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The creative team behind such streaming hits as #THEDISH and Tan to 10 are back with a new series that will have you believing in the supernatural – and being highly entertained in the process.
The latest series from Adam Barta and Gregg Maliff’s Aquetra Media is Seance with the Queens. The show, which premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime on April 26, pairs scream queens from movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Sleepaway Camp with some familiar names from RuPaul’s Drag Race. The queens join psychic medium join forces with SARAHSPIRITUAL in an attempt to prove the supernatural really exists. Each of the season’s five episodes, features a new scream queen and seance, as other invited guests join the table, desperate to contact their loved ones. Tears will flow, and shocking tea will be revealed.
Season one of the series features scream queens Lisa Wilcox, star of Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child,, Felissa Rose, from the cult classic Sleepaway Camp and Tuesday Knight from Nightmare on Elm Street 4. The featured drag queens include Kahmora Hall, who made an appearance in Hocus Pocus 2, our favorite All Star Pandora Boxx, Kahtya Tension, Serenity Jade Paris (Angeria Paris Van Michael’s drag mother), Jasmine Pryce Lords, Prince Triila and Inkmasters star Jayvo Scott.
The show’s hosts and executive producers Adam and Gregg, along with Jojo Payne, help Sarah as she conducts a real, unscripted drag queen seance at iconic drag establishment Hamburger Mary’s, located in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
We chatted with the show’s co-creator Gregg Maliff about the new show, the spookiest happenings that occurred during filming and the behind-the-scenes tea spilled by the scream queens in our exclusive interview.
I watched Seance with the Queens and I thought it was so much fun. What was the inspiration behind the show?
The inspiration, real simple, is that our community is hurting, and I had met some really amazing people while working on another show prior, and the spiritualist that I ended up encountering, everyone that she met throughout our past production has benefited in some way, whether it's through soul searching or, or spirituality or just a good sense of themselves.
And she was able to provide that. And I wanted everyone that I was connected with, everyone that I knew, everyone that was close around me. To get an opportunity to feel that. Sarah is one of a kind. When you meet her, you have to take into consideration that there's so many out there that claim to be what she obviously is. She can prove it 10 different ways from here till Sunday, but the most important thing was the love that she shared with everyone that I knew and with the production team. I mean, you know, just from watching it, she has a connection. She has something that's undeniable. For me, that's a recipe for success.
Did you believe in the unexplained before you started working on the show?
I did. I did. To a certain extent, though. I mean, I'm always a skeptic. I'm always someone that will tear something apart to find the truth. However, I don't know, within five minutes of sitting with Sarah, within five minutes of having that opportunity to introduce yourself to her, and have her find something within you without doing any research, whatever it can be, she'll pull something so ideally accurate that you cannot help just falling for it and just really, I know falling for it's a horrible way to put it, but you can't help falling for her.
And I think that her message is so strong and to be able to share it with some hysterical drag queens that were not prepared for it. And then in the middle of this drag crisis, you know, we're looking for drag queens, can't find them so then we brought in some screen queens. I mean, that was amazing. We brought in the scream queens that actually activate themselves within the LGBT community. It was a really fun idea.
What was the oddest thing that happened while the show was filming?
The oddest thing that happened was actually on day one, we were at Hamburger Mary's down at Wilton Manors. Adam and I checked through everything. We checked all the audio. We checked all the video. We had our productions assistants running around, making sure that all the air conditioning was off, that there would be no sound. We only had the overhead lighting. And within 20 minutes, we heard this…we don't know exactly what it was, but the EVP recording says it…I don't know if I'm allowed to say it or not, but you know, they very clearly state their message and a mannequin dropped out of nowhere. I thought that the production team was playing a joke on me because I'm kind of, I'm a little crazy in the head sometimes, but that was legit. And there were about 14 people, including some of the people that were around the production and people working behind the bar. Everyone saw it. So it was, it's not deniable. It was the creepiest damn thing I've ever been through. We were hoping for something, don't get me wrong, but to actually have it happen was strange.
I loved seeing Felissa Rose and the other scream queens. How were you able to get them involved in the series?
Between Adam Barta and myself, we have probably a Rolodex that travels and reaches across the world. With our connections, we are trying to find those people out there that actually feel something for the LGBT community, feel something for what our project was, and taking that aspect and going to some of the horror cons, going to Orlando and meeting some of the biggest stars out there, like Robert Englund and, for me, Lisa Wilcox from Nightmare on Elm Street 5. She’s amazing, she's got potential, she's got a love about her, she's got something that's so endearing and special, and she's part of our generation.
When Adam and I reached out to her, she just kind of laughed at us and said, “You want me to do what? You want me to do a seance? What are you talking about?” We put her in touch with Sarah just to let her know that this woman is legit. And she came down and she joined us at Hamburger Mary’s and it was pretty amazing, honestly.
