In this Dorkaholics exclusive, we sit down with On Call creators Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf to uncover the depths of their new series. Elliot reflects on his academic journey at UPenn, where he studied cinema and urban studies, and how these fields influenced the urban landscape and storytelling of On Call. Tim shares insights from his time on Chicago PD and how those experiences shaped their approach to this series, particularly in their authentic portrayal of law enforcement. Additionally, they delve into the critical role of bodycam footage within the show, discussing the decision-making process behind its use and its impact on the narrative. Tune in to hear how On Call brings complex themes to life through its creators’ unique perspectives. Subscribe for more behind-the-scenes insights and exclusive interviews!
Hey, Tim. Hey, Elliot. This is Neil from Dorkaholics.
Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf: Hey there. How are you? Pleasure. Nice to see you, man.
Thank you. I’m still recovering from binging all eight episodes of On Call.
Tim Walsh: Awesome to hear.
Elliot Wolf: Recovering in a good way, I hope.
Emotional, the high stress, the tension. You guys really create an amazing series that captures, I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never been a police officer, but what I imagine to be the high stakes, life or death circumstances of being a police officer.
Tim Walsh: Thank you for saying that. We appreciate that’s high, high praise.
I wanted to start off by asking Elliot, I know you’ve ran your whole gamut of the entertainment industry from beginning working at WME, but before that you were at UPenn majoring in urban studies and I wanted to know if that played any role in influencing or preparing you for being a co-creator on On Call.
Elliot Wolf: You did your research. I love it.
Tim Walsh: That’s impressive. I didn’t even know that.
Elliot Wolf: I actually did urban studies and cinema studies. So the two sort of went hand in hand, I guess, to prepare me for the experience. But the short answer is yeah, absolutely. I spent a lot of time studying Philadelphia as a city and how it’s structured and so forth, and I think that lends itself to sort of first responders as a whole, but I would say that the research that we did for this show is much more applicable to what you see on screen.
Neil Bui: And for Tim, I don’t want to leave you out. What past experiences in film best prepared or influenced you as a co-creator on this series?
Tim Walsh: I’m sure my time on Chicago PD really helped. That’s where I learned how to write on that show, a network TV show. Like you have to learn how to do it fast and do it well. It also sets the template for this. We wanted to make it exactly opposite of what a network show was. I had all the knowledge of what I’ve written in the past and we didn’t want to do anything like that. And we wanted to make this its own unique thing. So Chicago PD was very influential on a lot of this for me.
When we talk about what kind of, maybe not makes it opposite, but sets it apart from other police shows audiences may have seen, I think the use of mobile phones as well as body cams really, places the audience in, in scenes that haven’t been really seen before. And I wanted to ask about the decision made behind that. Do you imagine what is the best scene or moment to put on body cam and cell phone footage, or do you look for the best scene as possible to make sense of the plot and then figure out how to put that on the mobile phone and the body cam?
Elliot Wolf: Well, yeah, I think there’s a couple of different answers to that, but firstly, there’s no more relatable lens in the world today than the cell phone. Everyone has one in their pocket for the most part. So we felt body cam, dash cam footage also being on the internet, on the news that using these relatable lenses created a level of immersion, gave that visceral feeling, like you’re actually with these characters. That was the goal as to when we actually use it. I mean, from day one, our goal was to ground this series as much as possible. And there are times when body cameras are on and off for a police officer. So we use that first and foremost as guardrails of when we could use a body camera.
Tim Walsh: The deeper we got into production, I think we just started running body cams for the whole duration and we would get in the editing room and then decide what we wanted to use rather than in the script. You’re not really scripting “we’re going to do body camera” unless we wanted to make a really cinematic, entry point into a new, certain call or scene, but really by the end of the shoot, man, we were running those things the whole time we were in the scene and then picking and editing.
Oh, wow. That is incredible. That sounds like there’s a lot that was left on the editing floor.
Tim Walsh: There certainly was..
Well, thank you so much for your time today, Elliot and Tim. It’s been a pleasure speaking. I can’t wait to talk with more people about On Call.
Elliot Wolf: I appreciate it. Thanks.
Tim Walsh: Thanks.