Yahoo News ‘On Call’ Moves To Prime Video; Troian Bellisario & Brandon Larracuente To Headline Drama Series From Wolf Entertainment & UTV
EXCLUSIVE: Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars) and Brandon Larracuente (The Good Doctor) are set as the leads of On Call. Originally set up at Amazon Freevee, the half-hour drama, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, will stream on Amazon’s main platform, Prime Video. Amazon Studios has handed an official eight-episode order to the project, co-created by Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf, which marks Wolf Entertainment’s first streaming series and its 10th current scripted series overall.
On Call is an adrenalized half-hour series following Traci Harmon, a veteran female training officer (Belisario) and her rookie male ride-along, Alex Diaz (Larracuente), as they navigate the loss of a fellow officer and politics of modern day policing — in the department and on the streets of Long Beach.
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Belisario’s Traci Harmon is a veteran officer who’s disillusioned with the job and struggles to find her place in the department while training the next generation of officers.
Larracuente’s Alex Diaz is an ambitious Latino trainee who grapples with holding onto his optimistic outlook as he realizes the challenges he’ll face as a police officer in today’s climate.
On Call was originally picked up by then-IMDb TV — Amazon’s free, AVOD service which has since been rebranded as Amazon Freevee — in spring 2021, with Ben Watkins as showrunner and Elliot Wolf as executive producer. The creative team behind the project has since changed, with Walsh, former co-executive producer of Wolf Entertainment’s Chicago P.D., and Elliot (Dark Woods) as co-creators and executive producers. Elliot, son of Dick Wolf, has been leading Wolf Entertainment’s expansion into digital for the past five years, which now includes On Call as the company’s first streaming series.
Dick Wolf (Law & Order, Chicago, FBI-branded series), Walsh, Elliot Wolf, former Chicago P.D. director/executive producer Eriq LaSalle, Arthur Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers. LaSalle is directing episodes 1, 2, 5 and 6 of the series, which recently started production in Long Beach.
Universal Television, a part of Universal Studio Group, produces in association with Wolf Entertainment and Amazon Studios.
“Everything old is new again. In 1958 there were 40 half-hour dramas and five one-hour dramas on television. Five years later, the numbers were basically reversed,” Dick Wolf said about doing On Call as a half-hour drama series back in 2021. “This is the perfect time to revive the half-hour format. It’s television popcorn. You can watch six episodes during a three-hour binge.”
Known for her starring role on ABC’s Pretty Little Liars, Bellisario can be seen in Universal’s comedy Doula, directed by Cheryl Nichols, and in Richard Linklater’s film Where’d You Go Bernadette, opposite Cate Blanchett. She can also be seen in the independent film Feed, in which she starred, wrote, produced and directed. Bellisario is repped by Gersh and Entertainment 360.
Larracuente, is coming off a season-long stint as a series regular on ABC’s The Good Doctor. His other notable credits include Netflix series Bloodline and 13 Reasons Why and Freeform’s Party of Five. He is repped by A Management Company, Global Artists Agency and Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson + Christopher.
On Call is Universal Studio Group’s latest partnership with Amazon Studios/Prime Video, which also includes Harlem (Universal Television) currently in its second season, new series Class of ’07 (Universal International Studios), and the recently announced We Were Liars (Universal Television).
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