On The Set of THE PITT Finale

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for the first 14 episodes of THE PITT season 1.]

“Things have been busy here in the emergency department,” THE PITT production designer Nina Ruscio deadpanned to a group of reporters on the Burbank set of the Max series in January.

What had been released of the series up to that point—both publicly on Max and to reporters via screeners—was a high-stakes, tense, emotional, compelling medical drama that followed in real-time the events of a single shift in a Pittsburgh emergency department. But even more on-screen chaos was to follow: In the final arc of season 1, the ED was overrun with victims of a mass shooting event at a local music festival, Pittfest.

The results led to gut-wrenching storytelling, including Robby (Noah Wyle) desperately, unsuccessfully, trying to save the life of Leah, the girlfriend of his quasi-stepson, Jake (who was also shot at Pittfest, but survived)…and a blood-soaked ED, which was very apparent during the set tour during a break from the team filming the season finale. (The season finale drops Thursday, April 10.)

“This is really a long and hard day,” Ruscio acknowledged of the set’s finale-centric chaos. “So you’re coming to witness what’s happening at the end of the day. And that [the set is] as visually exhausted as all of the characters who’ve been working all day long.”

The set was always a key part of the storytelling—so much so that THE PITT creative team recruited Ruscio to design it before they started writing season 1.

“There is no way to write a show like this without knowing the space,” THE PITT creator R. Scott Gemmill said. “This matches so close to the Allegheny Hospital in Pittsburgh that it’s incredible; [Ruscio]’s amazing. And so by having the set designed ahead of time, you couldn’t have done this show otherwise, because you would just be writing to rooms that no one knows. And so with a show like this, the writing is also a lot of choreography. You have to be able to make sure that you have to know the set really well.”

“I met Scott and Noah and [executive producer] John [Wells], and they asked me to do a grand plan of the schematic of the physical space so that they [could] write to it—I’ve never experienced that before in my career,” Ruscio added. “And it was really, really, really honoring.”

When it came to envisioning the show’s main set practicality came into play. “The emergency department is designed in such a way to facilitate being able to shoot freely,” Ruscio shared. “We designed all the lighting into the system so that when you come in in the morning, you flip on the lights. The set is designed so that there’s continuous movement, pattern over the ground floor…that’s the way the design that we all agreed upon would motivate the way that the show is shot. You’ll see two full trauma rooms. Everything’s very highly realistic. We’re incredibly proud of that because we intend to, as a show, make it be extremely realistic.” 

“Part of the intention when I met with John and Noah and Scott was to have the set transcend the normal overly art-directed hospital designs that you see in television shows today,” she continued. “So going with a blanched palette, having so much authentic realism to it that you’re not distracted by the environment. My job was really to create…a playground for the actors to shine and to be seen with this limited palette.”

Throughout the first season, “We use every single inch of this set,” Ruscio said. “So it is satisfying in that way because there’s not a wasted penny. The efficiency of the physical design is designed in such a way so you can see all the way through, from edge to edge, no matter where you are physically in the space. And that is part of the intended design style of [the] show, that there’s no way out. There’s continuous motion, there’s activity in every corner of the frame. And designing a set that made us all feel as if we were working inside of an emergency department was part of the intent.”

But given they actually have to film the series, that also posed challenges.

“All of us wouldn’t be able to be here right now, because we’re not wearing scrubs,” Ruscio said, which is utilized in case a crew member accidentally winds up in the background of a shot. “If you’re on the set, you’re wearing scrubs. [And] the surfaces are designed to be reflective, so there’s no shiny boards, there’s no c-stands [which can be used for microphones or lights on set]. There’s nothing.”

Ruscio also made sure to pay tribute to the real location, too. “One of the things that felt really important to me was giving a little bit of [attention] to the architecture, so that you felt as if you were both underground—the double entendre of THE PITT is the idea we’re in a basement,” she said. “So when I was able to look at images of Pittsburgh, I saw these columns at the outside of Allegheny General Hospital, and [we’re] using them sparingly throughout like little architectural kisses.”

THE PITT, Thursdays, Max

RELATED:

• Max Renews THE PITT
• THE PITT’s R. Scott Gemmill on the Importance of the Medical Drama’s Abortion Storyline
• THE PITT Creative Team on the Show’s Unconventional Production Approach and the On-Screen Building Pressure in Season 1
• THE PITT: Max Sets January Premiere Date
• THE PITT: Max Releases Teaser for New Noah Wyle-Led Medical Drama
• THE PITT: Max Orders Noah Wyle-Led Medical Drama

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