Prime Video’s On Call is a Dick Wolf series for the next generation | Canada Voices

How do you update the classic cop drama for a younger generation? By tapping into its love of social media, short clips and immersive storytelling. That was the genesis behind Prime Video’s new half-hour series On Call, which debuts all eight episodes across more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on Jan. 9.

Elliot Wolf, the son of famed producer Dick Wolf and the head of Wolf Entertainment’s digital team, conceptualized the series and co-created it alongside Tim Walsh, known for TV shows such as Chicago P.D. and Hightown. Wolf drew inspiration from the short-lived streaming service Quibi and its equally short-form storytelling, while Walsh wanted to create a half-hour series that paid homage to the 1950s and ‘60s prime-time dramas like it.

“There are none in the market today, and everyone’s attention has never been more valuable, and it felt right to take that format and make it our own,” Wolf says. “This show is not a true procedural. There is an underlying current of serialization, but the basis for finding that serialization was looking at the yesteryear dramas like Adam-12 and figuring out how to do it our way and build it for today’s audience.”

On Call revolves around a rookie police officer named Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente) who joins up with a seasoned but mourning officer named Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) to patrol the streets of Long Beach. Eriq La Salle, Lori Loughlin and Rich Ting also star in the series.

It’s Wolf Entertainment’s first foray into streaming, building on its long TV history and the current success of the Law & Order, Chicago and FBI franchises.

Unlike some of those series, On Call isn’t ripped from the headlines. It also doesn’t take a political stance on policing or public perception. Instead, the creatives crafted stories based on their experiences shadowing actual officers.

They hope the result is an intimate look at two generations who choose to patrol the streets for a living.

“Elliot asked me one question that hung with me afterward: ‘Who would want to be a police officer today?’” Walsh says. “That was fascinating, to learn who would want to get up every day, put on the uniform, put on a badge and go out in these turbulent times.”

That ambience is apparent from the show’s first few minutes in a scene guest-starring Monica Raymund, of Chicago Fire and Hightown. It was an important scene for creatives to set the tone and seriousness of this world they’ve created.

“That character was always going to be our Janet Lee, so to speak, to Hitchcock,” Walsh says. “In Psycho, she’s killed a quarter of the way in, and we wanted to stunt cast that part with someone recognizable.”

“She’s in that one scene, but her spirit emanates throughout the entire season,” Wolf says. “We knew we needed someone that could give the performance to keep that weight on our lead’s shoulders the entire season.”

The scene may also feel weighted with viewers who weren’t expecting such a violent start to the show. Wolf doesn’t know if they could have pulled it off “as graphically” if it aired on a network.

“The whole vibe of this show is different from network TV,” he says. “I come from network TV and have an enormous amount of respect for it, but personally, I wanted to do the exact opposite of what I did in the past. I’d like to think maybe what we did was a little bit more sophisticated and restrained.”

The actual experiment behind On Call isn’t in the episode length or where it streams. It’s the immersive filming techniques and high-stakes situations that set it apart. Production used body camera, dash cam and cellphone footage to tell the story; character development happens during the quiet moments between the action; and the cameras never follow anyone home.

“There is no more relatable lens in the world than the iPhone today and your cellphone camera,” Wolf says. “Body-cam and dashcam aren’t far behind it because you see it on the news, on the internet. It’s everywhere.”

Creatives were inspired cinematically by filmmakers like Michael Mann (Heat) and John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13) and created quick pacing that Walsh likens to popcorn.

“It felt like you’re getting shot out of a cannon every episode, and we took that to heart,” he says. “We never wanted to slow the series down because when you’re out there as a police officer, you’re constantly moving. It’s going, going, going. And we wanted that to translate to the show.”

Getting there was full of unexpected challenges. During filming in 2023, On Call was the first major Amazon series to pause production during the writers’ strike. During production, creatives didn’t realize what a learning curve the camera angles would produce.

The entire series was shot on location in Long Beach, without sets and the ability to block off areas with an established base camp next to filming. As a result, the duo recalls entering editing only to realize a body-cam shot had picked up catering, the portable washrooms or the boom guy.

“It’s seamless in the show, but to get that cadence right was difficult,” Wolf says. “There was a lot of trial and error.”