New York's largest hospital system now functions as a television studio.
Northwell Health, the state's largest private employer, has launched Northwell Studios, a Long Island production facility, and is currently developing medical programming in the form of scripted docs.
Northwell CEO Michael Dowling told the Post that he hopes to capture the public's attention with shows like “Grey's Anatomy,” but he also wants to raise awareness of the company's 21 hospitals. He also said he wants to increase the company's performance and attract talent in a way that other health care providers cannot. t.
“So if you're thinking about a movie studio, what do they do? They build buildings, they create conditions, and they get actors and actresses to perform,” Dowling explained. “But I have something real in the real world.”
His company has already won six Emmy Awards for two hit Netflix shows produced with outside production companies. Mr. Northwell currently serves as a director of the company.
Northwell's rise to television fame began during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when hospitals were overwhelmed with sick patients.
The healthcare network had already granted access to outside staff in 2018, when it began filming the Netflix documentary series “Lennox Hill,” which follows four doctors at the Upper East Side hospital of the same name.
But when the pandemic hit in March 2020 and hospitals barred visitors from visiting loved ones, even family members, Dowling moved to one of Northwell's hospitals, Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. agreed to open it up to a small documentary crew for five months. The team shot more than 850 hours of film and turned it into the Emmy Award-winning documentary “First Wave.”
“During COVID-19…we put a documentary team into one of the top hospitals…to film what was happening inside the hospital every day,” Dowling said. “And one of the things that people don't always fully understand is what medical staff do every day.”
Northwell's new Hyde Park studio, announced in July, will enhance those efforts by developing both scripted and unscripted content and assisting with filming logistics, Dowling explained.
Dowling believes there are only positives to filming in hospitals, but getting approval from patients and doctors for a series that includes such sensitive information is a complex issue.
Another reality medical show, NY Med, which started in 2012, was canceled after two seasons because it couldn't get the proper permissions to film patients. Another New York hospital system, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, ultimately paid $2.2 million in federal fines and sought closure.
But Dowling said they were very careful to avoid filming patients and believed that having more control over the production process would give them more autonomy to avoid mistakes.
Dowling told the Post that although Northwell Hospital has not profited from the documentary, it has raised the hospital's profile and led to more patients choosing Northwell Health.
It is also a tool to attract doctors.
“Talent gravitates toward innovative, creative organizations that want to do things a little differently,” Dowling explains. “I have taken the initiative to do many things that others would not do.”
NY Med helped build Dr. Mehmet Oz's reputation as a famous doctor, and Lennox Hill has already done the same for several doctors in the Northwell system. For example, neurosurgeon Dr. David Langer, who is currently featured in The Post and other newspapers. new york times As a result of his Netflix appearance.
And as the health care system faces a shortage of tens of thousands of doctors, reality TV could inspire a new generation to become doctors.
For now, the new mental health series “The Village” is going full steam ahead, following “One South — Portrait of a Psych Unit,” which premiered on Max this summer. Northwell is filming four other series simultaneously.
And Dowling is excited to work on a project that shows how New York has recovered after 2020, when the city felt like a ghost town.
“During COVID-19…I joked that maybe I could sleep on Fifth Avenue and no one would hit me,” Dowling said. “People will write articles saying New York is going to be the problem…it's never going to come back.”
“But New York is resilient…We've been through difficult times in the past,” he added. “I feel energized. I just walk around.”
This article is part of a new editorial series called NYNext, which focuses on innovation across various industries in New York City and the people leading the way.
