1n 2004, a film theory professor screened “Paris Is Burning,” a documentary about 1980s ballroom culture. A young African American and Puerto Rican queer student walked back to his residence hall building afterwards thinking about how it could inspire a really good television show. He dreamt up a character of a young gay boy named Damon, who gets kicked out of his parents house and has to learn to survive in New York City.
Although he never thought he’d be the one to tell the story, after years of work in higher education administration, Steven Canals went back to school to get an MFA in screenwriting, and in 2014, began working on what we now know as the hit FX series “Pose.”
In the midst of directing the series finale, set to air in May, Canals took time on March 17 to speak to University of Rhode Island students, staff and alumni as the keynote speaker of the Gender and Sexualiy Center’s LGBTQ+ Symposium about his work on “Pose” and background in higher education.
“Pose” evolved greatly in the years since Canal left that screening and eventually started writing the pilot. Originally, it revolved around Damon (Ryan Jamaal Swain) and drag queens, with the ball culture element remaining as the inspiration. Eventually, the drag queens became transgender women and “Pose” made history by having the largest transgender cast for a scripted television series with stars like MJ Rodriguez, Domonique Jackson, Indya Moore, Angelica Ross and Hailie Sahar. The focus shifted to Blanca (Rodriguez), a trans woman diagnosed with HIV, trying to make a name for herself as both a business woman and mother of the House of Evangelista. With the change also came a lightness and core family aspect that was missing in the original, much darker draft, a result of a conversation with co-creator Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story,” “Glee”).
“Partway through revamping, Ryan was like ‘I think we need to take a different approach,’” said Canals. “One of the things he said to me that really resonated is ‘all the joy that you have in being a queer person of color like I need to see that I need to feel that on the page,’ and that’s where the show really did a 180.”
The show premiered to critical success, with rave views and an Emmy win in its second season for Billy Porter’s performance as Pray Tell, an emcee of the ballroom and mentor and friend to Blanca. On March 5, it was announced that the third season would be its last.
Despite its success, it wasn’t an easy show to get made. At the time, and still today, there were no shows like it, and it was hard for Canals to find a market. He said he had 166 pitch meetings in two-and-a-half years before meeting the show’s executive producer Sherry Marsh. Within two months of meeting her, he had a meeting with Murphy, who told him that they were going to get the show made.
Suddenly, the obstacles he’d been facing in developing the show went away, which he credited to having Murphy, a powerful white man in Hollywood, as his collaborator. Longtime producing, directing and writing partner of Murphy, Brad Falchuk also joined as the show’s third co-creator.
“As a queer Afro-Latin person, aligning with him as someone who was already in the industry at that point for whatever it was 15, 16 years, you know, all the battles that my contemporaries who are also Black or Brown or Asian have to deal with, I didn’t have to deal with any of that because I had Ryan Murphy as my collaborator,” Canals said.
Despite how groundbreaking the show is and how it’s been hailed as an agent of change in the industry, particularly with the visibility and representation of trans people, Canals said he hasn’t seen much of it himself.
While being aligned with Murphy and Falchuk helped him when it came to getting his show greenlight, he knows that ultimately, “Pose” is a show centering Black trans women created by three cis men, two of whom are white.
“Where are all the trans people? Where all the nonbinary folks out in the world who also have stories to tell and have content?” said Canals. “Because I know they’re out there because I meet them. So I’m like, ‘why are those shows not getting greenlit?’”
It was issues like this that lead the second season to explore a darker side of the trans experience: violence against Black trans women. The show had been praised for showing the joyful side of the trans community and ballroom culture, even with some struggles and the looming presence of HIV/AIDs, and Canals had wanted it to remain that way.
However, in May 2019, three Black trans women in the United States died of gunshot wounds within five days. It was a turning point for Canals, who realized that they’d have to tackle the issue to stay authentic and say goodbye to a beloved character.
“Paris Is Burning” features trans performer and aspiring model Venus Xtravaganza prior to her murder at the age of 23 in 1988. Her killer was never found. While Angel Evangelista (Moore) represents what Xtravaganza’s life could have been like if she lived, Candy Ferocity serves as a mirror to her real-life experiences in the episode “Never Knew Love Like This Before.”
The episode shocked many with mixed reactions. Some fans thanked them for telling such an authentic, heartbreaking story, while others felt like their safe haven had been ripped away.
“I stand by our choice, which was like, we just felt it was important to highlight what was happening to the community, that we couldn’t sort of let that moment go by and not address it in a significant way,” said Canals.
Whether audience members agree it not, it will surely go down as one of the most memorable episodes and important storylines of “Pose” as it gets ready to air its final episodes.
Canals leaves behind “Pose” proud, recalling numerous stories of audience members who shared how much his work and the stories he told affected them, but unsure of its legacy in the industry.
“I don’t see it getting better,” Canals said of trans representation on screen. “I’m hopeful that the industry will shift. And I hope that, I hope it’s not this long, but I hope like 10, 15 years from now, we look back on this moment, and we say, ‘oh ‘Pose’ was the beginning of a moment; it cracked the door open.’ But at this point, I don’t know that I’ve seen that happen yet.”
The final season of “Pose” will feature eight episodes, two of which will be directed by Canals, including the finale. It one is set to premiere on May 2, 2021. Canals has multiple projects in the work through a deal he signed with 20th Television last year.