KK: Any criticisms from viewers?

RM: Some of the Q&As have been a little tough. They have all been very civil, but we’ve been challenged with people asking complicated questions, for example, “Your film doesn’t offer any solution. Why did you do that? What is your solution to health care?” My answer was, “Hey, the solution is thinking. Our problem with health care is that in our country we haven’t really defined yet what our lowest level of care is. What is the lowest level we’re going to accept? And, unfortunately, in too many places it’s still none.” The goal of the film was to create a bit of a primer for dialogue that maybe didn’t exist before. There’s plenty of polarizing films that are going to present to you one solution. I don’t think you want us to do that as artists, and as a physician, I don’t have enough experience yet to proclaim some answer.

KK: What opportunities have come from this success?

RM: There is interest in making Code Black into a drama/fiction series. CBS has officially cordoned it off for a pilot. We’re in competition with two other medical pilots.

KK: What would your role in the show be?

RM: I would be involved day-to-day in the writers’ room as an executive producer, and I would have a great interest in directing episodes as well.

KK: Any other opportunities?

RM: There is very early talk of an awards season run. We have no expectations, but we’re excited about the possibility of emergency medicine being exposed at that level.

KK: What awards are you looking at?

RM: You enter the market hoping to be eligible for an Oscar—I’ll just go out and say it. The field is very competitive, but [documentaries] are really tough films to get made, and so there are only about 300 films a year that are actually eligible, maybe even less. That’s still a huge pool, but it’s also not 10,000. [To be eligible, you have to] run in L.A. and New York for one week multiple times a day in a commercial theater—you cannot have just private screenings and qualify. I can say that in the earliest of early tracking, we’re in the running for the short list.

Dave Pomeranz, MD, Ryan McGarry, MD, at bedside.

KK: What’s next?

RM: We’re showing the film at many grand rounds. What a great honor to come and visit with colleagues and show them a story about scenes that we all know. The film will then go on to what’s called the ancillary platform—iTunes, Netflix, DVD, and all that good stuff. That will be around the holidays.