Having Lisa on board really opened up some doors, I would say, because we were able to go back and revisit some, some people. Tuesday Knight is somebody that is a very dear friend of Adam Barta’s and we were so lucky to be able to have her come on. She was a breath of fresh air, to be honest with you. She was all about the project. She's all about the eeries and the creepies and the crawlies. And she's legit. She's exactly who she says she is. And she was a bit of a skeptic and Sarah was able to at least open her eyes. I can't say if she's a hundred percent believer, but I will say that she opened her eyes and everything that she has predicted for her is coming true to date like her song coming out next week. I mean, there's so many things that are so legit. It's crazy.
One of the things I enjoyed as along with seance was having the scream queens tell stories from their productions. What was the coolest thing that was revealed from their stories?
I'm going to say Tuesday Knight. We hung out at a horror conn over in Orlando. And we were sitting down just talking about some of the drag queens that she's met, and some of the shows that she's been to. She likes to have fun, she likes to go have a good time – and when we were interviewing her, she had no idea that she was with one of the original drag queen villains of all time. We had Freddy Krueger in drag when she was in this incredible movie and she had no idea. I mean, she did, but she didn't really understand the impact that it does have that it's really just an actor playing a role, but the more people we have doing that better.
Felissa Rose also had some stories to tell. She's got some behind the scenes info that would just make you laugh. I mean, some of these people, they really are down to earth. They're just like you and me, but she's got some juicy tidbits behind the scenes and it says that there's a lot of romanticism on her sets, which I think is pretty cool.
Did you learn anything about yourself while working on Seance with the Queens?
I did. I don't even know where to begin. I've learned so much. I am battling myself with a terminal diagnosis that Is something that Sarah is helping me with day by day. She's just the best person around me – especially with Adam and the team. I think what really amazed me is the people that I was trying to help – the people that I really wanted to get involved with this project and reach out to and wrap my arms around as much as Adam did.
I think what ended up happening is through meeting all of these people I found a sense of self awareness that as much as they think I'm helping them…I don't know how to say that as much as I think I'm helping them in what I'm trying to provide them. The impact, the response, the amazing thank yous that you get from this team just from meeting this woman, it proves to me that she's really helping me, she's really doing something for me and everyone around me that's close to me can see it.
I think creating a project like this, showcasing the drag community in this horrible state of Florida with everything going on and being able to show, I guess, a piece of vulnerability to be able to let some of these queens in and let them know that not everyone's out to get them, that we're all a family. I think we all became an incredible family of love and acceptance and the joy and It's just family. I can't say it enough. The family we've gained is amazing. It's absolutely amazing. We're already talking about season two, three, and four.
You beat me to that question, because I was going to ask if you wanted to do another season, and if so, who's on your dream cast?
Everyone's reaching out now. My dream cast? Hmm. I know who Adam's dream cast is. I would say, I know he wants Detox. I know that for sure. Jaymes Mansfield, I think, would be absolutely hysterical. I love Kennedy Davenport. She's a Florida girl. She is somebody that I would love to see the expression and the look on her face when Sarah tells her something that will just completely throw her off her chair, somebody like that will just have the best experience, I believe, honestly. I mean, my ultimate would be RuPaul. That's somebody that I really believe can benefit. I understand that's 10 degrees of so far separation. It's crazy. But I really believe that he could benefit from this. I don't know. Everybody has, including my mom.
What are you hoping that audiences are going to take away from the show?
That through all the trials and tribulations, what's going on and the hate and the misunderstandings and miscommunication in this world that there are a team of people. There are a group of people that are around you. They're everyone that you know. They're wrapping their arms around you and trying to make things better. Let's not fight that and maybe embrace it a little bit more. I think we can make the world a better place.
I've watched all of your shows. I've watched #THEDISH. I've watched Tan to 10 and I love Seance with the Queens. What else is in the works for you?
We've got a couple projects in the works right now. We're working on a talk show for a former American Idol contestant. I can say that we are working on an amazing Christmas special that we've taken to a completely new height. I don't know if you've seen the last Christmas special…that was fun and campy and we love it. We're going to take it up a little bit of a notch and production value and really beef it up with possibly some special guests that Adam has always wanted on this show. Well, I don't know if he'll let me tell you…but we really want Vicki Lawrence. He wants Mama for the Christmas special.
Adam had mentioned that you directed one of the episodes. Did you direct one of the episodes of Seance?
I did. I actually directed the documentary. We have a documentary that is a side piece to this. It is a culmination of all of the episodes, but it really expresses the story that I felt was poignant. It needed to be told from the very beginning, which is throughout all the comedy and all the laughs and, and everything, just finding your center, finding yourself, believing in oneself, believing in the people around you and taking that support and really running with it.
That was my goal with it. And I think we've won, geez, we've won four awards already through some film festivals. We are officially selected for, I can't even believe this, for nine. It's a dream come true. It's working with Adam's creative nuts brain is hysterical and I absolutely love it. I love to challenge him, give him a little run for his money. I think together we're unstoppable and we're not going to stop. We're going to keep going. We're going to create some amazing content. We've got some amazing ideas, the talent pool alone that's reached out since Tan to 10, which is such a crazy show.
I really think that we've got the means and the ability to create some fun, entertaining, meaningful projects out there that will really showcase who we actually are. We're a great group of people. Aquetra Media. We bring the funny!
Seance with the Queens premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime on April 26. Follow the show on Instagram.
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