On The Set

On Set

By Lara Lenhoff

        “Cut! CUT! CUT!” Oliver Mandel screamed from the darkness as his two costars struggled to keep a straight face on the set of the medical drama they were filming. “Take 20 everyone.” Oliver said in an irritated huff, motioning to Suzie to join him as he walked off the set. After one of his acting recruits Nick Strong mispronounced neuroblastoma for the fiftieth time, he’d had enough. Nick looked like he was 23 and was supposed to be portraying an Oncologist searching for a cure for his 8-year-old patient Maddy, played by Stephanie Wright.

        The show had been approved for a season on ABC after the pilot got approved, but now there were issues; The actors who were in the pilot had given notice that they were leaving the series, and all the writers had abandoned ship because of the strike.

       Oliver and his producer Suzie Comoglio sat across from each other in the small writer’s room for half an hour after calling for a break on the lot for their show, Emergency.

      “We’re screwed Suzie, screwed! We get a show and then this strike happens. What are we supposed to do?” Oliver was sweating, his hair matted underneath his beanie, rings of sweat developing under his arms yellowing his once white t shirt.

       “I don’t know if this is going to be possible now.” Suzie said, her head bowed down in between her legs as she began practicing her breathing exercises recommended by her therapist. With the strike going on all over town, Oliver was desperate. He needed actors who could play doctors. After about an hour of Suzie’s breathing exercises, she finally spoke.

       “What if we went hospital hopping and found medical students with availability to help us?” She sat up quickly, her cat-like eyes glistening behind her Buddy Holly frame glasses, large and full of hope.

       When in development for Emergency, they had consulted with a few retired doctors in the medical field, but they were now all unavailable and on vacation in either Greece or Italy. Some had relocated to Nashville like most Californians had in the last three years. They got all the help they could get initially from those retirees, but now because of the strike, Oliver was up making calls during all hours of the night, begging his writing degree friends from college where he received his film degree to help him.

He was convincing.

            Travis, Natalie, Hodge, and Matthew flew in from New York and took on serving as the writing team for Emergency. After two weeks of enjoying some free time at the beach in Santa Monica, Oliver implored them to get to it and start coming up with at least five scripts. They were stressed and drinking copious amounts of coffee and whiskey, researching and conversing with Siri and Alexa to find diagnoses, causes, and treatments and googling at all hours of the night and morning to find something to incorporate into the episodes.

           They tossed ideas back and forth like tennis balls on the Wimbledon court, coming up with storylines for the characters they were developing. Hodge was stuffing his face with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for energy, Natalie was chugging Alkaline water and eating trail mix, and Matthew was sitting back on the sofa with his eyes staring at the ceiling, wondering why he left his teaching job at NYU to do this. Travis was looking through the Encyclopedias he checked out from the library. The nerd in the group, Travis had always wanted to write for television, and his job at a local paper in New York City wasn’t as exciting as he’d hoped it would be.

            They were all sharing Oliver’s studio apartment while Oliver slept on the set on a hospital bed, pacing back and forth at night while drinking a bottle of cheap whiskey and drawing out plans on a chalk board. He would call the group who was spread out in the 590 square foot apartment incessantly, shooting off ideas. They would compare notes and consult Siri and Alexa at Oliver’s apartment. This went on for days.

              Oliver and Suzie were now left with the burden of casting the show with independent actors, and after hours of pacing back and forth and chain-smoking, Suzie hit the jackpot with the suggestion of targeting acting classes and talent agencies. They were all over Los Angeles, and each and every one of those students was always searching for their big break, desperately seeking a shot at the big time. With her suggestion, Oliver’s eyes grew large. He might be able to relax for five minutes. They just needed to find the right people who wanted to work for next to nothing and who were good looking and smart sounding with talent. How hard could it be? They were in Los Angeles! They had found Nick Strong and Stephanie Wright at the Kim Sparks Talent Agency, but Nick was proving to be illiterate, and Oliver was not going to let him crap all over his show.

            Oliver and Suzie got up early the next morning and went hospital hopping. They arrived at Los Angeles County Hospital with trays full of coffee for at least eight people. Oliver used his gift of gab when walking into the Oncology ward, claiming he was visiting his aunt with colon cancer. As he was talking to a nurse at the nurses’ station, a calm, confident, and masculine voice caught his ear. As he turned around, Oliver saw a white light framing around Dr. Will Parker, a third -year resident. He had a chiseled jaw and dark hair, aqua eyes like a Husky and a smile that could blind Stevie Nicks. Oliver nudged Suzie and motioned over to him with his eyes, not letting him out of his site. Suzie’s jaw dropped as she took in the glow of this man that could be their star.

They just had to convince him to be a doctor on the show.

           “Hi, Dr. Parker?” Oliver extended his hand while reading the name tag on Will’s white coat. “May I speak with you for a minute?”

          “I’m about to go on rounds. Can you make it quick please?”

          “I can try. Here, please take some coffee.” He handed Dr. Parker a Starbucks cup and sipped from his as inconspicuously as possible. And then came the spiel. Suzie backed it up with everything she had, smiling wider and wider at the doctor, blushing like a schoolgirl.

           “Oliver, I am a doctor. I have rounds and actual patients that I see.”

            “That’s what makes you perfect for the show! You can pronounce things and deliver and be believable!” Suzie exclaimed.

             Dr Will Parker was actually flattered as he looked at the hopeful faces of the two exhausted industry people that stood before him. He loved all the medical shows that were on television, for those shows had actually inspired him to become a doctor in the first place. It was George Clooney’s performance on ER that had put a trance on him when he was 13. Will knew that he was handsome enough to be on television, and he believed what Suzie and Oliver knew to be as true as he did. He was a doctor and could easily play one, but could he leave the hospital and his patients to embark on a career in television? Could he throw his morals and ethics out the window?

4 weeks Later

          “I’m sorry to tell you this Jane, but your Gliobastoma multiforme has progressed far more quickly than we initially thought it would.” Dr. Will Parker delivered the diagnosis perfectly to the actress playing Jane. There was no need to cut or reshoot the scene. Dr. Parker could pronounce the diagnosis and show true empathy for his patient. Jane was the daughter of one of Dr. Parker’s real patients at Los Angeles County Hospital who was pursuing her MFA in Acting at Chapman University in Orange County, and her tears were real and convincing. Behind the camera, Oliver and Suzie smiled like children on Christmas morning. This was going to work.