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EXCLUSIVE: Executive Producers Andrew Schneider And Diane Frolov Talk The Upcoming Season Of Chicago Med
The brains behind the hit medical drama reveal their plans for the upcoming season and how they use reality to fuel fiction.
Behind every show are dozens or even hundreds of people who help to make the magic happen. The actors we see on screen are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the immense talent involved in making ideas a reality. A perfect example of this is Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov, the executive producer’s of NBC’s hit medical drama Chicago Med.
We got a chance to talk with them and hear about the creative process behind the show, learn more about the roadmap of where they’re heading, and delve into where these incredible stories come from. Writers bring the show to life, but it’s the producer’s job to envision where this show is going not just in one episode, but over the course of a season or even multiple season. Much of their work and their stories are grounded in reality and very much in line with the heart beat of the city they’re based in on and off camera, Chicago. Check out our talk with them below:
Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov
What kind of obstacles are you going to take us on this season?
Andrew: One thing, beside exploring two new romances, we want to explore the financial issues that are in medicine and the pressure it puts on both doctors and administrators.
Diane: We’re also coming off of the shooting and we’re going to see how that’s going to affect Sarah and how it affects other people in that community. That’s going to be a big story line for Sarah and for Charles. Then we’re going to be with Ethan and April, and how do you have a relationship in a work place, that’s hierarchal and how do you maintain an integrity in it.
Andrew: There’s a power differential. He’s a doctor, she’s a nurse and they will argue about cases and treatment but it’s going to be his say because finally it’s his responsibility so it creates a tension in the relationship because they don’t have an equality in their workplace situation.
Diane: I think their obstacles are going to be emotional obstacles and then as Andrew mentioned, financial, and a number of ethical dilemmas that our characters are going to be involved in.
When you’re writing each season, are you guys thinking “What’s the audience going to think after each episode?”
Diane: Yea, that’s very important to us. The story, they resonate with one another very often, there’s a theme running through them and we’re hoping that the audience is picking that up and walks away with that theme.
Andrew: Also, we deal a lot with ethical issues and people falling on different sides of ethical issues. Medicine can be a very grey area and how you treat the patient and when is it time to let a patient go and when is it time to resuscitate a patient. We also like it that the audience might take one side or the other. The audience might go, oh geez, I didn’t know this could happen! That’s all.
How often is it that you have a season completely written or filmed and then you hear about a case and you save it for next season.
Diane: A lot of times. All the time. We get these great cases and we can’t fit them in, or they just don’t work and these are things we love. We’re going to come back and do them.
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EXCLUSIVE: Colin Donnell And Norma Kuhling Talk ‘Chicago Med’
Colin and Norma give a sneak peek into what their characters are going to face in the upcoming season of the hit NBC show.
NBC’s Chicago Med had fans gripped to the edge of their seats at the end of last season with an immense cliffhanger. While that mostly affected Oliver Platt’s character, Colin and Norma’s characters are certainly looking to be shaping into quite the interesting rivalry. In our talk, Colin and Norma gave us a great deal of insight into what it’s like playing doctors on television and what effect they’ve been having on their fans. Colin, for example, noted that he’s gotten a number of letters that fans have written stating that he has inspired them to become doctors. Norma gave us some unique insight as to what it’s like playing a South African, despite not being South African the fact that she has never visited the country.
It’s always interesting to hear what the cast has to say about what it’s like living in that role and working on set, especially in such a magnetic cast. With Norma being new and Colin being a staple, it was also incredible hearing how different their stances were but how similar they were in the joy of getting to work together on such an amazing show. Check out our interview with them below.
Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling
What have you enjoyed most about exploring this character?
Colin: I think the overall progression of Connor from day one to where we are now is such a sort of brazen alpha dog, over the course of the end of the first season, working with Doctor Downey, his relationship with Robin over season 2, up to now being introduced now to Doctor Bekkar, it’s been a joy. Every time we get a new script it’s like a little bit more that gets revealed about him. I’m especially proud about this first episode of season three of Robin and Connor and how that ties into his work and how the dichotomy, really, of everything.
With your character’s relationship with Robin, it’s like things at work are tough and things at home are also tough. How is it for you as an actor going from place to place with no rest.
Colin: I think what we’re starting to figure out for Connor is how his relationship at home is affecting his life at home and vice versa. They’re trying to build this romantic relationship and at the same time they’re trying to figure out the caretaker/patient role. She’s very aware of her disease and how it’s affecting him and he’s very intent on making things work.
Do you get letters from fans about how you inspired them to be doctors?
Colin: We have a few. It’s always amazing to see. You always hope that what you do has a wider effect than just entertainment. When we hear someone that’s inspired to go out and do something like it, it’s amazing to me. I think they’re in for a bit of a rude awakening, it’s not as glamorous as it seems on television, but we hope to have an effect like that on people.
