When Quentin Tarantino was a guest director for an episode of ER in 1995, the filmmaker had a brilliant trick to retain the final cut. Created by writer and physician Michael Crichton, ER aired on NBC for fifteen seasons from 1994 to 2009. ER followed the inner workings of an emergency room in the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago and inspired the creation of countless other similar medical dramas. ER is the second longest-running American medical drama, only surpassed by ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, which has been on the air for so long that even star Ellen Pompeo is ready for it to end.
When ER was still in its first season, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino had recently received high praise and accolades for the release of his second feature film, Pulp Fiction. In one of only two instances that saw Tarantino directing for television, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker was hired for the second-to-last episode in the first season of ER. The episode titled “Motherhood” fittingly takes place on Mother’s Day and among the patients featured is the pregnant sister of Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), who gives birth to a baby girl. There is also a patient admitted with a severed ear, as an intentional nod to a controversial scene from Tarantino’s feature film debut, Reservoir Dogs.
In 2021, several ER cast members participated in a virtual reunion for the streaming series Stars in the House, hosted by James Wesley and Seth Rudetsk. During the reunion, Julianna Margulies (who played ER's Carol Hathaway) recalled the unique approach Tarantino took in directing his episode, allowing him to influence what would end up in the final edit. Studios and networks often retain the right to make changes in the post-production, especially in the case of guest directors, but Tarantino found a way around that. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Margulies revealed Quentin Tarantino’s directorial tricks in the reunion interview, specifically that “he only did one take so they didn't have a choice to edit." Filmmakers will often shoot multiple takes, allowing for choices in the editing process, but the editors of “Motherhood” were given no such options. The single take that Tarantino filmed for each shot was ultimately what ended up in the episode and aired on NBC in 1995.
In order to accomplish this impressive and rare feat, Tarantino spent a lot of time preparing for each take before the camera was even rolling. The cast and crew would rehearse each scene with the filmmaker extensively before filming, to eliminate the likelihood of mistakes that would require additional takes. The cast of ER initially didn’t understand the reasoning behind this method, so Margulies questioned the director’s motivations. When asked why he was only filming one take, Margulies recalls Tarantino responding, “It'll be my cut no matter what!"
Given that Tarantino’s rise to fame was achieved through independent filmmaking, the director has often retained a great deal of control in his work. As he has developed his career as one of the highest praised directors working today, the need for the type of trick he used on ER has diminished. Ten years after directing an episode for ER, Tarantino returned to the small screen to direct the two-part season five finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, “Grave Danger.” There is no evidence that Quentin Tarantino limited the number of takes for his episodes of CSI, but the filmmaker did contribute story elements to the script, allowing him to insert some of his signature filmmaking techniques nonetheless.