[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for On Call.]

Summary

The half-hour cop drama ‘On Call’ follows veteran officer Traci Harmon and rookie Alex Diaz, as they navigate modern policing in Long Beach.

Sergeant Lasman clashes with Harmon, impacting her career path and leading to an intense confrontation.

The show’s unique visual style blends different cameras for an immersive viewing experience.

On Call is a fast-paced half-hour police drama for Prime Video that follows 12-year veteran officer Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) and rookie Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente), who she’s training to see past his own naïve optimism in an effort to sharpen his instincts and keep him alive. As they patrol the streets of Long Beach, California, being present in the community as they resolve incidents, they also learn about each other while they navigate how to work together. Harmon’s past influences her current decisions, and when she makes a choice that affects Diaz’s future, it will certainly make things more complicated moving forward.
Sergeant Lasman (Eriq La Salle) clashes with Harmon, putting them at odds with each other, so it’s not surprising that she’d think he’s the one holding her back from what she sees as her ideal career path. Though, while he might be tough on her, Lasman certainly doesn’t have it out for her in the way Harmon thinks he does. After screening the season, Collider got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with La Salle, who’s an also an executive producer and director on the series, about why he wanted to get so heavily involved with the production, who he originally wanted to cast in the role he ultimately took on, why On Call is similar to a semi-sprint than a marathon, how he approached establishing the visual look when he directed the pilot, and what it was like to shoot that final confrontation between Lasman and Harmon.

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Eriq La Salle Originally Wanted To Cast Michael Beach As Sergeant Lasman

Image via Prime Video

Collider: When this came your way, what was it that hooked you and ultimately reeled you in? You’re also an executive producer and a director on this, so was that the package from the beginning?
ERIQ LA SALLE: I’ve worked in the Wolf camp for several years. I ran Chicago P.D. for four years, and I’ve done guest directing spots on so many of their shows. So, they came to me and said, “This is a cool pilot. Take a look at it and let us know what you think about directing it?” And without any hesitation, I was like, “Absolutely.” And then, the executive producing title became a part of that. As far as directing the pilot, you wanna create this world and have the decision to hire crew and really talk people through what the vision is. The thing I’ve always loved about the Wolf camp is that it really is a meritocracy. You’re rewarded for hard work. You’re rewarded for good work. That’s really all that matters. They trust me and they show me a lot of respect. And so, being able to have the power to have that kind of input really meant a lot.
And then, we wanted to cast my best friend Michael Beach, who’s a wonderful actor, in the role of Lasman. By the time the deal started coming around, it was too late. He got something else, so we lost him. We were in mourning over that, but then we started looking at other people. I just kept falling more and more in love with the whole show and I said, “I’ll do Lasman.” Selfishly, I wanted to do a trifecta. I wanted to do the acting, directing, and exec producing on this scale. I’ve done it more independently and on smaller projects, but I wanted to do it. I was very much inspired by the great work Jason Bateman did on Ozark, in those three roles. Ever since, I’ve been like, “I wanna do that,” and I thought this was the perfect one to do it with. I was very proud to be given that opportunity to do it.

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Bellisario also talks about the possibilities for Season 2, and that Harmon and Diaz both have a lot to learn.

When you look at the actors on this show, between you, Troian Bellisario, and Lori Loughlin, you’ve all spent time on TV series that you’ve done more than 150 episodes of. Because you’ve had that experience, are you able to see potential in things easier? Could you see how this could be set up to go on for a long period of time and how it would work best?
LA SALLE: Absolutely. When you come from hour-long dramas, that’s really the hardest job in Hollywood because you’re creating these movies every week and that’s pretty daunting. But the great thing about it is that you’re developing certain muscles, and once you develop those muscles, it carries you through to different shows. Creatively, you can definitely see the legs. For several years, I was on a show that did 22 episodes a season, and most of those episodes were great. You might have one that was okay, but for the most part, that’s a great record. [With On Call], we have eight episodes. You’ve basically developed muscles in a marathon to run more of a semi-sprint. They’re different muscles. There’s so much story left in these characters and in this world. Should we be fortunate enough to continue it, that would be something that would be amazing for us.
‘On Call’ Uses a Blend of Different Cameras To Create Its Unique Visual Style

Image via Prime Video

The visual look of the show is interesting because there’s a mix of hand-held cameras, body cams, dash-cam footage, and iPhones. What’s it like to figure all that out and to figure out the best way to mix that up, to not have it be too much of one thing? How do you find the right blend?
LA SALLE: It was exactly what you just said: We had to find the right blend and that took some experimentation. We would shoot a scene with a regular camera. We would shoot a scene that was all body camera. We would shoot a scene with dash-cam. We used drones. We used a Steadicam. Sometimes we had to cover the scene multiple times. And then, in the edit, you start creating the alchemy of how much of this, how much of that, adding a little bit more, having a little bit less. You find that balance. With the first cut, you’re like, “Maybe a little bit more of this. How about a little less of this?” And then, you get a little closer and, all of a sudden, you watch it one day and go, “The soup is good. It’s seasoned nicely.” That’s exactly what it was like.
The Final Scene Between Harmon and Lasman Marks a Turning Point in ‘On Call’

Image via Prime Video

By the end of the season, we learn that Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) has pissed someone off that’s retaliating against her by holding her back from what she wants. And she initially thinks it’s your character, even though it’s not. What was that moment like to shoot? That scene between the two of them is so compelling. What was it like to find that with Troian Bellisario?
LA SALLE: It was cool because that’s a microcosm of the show, in the sense that sometimes what you think you know about these characters, you don’t. She made assumptions about my character, just as I’m sure my character makes assumptions about her character. When you look at that in the scope of the world, that’s what we do. We make assumptions about people and we punish them accordingly, or we praise them accordingly. It was just really cool to have that scene where two people tell their truths. You realize, “Oh, this was not what I thought it was.” That obviously lands more on her because she really thought I did something that I didn’t do. But then, the cool thing is that it shifts our relationship in that one scene. You realize, “Oh, now they’ve learned something about each other and that’s gonna change how they go forward from here.”

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On Call

Release Date

January 9, 2025

Cast

Troian Bellisario
, Brandon Larracuente
, Lori Loughlin
, Eriq La Salle
, Mathew Trent Hunnicutt
, Rich Ting
, Rich Ceraulo Ko
, Mac Brandt
, Rafael Cabrera

Seasons

1

Creator(s)

Tim Walsh
, Elliot Wolf

On Call is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Prime Video