What did you know about Dick Wolf before you joined his show? Were you a big fan of his work?
Norma: Oh yea. He’s like a titan in the industry. I really respected admire his work. I think he does a great job creating things with longevity and picking people who are solid human beings who are going to be easy to work with and also just to create incredible stories. It’s been a real honor to be apart of it.
After playing a doctor, do you have a new found respect for doctors?
Norma: Oh god yea. It’s funny because my mom always joked because I was either going to be an actress or a doctor. I was thinking of going to med school, then I was like, let’s give acting a shot and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to med school. So I kind of got like the best of both worlds, cause I get to pretend to do that! Yea, so I have a huge amount of respect for doctors and you know, surgeons have to make like life or death decisions, like throughout the day pretty much, at any moment, you pretty much just have to trust your gut and be like, this is what’s going to save that person’s life and I don’t know if that’s true and I can’t doubt myself because I don’t have time. That sort of thinking on your feet aspect. Not only do you have to be brilliant and work really hard to know about the human body, but you have to trust you impulses to know what to do on the fly in a very high stakes scenarios.
Do you work with a dialect coach?
Norma: Oh yes!
Have you ever visited South Africa?
Norma: I have not. I’m praying that what I’m doing isn’t offensive to anyone!
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EXCLUSIVE: Rachel DiPillo And Oliver Platt Talk ‘Chicago Med’ Season Opener
After leaving “Chicago Med” fans on the edge of their seat, they give us a taste of what’s to come.
The finale of last season’s finale of Chicago Med was a cliffhanger if there ever was one. Oliver Platt finds himself shot by none other than one of his own psychiatric patients. Despite being wounded right in front of the hospital, his well being and survival is still up in the air. On top of all of that, is protege, Rachel’s character, is left confused and scrambling. She looks up to Oliver and even cites him as her inspiration to getting into the psychiatric field. Needless to say, both of their characters and audiences were sent for a loop.
With the upcoming season set to premiere soon, they were a bit more open when it came to talking about what’s to come, including Dr. Daniel Charles’ ultimate fate. Check out our interview with them below and get the latest scoop on what to expect in the upcoming season opener of Chicago Med.
Rachel DiPillo and Oliver Platt
Med returns at the end of the month, can you talk about some of the obstacles that each of your character’s faced this season? Without spoiling anything.
Rachel: That’s my biggest job today, figuring out how to talk about it without talking about it. So you saw the end of last season, you saw Dr. Charles got shot, you know he lives because he’s here today, talking.
Oliver: I’m Alive!
Rachel: So, I think it’s not too much of a spoiler to talk about how there are consequences to that event. The dynamic that these two character have, season 2, season 1, now you’re seeing how that dynamic is affected by a new death experience, in terms of how they relate to care, how they relate to each other, how they relate to their own internal battles, guilt, fear, shame.
Oliver: The added dimension, complexity of a psychiatrist getting shot by one of his own patients. Yes there’s the “I got shot”, but the psychiatrist is like, “wait, what did I miss”? There’s a whole, we’re trained to go, oh, this poor guy. The core quality of a good psychiatrist is empathy, right? To empathize, put yourself in their shoes and figure out what’s going on with them… It’s just an interesting lemon to squeeze. The reaction of the psychiatrist who gets shot by his patients and the reaction of someone whose new to psychiatry who is realizing psychiatry can be dangerous and her mentor who brought her into psychiatry gets shot. It brings up stuff for both of us, particularly for Sarah, especially about the follow up effects.
Are there any social themes embedded in the fabric of each of your characters?
Oliver: I can start with one. One of the things that I love about being part of this show is that Dick Wolf was the guy to go, you know, there had never been a medical procedural with a psychiatrist in it before. So Dick said the world’s ready for this. One of the things that we get to do in general is to de-stigmatize mental illness. I mean, mental illness is precisely that. If you break an arm, people [understand], but if you get depressed, people have all this shame. It’s a silent killer almost, it’s brutal. It’s about getting all that stuff out in the open. In this case, we’re actually dealing with PTSD, except it’s happening to us, so it’s in a more personal way.
Were you interested in this in a personal level?
Oliver: Any actor, we are all amateur psychiatrists whether we know it or not. Our job is to figure out what motivates people. What motivates them that they’re aware of, what motivates them that they’re not aware of? Acting is all about exploring the emotional life of the character. When you have you play a quote unquote bad guy, my job is to figure out, if I’m thinking about that guy as a bad guy, he’s me. You gotta get inside of his head and see how he thinks he’s helping the world.
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Last edited by Clarice83; 11-06-2017 at 07:55 AM
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