Providing a bridge between the worlds of Medicine and Film & TV production
Medical Consultant and On-Set Medical Advisor
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Our work has benefitted productions ranging in scale from long-running, prime-time medical dramas, requiring a full-time on-set consultant, to short-term or daily consultation with film and television productions whose storylines temporarily intersect with the medical world.
We recognize that our role is to enhance the production seamlessly, ensuring our contributions support the creative process without disruption.
We provide:
• Medical expertise on a wide range of topics, from anatomy and physiology, medical procedures & equipment, work practices, disease and injury states, to the pharmacology, medical advances and science underlying the stories;
• Demystification of same for writers, producers, directors and actors;
• Identification and anticipation of production specific issues related to timelines, cost, feasibility and story pacing;
• Familiarity with a diversity of medical locations, from ambulances to hospitals, including emergency departments, operating theatres, ICUs, patient ward rooms, medical clinics;
• Experience with tools, techniques and settings from a variety of time periods (contemporary, period, cutting-edge, futuristic, sci-fi) and resource levels (wealthy, average, gritty, developing world, disaster settings).
Our work can benefit nearly every department:
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Story development and research
Medical concepts & accuracy of procedures
Demystifying medical language, procedures & conditions
Advice about workplace, individual psychology and personality issues in health care
Helping showrunners, writers, directors and producers balance show needs with medical accuracy, for optimal production quality.
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Choreography of complex scenes, e.g. EMS, ER, Trauma, OR, Codes
Assisting in the writing of last-minute medical dialogue additions, ad-libs
Notes on performances of distinctive disease states
Continuity of medical conditions & injuries across storylines, vital signs, healing / deterioration
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Teaching the performance of physical actions, from the simple (e.g. CPR) to the complex (e.g. surgical knots)
Pronunciation of medical terms
Helping actors understand dialogue, actions and motivations as they relate to the medical content
Caring for actors during challenging or intimate scenes
Special Skills Extra (SSE) and Hand Doubling for medical actions requiring dexterity or the handling of sharps (e.g. stitching, surgical procedures, needles, scalpel cuts) - We are full ACTRA members
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Managing medical props & equipment
Accurate placement of medical patient elements (e.g. bandages, vitals monitoring, ECG leads, IVs, tubes, etc.)
Modification of medical supplies and equipment for production needs (e.g. gag/stunt effects, resets, cost reduction and other production efficiencies, actor comfort, etc.)
Maintaining continuity, across multiple scenes and evolving storylines
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Bringing medical equipment to life (e.g. vital signs monitors, ventilators, IV pumps, etc...)
Setting up medically appropriate displays & vitals signs
Visual alarms and cues for machines (e.g. “patient goes flatline!”)
Working with art department and playback operators for simulated device, monitor and screen imagery
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Pre-production planning, design & needs evaluation
Liaising with prosthetics shops and keys regarding production needs, providing accurate and scene-specific reference imagery and video
Design & execution of blood rig effects
Creative solutions for difficult-to-film medical interventions, e.g. CPR, intubation, IV starts, needles, surgical interventions, etc.
Assisting with look and feel of realistic prosthetics, e.g. trauma, surgeries
Transforming anatomically correct prosthetic bodies and parts into scene-relevant mid-surgical moments
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Reducing or eliminating unwanted alarms and other sounds from real medical equipment
Cues for medical alarms
Assist in recording machine and device sounds, alarms and room tone for post-production sound design
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Advise on makeup FX (e.g. injuries, disease states) and clothing choices for medical scenes, (e.g. scrubs, surgical gowns, gloves & masks)
Advise on production challenges and solutions related to medical nudity
Assistance with, and advice on, the medical destruction of clothing (e.g. cutting of clothing by EMS & Trauma teams)
Special Skills Extras (SSE)
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Special Skills Extras (SSEs) with medical expertise—such as doctors, nurses, and paramedics—bring authenticity and precision to film and TV productions. Whether performing realistic medical procedures, handling equipment, or embodying the demeanour of healthcare professionals, our SSEs ensure that medical scenes are accurate and believable.
Our background in the medical world allows us to seamlessly integrate into scenes, enhancing the production’s credibility while supporting the storytelling process.
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Performing Medical Procedures: Demonstrating realistic techniques like suturing, intubation, or CPR.
Handling Medical Equipment: Using tools like stethoscopes, defibrillators, or surgical instruments in a convincing manner.
Background Action: Acting as a doctor in hospital scenes, such as reviewing charts, speaking with patients, or walking through corridors.
Emergency Scenes: Reacting authentically in high-pressure situations like trauma bays or operating rooms.
Medical Dialogue: Delivering lines or technical jargon accurately, especially in close-up or background scenes.
Simulating Patient Care: Checking vitals, administering IVs, or conducting physical exams in a believable way.
Operating Room Scenes: Mimicking the precise movements and teamwork of a surgical team during operations.
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Patient care actions: E.g. placing IV catheters, drawing blood, adjusting or changing IV drips, checking vitals, administering injections (simulated), or repositioning a patient.
Emergency procedures: Such as performing CPR, using a bag-valve mask (BVM), or preparing a defibrillator (AED or manual).
Surgical assistance: Passing instruments to a surgeon, maintaining sterility, and assisting with mock suturing.
Medication handling: Drawing up syringes, labeling IV bags, or preparing vials.
Charting & documentation: Writing on patient charts, typing on an electronic medical record (EMR) system, or calling out vitals.
Equipment operation: Adjusting ventilators, setting up monitors, positioning ECG leads, or priming IV lines.
Bedside tasks: Checking a Foley catheter, adjusting oxygen masks, or draping a patient for a procedure.
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Stretcher / gurney handling: Safe movement, lifting and loading into ambulances of actor and background patients
Patient assessment: Checking a simulated pulse, assessing breathing, performing a primary/secondary survey.
Airway management: Applying a bag-valve mask (BVM), simulating insertion of an oral or nasal airway (OPA/NPA), or positioning a patient for airway protection.
CPR & defibrillation: Performing chest compressions, attaching ECG leads, preparing and using an AED or manual defibrillator.
Spinal immobilization: Applying a cervical collar, securing a patient to a backboard or scoop stretcher, using a KED (Kendrick Extrication Device).
Bleeding control & trauma care: Applying tourniquets, dressing wounds, splinting fractures, or simulating pressure bandages.
IV/IO access & medication prep: Priming an IV line, setting up a saline lock, drawing up medications (simulated), or preparing an intraosseous (IO) drill.
Medical Technician
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We will set up and organize your medical props such as monitors, IV poles, defibrillators, and crash carts, ensuring your hospital or ambulance set environments look authentic, while reducing unwanted problems such as alarms or error messages that can interrupt takes. Our extensive experience in film production can help your props and set decoration teams locate and source difficult-to-find or specialty supplies and equipment.
Our Medical Technicians will work with your production to help ensure medical accuracy, safety, and realism in all your medical scenes.
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Hospital beds
Wheelchairs
Ambulance stretchers
Vital signs monitors, with practical or simulated vital signs
IV poles, IV pumps, tubing, fluid and medication bags
Syringes and needles (including retractable or hidden-liquid gags)
Ventilators
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Ventilators
Anaesthesia Bays
Laparoscopic and Arthroscopic Equipment
Incubators
Dialysis and plasmapheresis machines
Heart-lung Bypass Machines
ECMO
Aortic Balloon-Pump Devices