Recent years have seen the television industry boom with a new wave of popular shows and content producers. Helping lead the way is entertainment industry veteran and SigEp Citation recipient Gabe Sachs, Chapman ’83.

Sachs is the co-founder of the production company Sachs-Judah and has written for such prime-time television shows as “Freaks & Geeks,” “Just Shoot Me,” “What About Brian?” and “Undeclared.” His latest series, NBC’s medical drama “The Night Shift,” is entering its third season.

The making of a hit series

When the Journal last caught up with Sachs in 2009, he was leading the production of a new “90210” series as the show’s co-executive producer and co-creator. The show went on to run for five successful seasons on the CW Network.

In the midst of producing “90210,” Sachs and business partner Jeff Judah co-wrote screenplays for two films based on the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books. The success of those films—nearly $150 million worldwide—caught the attention of executives at Sony Pictures Television. The company was looking for new projects and invited the duo to pitch
some ideas.

“Jeff and I are huge fans of the old television show ‘M*A*S*H.’ We originally thought about doing something similar, focusing on military doctors serving in Afghanistan,” explained Sachs.

“At the same time, we wanted to do something new. Jeff happened to have an old friend who was actually working the night shift in a hospital in Atlanta. He told us tons of stories that we really enjoyed. We thought potential viewers might, too.”

That spark developed into Sachs’ newest show, “The Night Shift,” an ensemble medical show about a group of ex-Army doctors who have returned from war zones overseas and now face the challenges of working the night shift at a local hospital.

“Fortunately, Sony understood it right away and, together, we pitched the series to NBC. They gave us the green light to shoot a pilot episode based off an initial script we had written.”

The pilot captured the attention of viewers, and the first eight episodes
of “The Night Shift” aired during the summer of 2014 on NBC. While summer can be viewed as a “dead period” for television, dominated by re-runs and older programming, this turned out to be a blessing for Sachs and his team.

“The episodes were fresh viewing for audiences, which allowed the show to find a loyal audience fairly quickly,” Sachs explained. A second season premiered in February 2015, and a third is scheduled to air this summer.

“The Night Shift” is set in San Antonio, Texas. In reality, the show is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“We had chosen San Antonio as the main location for the series, as the city has a strong military background,” said Sachs. “But we chose to actually shoot in Albuquerque, as it was a more efficient and cost effective place to shoot. In fact, much of our crew came directly to us having just completed production work on ‘Breaking Bad.’

“It has been a blast in Albuquerque, as we are filming right next to my good friend Seth Rogen’s set, who is also here shooting his new show, ‘Preacher.’”

The entertainment business as a team sport

Sachs and Judah both serve as executive producers for “The Night Shift.” And as show runners—a role akin to CEO—they are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the series.

“We work together closely as a team. Jeff focuses on story, while I focus more on the production side. ‘The Night Shift’ is really ‘our show,’ meaning that we handle everything from casting decisions to locations “It is a big responsibility to lead the team every day, but we have a lot of fun with it. We run a very collaborative set with a group that gets along and supports each other.”

As a founding member of SigEp’s Chapman Chapter, Sachs can easily draw parallels to his career today.

“Joining SigEp was all about connection for me. It encouraged the learning of the fine art of collaboration, as well as how to depend on someone else. As a chapter, we also learned how to set goals and how to really focus on achieving them,” he remembered.

Sachs advised SigEps looking to break into his industry to “remember the uniqueness of everyone’s life. And get that into your work! Your own personal viewpoint will ultimately make your own stuff unique and stand out from the crowd.”

What’s been the most rewarding part of working on “The Night Shift” for Sachs?

“Definitely the audience response, particularly from the military community. They’ve been incredibly supportive,” Sachs shared.

“It was also a huge thrill to have had Michelle Obama and Jill Biden appear on the show, promoting health resources for veterans. They reached out to us, as they are fans of the show.”

And keep an eye out for more Sachs-Judah projects soon …

The creative team is working on several new movies, including “Magic Camp,” currently in production with Disney.