Goloka Bolte
‘IT’S ABOUT DIVERSITY IN SKILLS AND STYLE’
A DECADE AGO Goloka Bolte and her business partner Ethan Peterson founded the Casting Firm, and a little over eight years ago they were brought on to cast “Rupaul’s Drag Race” and its subsequent spinoffs. Since then they have been nominated three times for reality casting Emmys and now Bolte, who also acts as president of the company, can be found casting up to seven shows at any one time. What do you look for when it comes to casting “Rupaul’s Drag Race”? The queen needs to have a great story and a defined character. We’re looking for things we haven’t seen before. We look for someone who is unique and has many different skills. “Rupaul’s Drag Race” is a competition unlike any other. We need to know if they can dance and sing. Will they be good at off-thecuff humor and comedy? This show is about being true to your authentic self, how do you draw that from the audition tape? The tapes are different qualities. We’ve had tapes where the audition is just shot on a phone, and sometimes we’ll get an entire production. [But] an authentic sense of self is something you already have, you’re figuring it out, or you don’t have it yet. It’s very obvious when you watch them, you can see when the queens know their character and strength. There are What other research goes into finding queens to dive into their backgrounds before officially bringing them into the family? We try to catch drag shows as often as possible, but we aren’t just casting in L.A. so we have to keep tabs on who is performing at clubs around the country, who has great performances on Youtube [and] who is getting love on Reddit and gaining popularity on social platforms. How much vetting do you have to do? For example, Sherry Pie was disqualified after allegations of catfishing emerged when the season began airing, well after she competed. All contestants who appear on “Drag Race” go through a rigorous background check as well as a psychological evaluation. This is the industry standard for anyone appearing on an unscripted competition series, as we always want to make sure our cast members are safe and can handle an intense filming schedule. The most recent season featured the first Iranian contestant. What was it about Jackie Cox that stood out? You see it on the show. She is talented and has a unique point of view and you’ve not seen anyone like that on the show before. I loved that she really knows how to play into her heritage. Diversity is so important to us because it represents the drag community. It is about diversity in skills and style. This season we had some spooky queens, and we haven’t had that before [either]. tapes we get in where there is a lot of talent, but that person hasn’t quite gotten there yet and we keep an eye on those, the ones who have potential.