In any other scenario, the scene taking place would be a grave emergency: There are three gurneys lined up, each with a patient surrounded by IV stands and connected to wires. There's a man, a pregnant woman, and a slightly portly gentleman whose hairy legs are sticking out from underneath a blue surgical towel that's covering his pelvic area. These patients are made of plastic, but on this July day, they're very real to the cast of CBS's Code Black. It's training day for the actors, who in just a few of these medical boot camp sessions need to learn how to become doctors. Well, how to look like one, anyway. On screen, their movements around trauma rooms must look seamless and like they're second nature. Real doctors and nurses have been brought to the set in Burbank to teach the cast. Many of them are people executive producer and medical doctor Ryan Mcgarry "went to battle with" back in his days in the emergency room. "I think they're invaluable in transmitting the culture of that world in the ER and those skill sets to our actors," he told Mashable. On this particular day, the actors are about to begin filming what will be their second episode. But they received a crash course — where they learned how to properly wheel a gurney and other basics — a few months back, ahead of filming the pilot. Marcia Gay Harden (second from left) gets hands on during a medical training session on the set of 'Code Black.' In fact, all 75 hospital employee extras who appeared on that first episode went through it. The show also recruited 30 real medical professionals to build an authentic, living, breathing emergency room. (The latter group even joined SAG so they would have the ability to talk on screen.) This goes beyond normal protocol. Usually, extras are given their wardrobe and given instructions on where to walk and what objects to move. But the team wanted it to feel like real cases were going on at all times. "We decided early on that the environment we wanted and the energy we wanted could only be achieved if we filled it with real people," said executive producer Michael Seitzman. "And we told the extras: 'This is your patient. This is what's wrong with your patient ... treat your patient. Do what you would normally do.'" The actors were then told that their scene would have to fit into that chaotic situation, "over that roar," as Seitzman describes it. The grittiness they set out to accomplished is very much achieved in the first episode. It's chaotic and stressful and looks like hard work. In a big area close to where filming takes place, there's another type of work going on as the cast learns how to insert central lines and practices suturing on notecard-sized pieces of fake flesh. They listen intently and ask questions of their instructor, who, after teaching the group, will report for an evening shift in the real ER. She offers to let them shadow at one point, if they're interested. Benjamin Hollingsworth, who plays Dr. Mario Savetti, immediately bites. "Are you working Sunday?" he asks her. Much of this outside work takes place between filming, but the actors seem more than willing to put in the time and do the homework. "Michael and I are both really impressed when, throughout the process, [the actors] would ask us why they're doing certain things," Mcgarry said. "It's not enough for them to move their hands and fake a procedure, they want to know why they're doing it, and I think it makes their dialogue more connected to what they're doing." Harry Ford is visibly squeamish when the teacher describes a central line gone wrong. Thankfully, co-star William Allen Young is there to provide perspective. "Thank goodness this is not real." Source
