaking it, UK queens agree to pay a sum of five hundred thousand pounds. And ¾ of

a (USD) Mil is still a LOT, however, Leeja Miller a lawyer that reacted to my US contract

video brought up the point that these numbers are astronomically high compared to what they

actually pay these contestants.

[LEEJA MILLER] If you are on the other side of this NDA trying

to defend yourself from having to comply with it, I still think you might be able to make

an argument saying that that amount of damages even though the contract says its not a penalty,

still amounts to a penalty, especially given how little that they are paid generally speaking.

Like- that’s the biggest number I’ve heard in this whole video.

On top of that, there’s not a lot of precedent for networks suing their reality TV contestants.

One notable example involves Luke Parker from a season of bachelorette, who was ordered

to cough up $100,000 for breaking his exclusivity period.

And speaking of lawyers and lawsuits… UK contestants are also a little bit better off

here as well.

The US contract has a Mediation/Arbitration clause that the UK one does not stating, “I

UNDERSTAND THAT EXHIBIT D WAIVES MY RIGHT TO SUE PRODUCER, VMN, AND ANY OTHER ASSIGNEE

IN A COURT OF LAW … I KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVE MY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL OR COURT TRIAL

AND FREELY CONSENT TO THE TERMS OF EXHIBIT D...”

Instead they agree to use an arbitrator, which is supposed to be an impartial third party,

to settle disputes.

And Finally, we’ll take a look at production protocols.

While the US and UK World of Wonder production protocols documents are almost the exact same

with some small insignificant differences, the UK contract has a specific BBC production

protocols document included.

Here are some of the more interesting protocols in that document:

“For the avoidance of doubt, you will not be miked or recorded in your hotel room.”

the US contract makes no mention of that so I guess US queens should assume that they’re

being recorded in there.

“The portrayal of any individual’s life story will be accurate and fair and in accordance

with BBC guidelines.”

Which really sounds nice, but remember both contracts have the clause that we read early

which says that they can misrepresent contestants to an even satirical or humorous effect. That’s

directly at odds with what this BBC document says, so I don’t know which one would win

out here.

Or maybe this is even some like little loophole for our UK queens to break their contracts

- but y’all didn’t hear that from me.

Other protocols say, “The BBC will not include any product placement

or sponsor identifications in the BBC programme.”

I mentioned this earlier as a disadvantage to our UK queens ‘cause on one hand, it

means they’re not going to get those cash prizes from the likes of Coach, but on the

positive hand I suppose they’re not going to be forced to carry Coach bags down the

runway. Personally, I’d rather carry that Coach bag down the runway and win that cash

prize.

“The BBC takes very seriously their duty of care to you and together with World of

Wonder will ensure that you get the appropriate support throughout the process and will be

providing a point of contact who you can get in touch with about any concerns relating

to emotional harm/injury, interaction with other participants, and any concerns relating

to your personal finances.”

In practical application, I don’t know how that would play out but I suppose it sounds

nice that you can have somebody you can call who would be like, a neutral third party,

if you were experiencing some grievances.

In summary, We saw the US and UK contracts are largely the same. It surprised me that

they were like - equally as restrictive in terms of what these contestants are [giving]

up to participate on the show.

However, There was a lot of discussion in the comment section about the enforceability

of these contracts.

Of course, that is the whole reason we have legal systems. Lawyers are hired to interpret

contracts and law, and then its up the jury or judge to decide which lawyer interpreted

those things best. May the most money, WIN!

Another common concern I saw in the comment section of my previous video was, “Should

we continue to support Drag Race, now knowing how restrictive these contracts can be?”

My answer to this is- of course. These queens give up a lot -willingly- to participate on

Rupaul’s Drag Race and they deserve our support.

Sometimes seeing how the sausage is made, *gasp* can be scary... but I think its important

to be an informed consumer.

As of today, the reward of participating on the show highly outweighs the risk of what

they’re giving up. And the reward for queens that do well in the competition is extremely

high.

For example, the founder of Voss events - the company that manages Aquaria - said in a 2019

Forbes interview that Aquaria earned over $1 million dollars in sponsor and talent fees

after winning Drag Race.

But at the same time, I doubt the early outs of her season earned half or a quarter as

much… and they gave up the same rights she did.

So yeah, its a bit of a gamble to go on Rupaul’s Drag Race… but there is a net positive,

I think for queens that are willing to make the most of their time on the show.

With that said, make sure to support local drag with the same veracity that you support

your favorite drag race queens.

As a reminder, my channel is made possible by my generous patrons - and sponsors.

And My patreon subscribers get exclusive member benefits like early access to my videos, exclusive

videos, access to the Bussy Queen discord server, and more!

I’ve also made the US and UK contracts available publicly on my patreon. Join my Patreon to

day to support my channel at: Patreon.com/BussyQueen

I wanna say thanks to you for watching this video and give a special shoutout to:

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