ONE Chicago: Celebrating #NBCChicagoDay

In case you missed it, Monday was #NBCChicagoDay, a mega media day celebrating the shows Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and the upcoming Chicago Med (premiering this coming Tuesday). NiceGirlsTV was lucky enough to be invited to the event and I managed to make my way to Chicago, joining over 50 different media personnel for an exciting and jam packed day (and night). Here’s your inside look of the day…

Executive Producer and man behind the ONE CHICAGO franchise, Dick Wolf.

We began the day in the ballroom at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios where back to back round-table interviews were conducted with cast members from all three shows, along with executive producers from the shows and the man behind the franchise, Emmy Award-winning executive producer, Dick Wolf. It’s always interesting hearing what not just cast members have to say about the show and their characters, but also the team behind the scenes, especially when they give you insight into what goes on in the writers’ room and how things come into play. Stay tuned to NiceGirlsTV over the coming weeks, as I’ll be sharing the round-table interviews with Dick Wolf, executive producers Matt Olmstead (Chicago Fire/Chicago P.D./Chicago Med), Michael Brandt (Chicago Fire/Chicago P.D./Chicago Med),  Derek Haas (Chicago Fire/Chicago P.D./Chicago Med), Andrew Schneider (Chicago Med) and Diane Frolov (Chicago Med), as well as actors Eamonn Walker (Chief Boden), David Eigenberg (Christopher Herrmann), Yuri Sardarov (Brian ‘Otis’ Zvonecek), Christian Stolte (Randy ‘Mouch’ McHolland), Joe Minoso (Jose Cruz), Steven R. McQueen (Jimmy Borrelli), Kara Kilmer (Sylvie Brett) and Dora Madison (Jessica ‘Chili’ Chilton) from Chicago Fire, Jesse Lee Soffer (Jay Halstead), Brian Geraghty (Sean Roman), LaRoyce Hawkins (Kevin Atwater), Amy Morton (Trudy Platt), Marina Squerciati (Kim Burgess) and Patrick John Flueger (Adam Ruzek) from Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med stars S. Epatha Merkerson (Sharon Goodwin), Rachel DiPillo (Sarah Reese), Marlyne Barrett (Nurse Maggie Lockwood), Brian Tee (Dr. Ethan Choi), Nick Gehlfuss (Dr. Will Halstead), Torrey DeVitto (Dr. Natalie Manning), Colin Donnell (Dr. Connor Rhodes) and Oliver Platt (Dr. Daniel Charles).

Following these interviews were live stunt and special effect demonstrations for each of the three shows. Each show has their own crew of technical advisers and these consultants are people who have great experience, having worked in each of the chosen fields for many years. What we often don’t think about when we’re watching these shows is that they are influenced by real life – quite often the stories we see are based on someone’s real life story or experience. While it was fun chatting to the producers and cast, I actually found it quite rewarding to listen to these real life authorities and have them share even just a snippet of their experiences with us. I have a further respect for all the men and women working in these fields and the things they see day to day. They are not easy jobs.

Witnessing a live Chicago Fire stunt.

The media were separated into three groups and so my first taste of the behind the scenes action began with Chicago Fire. Technical adviser Steve Chikerotis, who is a retired fireman with years of experience was on the scene, along with Chicago Fire special effects coordinator John Milinac and they took us through a demonstration of a car catching fire and the different levels of flames. As prompt as they were to ignite the flames, they were just as quick to put them up. It was truly mesmerizing to watch. Also on hand at this demonstration were stars Eamonn Walker and David Eigenberg, who had nothing but kind words and admiration for the show’s technical team.

The next live demonstration we went to was for Chicago P.D., which was actually set at Chicago Fire character Matthew Casey’s apartment and the media got to be a part of the demonstration. The show’s technical adviser, Brian Luce, set the scene for us – we would be having a party at Casey’s when Luce along with stars Jesse Lee Soffer, Patrick John Flueger and LaRoyce Hawkins would bust in, looking for a suspect and arrest him. Sounds simple enough right? When it was time for the action, the guys were so convincing, storming in with their (prop) guns and yelling for everyone to co-operate that I truly felt that it was really happening and for a moment forgot that this was all staged.

(L-R) Chicago P.D.’s technical adviser Brian Luce, with stars Patrick John Flueger, LaRoyce Hawkins and Jesse Lee Soffer.

You don’t want to mess with these guys, that’s for sure! Luce has been on the force for 27 years and is currently on leave while he works on the show, but intends to return to duty when he is finished with the show. (With Chicago P.D. already being renewed for the next year, it might be a while…) With his experience, Luce has seen a lot on the job, and these are obviously experiences that he has shared with the cast to help advise them while they play out stories week after week. Even the small amount of time we spent with Luce, it was clear to see that he and the actors take what they do seriously on the show in order to honour the real life heroes out there. Personally, I would have loved to have stuck around to hear more from him because it was truly interesting to hear him speak and makes you realise how much of what he and his team does reflects events on the show.

(L-R) Dr. Andrew Dennis with stars Colin Donnell and Nick Gehlfuss during the Chicago Med special effects demonstration.

Since we were already on Chicago Fire territory, we were then taken on a tour of some of the show’s sets – Molly’s and Firehouse 51, which included the sleeping quarters, locker room, showers and offices, before moving on to the Chicago Med set for the final live demonstration of the day. We were greeted by the show’s medical consultant and real life trauma doctor, Dr. Andrew Dennis, medical consultant Susie Schelling, special effects/makeup artist Rebekah Lieto and stars Nick Gehlfuss and Colin Donnell, before getting a glimpse of what it’s like to cut open a patient and operate on them. Quite often even on their “off days”, you’ll find the actors shadowing real life doctors at the Cook County Hospital (John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County). Dr Dennis said that he would even trust Gehlfuss and Donnell to stitch him up. After witnessing the guys doing a bit of cutting open and stitching up, we were given the opportunity to scrub up, which of course, I seized!

The demonstrations concluded our day at Cinespace studios, but this massive event was not over yet. We headed back downtown to prepare for the Chicago Med red carpet event and premiere party held at the recently opened STK Chicago. I was quite impressed that the red carpet actually started on time, in fact even earlier than planned, which I have to say is pretty rare, having covered quite a number of red carpet events. The red carpet was a great opportunity to talk to the stars more intimately, as opposed to a round-table, as well as the chance to chat to stars we had missed out on during the interview sessions earlier that day. Watch this space, because I’ll be posting those red carpet interviews in the coming weeks. After almost two hours of chatting to stars and snapping photos, the red carpet wrapped up and NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt announced that both Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. were renewed for the 2016-2017 television season, giving them a fifth and fourth season respectively. With the euphoric vibe from the crowd, it was time for this party to kick off!

Chicago Med begins this Tuesday in its regular time-slot 9/8c, Chicago Fire airs Tuesdays at 10/9c and Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c, all three on NBC.

Here are some photos from #NBCChicagoDay, including Nice Girls’s Ange and honorary Nice Girl Sarah on set and with the stars. (Photography by Sarah Gillett and Angela Lee):