Last April, New York City television editor Brad Holmes took a job that was supposed to last four months while he waited to start the master’s program in environmental policy at Columbia’s School of International Public Affairs in the fall. He was thrilled about starting school and possibly making environmental documentaries. But the temporary job exploded into the national phenomenon ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ which premiered last July. When Holmes had to write a letter to Columbia asking for a deferment, he wondered how he would explain he was working on this show. The administrator for Columbia called and said, ‘Of course you can defer. I love the show.’ Holmes, a Palisades native, is now senior editor for the Bravo series, and still hasn’t decided whether he’ll enter Columbia in the fall. ‘I’m still enjoying working on the show,’ he says. The program features the Fab Five’gay experts in fashion, grooming, interior design, food and wine and culture’who help make over a straight guy who needs help in these areas. The combination of entertainment, humor and useful information has made the show more successful than anyone anticipated. ‘I saw the pilot and thought it was hilarious, but had no idea how successful it would be,’ Holmes said in an interview by phone from his editing studio in Soho. Each episode (airing Tuesdays 10 p.m. on Bravo) is built around the personality of the straight guy, and the gay experts incorporate his interests and personality into the makeover. The hour-long show culminates with an event’such as a party or romantic dinner’where the straight guy reveals his new look and tries to incorporate all the information he’s learned. Holmes begins with about 25 to 30 hours of multi-camera footage for each episode, which is cut down to an hour in length, a process that takes about five weeks. The five experts are not actors. ‘The idea is to keep the show as organic as possible,’ Holmes said. ‘The show feels relaxed, it doesn’t feel rehearsed. It’s a big whirlwind when the five superheroes descend on the straight guy. It’s amazing the response. He gets a lot out of it. A few tears have been known to happen.’ The show has no script, so Holmes’ role as film editor becomes very important. ‘You get to create [your own] beginning, middle and end.’ The process begins with casting the straight guy, who should be fun and outgoing and have a good story to tell. Holmes divides the show into five acts. In the first 10 minutes, the Fab Five burst into the straight guy’s apartment, tear it apart and deconstruct the guy and his lifestyle. In the show’s signature style, each expert is caught in a freeze frame, then reintroduced with a graphic stating his name and expertise. Finding the right moment to freeze each expert is a challenge, but it usually pays off with a punchline’humor is a big part of the Fab Five’s style. In the second act, the Fab Five take the guy shopping in the New York City area, where the show is filmed, and meanwhile redo his house or apartment. Although the actual filming takes place over four days, it’s made to look as if it all happens in one day. In the third act, the man sees his new house and gets lessons. Chef Ted explains how to cook a simple dish, with the idea that viewers at home can learn from it, too. ‘You can watch it once, go into the kitchen and make it,’ Holmes said. Fashion expert Carson has the man model his new outfits and explains why they fit him well and were chosen. Grooming expert Kyan shows him how to use a new skin or hair product. ‘By this point, the straight guy is bombarded with information and completely overwhelmed,’ says Holmes, 31, who admits he has learned quite a bit about style, interior design and food from watching all the footage. The Fab Five then leave, and the man is ‘left on his own to fend for himself.’ In the fourth act, the man cooks, gets dressed and prepares for the evening’s event. Meanwhile the Fab Five watch along on video and comment on the inevitable mistakes and mishaps. In the final act, the big event happens. ‘It’s very hands off; what’s going to happen, happens,’ Holmes says. Some men are able to apply all the information better than others. In one of Holmes’s favorite episodes, Alan Cory was introducing his girlfriend’s parents to his parents. ‘He poured the drinks way too strong, and he used a sweaty rag to clean a plate. It was hilarious, very organic mishaps that were really fun.’ Casting was difficult in the first season, Holmes recalls. ‘There was a lot of hesitation for straight guys. Once the show took off, it wasn’t hard.’ Holmes calls the success of the show a ‘surreal experience. The timing of the show and the popularity of the show really coincide with gay issues in the country. Gay marriage and gay rights are becoming more mainstream. I’ve had grandmothers stop me and tell me they love the show.’ Holmes attended St. Matthew’s and Loyola High School before getting his college degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After college, he moved back to L.A. and started as a low-level runner for a movie trailer house. He stayed after work and taught himself how to use the editing machines, which led to his next job as assistant editor at a documentary company. He later became an editor working on hour-long shows for the History Channel, Discovery and A&E. He moved to New York’s West Village in 2000 and began working on MTV and VH1 music videos, programming and ‘Real World’ specials. ‘I learned how to do unscripted shows, which is a very different kind of editing.’ Currently, his editing job requires 12- to 13-hour days working along with three other editors. As for the stars of the show, he says ‘they’re all genuine, caring people and funny. That’s really who they are. There’s just a presence about the five of them that’s addictive.’ Holmes has even got his older brother Kevin, a composer, involved in the show, creating music for many of the episodes. Kevin, who lives in Silver Lake, talks to Brad on the phone and the two will discuss the particular episode and Kevin will come up with music themes to fit. ‘We get a dossier for each straight guy’his interests, his house, what his issues are, so to speak. We look at what his tastes are, try to figure out what the vibe of the show would be and make tracks for each guy,’ says Kevin, 38. As for Brad, he says ‘I’m drawn towards the reality format, non-fiction, but I am also very curious about doing features and scripted dramas.’ He’s also interested in moving into directing and has already completed an hour-long documentary on past-life therapy. Next month he will be directing an episode of ‘Queer Eye,’ which he will also be editing, with the goal of eventually move into directing permanently. No matter what he decides to do about studying environmental policy in graduate school, Holmes would like to someday find a way to combine his interests in the environment and filmmaking.
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