Rich Ting on 'On Call' Inside the Role of Sgt. Tyson Koyama

[00:00:10] Rich, thank you all for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Thanks for having me, brother. Excited as a friend. We have On Call January 9th, I believe. Yes, you are. Exciting, man. You've been busy the last time we spoke. You've been busy the last few years. Yeah, you know, I'm just blessed and grateful to have the momentum. You know, my team and I have been able to create over the last few years and, you know, one project to the next. So no complaints right now.

[00:00:35] Wow. Right. How did On Call happen? Was that an audition or was it somebody you knew like, hey, we might have a role for you? How did this happen? Right. It started out as a regular audition. You know, I knew the show was kind of in the works. You know, people in the industry talk a lot. Right. Yeah. A lot of things said behind closed doors. So, you know, I was aware that Dick Wolf was doing a streamer and didn't know too much of the details behind the show. But definitely when I got the call early, gosh, it must have been early 2023.

[00:01:06] I was very excited. I did my thing and we're here now. So, you know, so I'm just excited, excited for everyone to see what we've done. And January 9th is a big date. Right. Right. So we see you as Sergeant Tyson. How do you pronounce the last name? Koyama? Koyama. Koyama. Yeah. What was the description you were given for this character? That's a great question. You know, traditionally, you know, it started out. Well, let me let me give props and respect to Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolfe first.

[00:01:34] Right. Right off the bat, just for their creativity and their their accuracy and, you know, the gritty and realness that they bring to the show through every character, every case. Good guy or bad guy. Right. More importantly to Tim Walsh, he was my first contact with the show. And, you know, just a shout out to him for being so culturally sensitive and aware.

[00:01:54] You know, it's the first time in my career I've dealt with someone of his level in a studio that was so sensitive and just, you know, really cared about myself, my culture, as well as the demographics and multiculturalism of Long Beach, California. I say all that to say that, you know, originally the character was meant to be Cambodian.

[00:02:14] Traditionally in the South Bay of Southern California, the two Asian groups that have kind of dominated that area are the Japanese who came over a long time ago, including my family and and settled in the South Bay as well as later. I think in the 80s or 90s were the Cambodians. I could be wrong on the 80s or 90s. So don't quote my migration date right there. But what I'm you know, the point is it was, you know, they were very sensitive to making this character either one of those two.

[00:02:40] Right. And so originally it was for a Cambodian character when I auditioned and they found me, so to speak. Tim was very adamant that he changed my name and he wanted me to feel comfortable in my own skin, knowing that I wasn't of Cambodian blood and that I am of Chinese Japanese descent. So he then learned I was from the South Bay. So Long Beach, you know, has been in my backyard. And the fact that I have such strong Japanese American roots in the South Bay, you know, just kind of all came together.

[00:03:08] And long story short, the name Koyama is actually my mother's maiden name. Oh, it's a tribute to her. It's a tribute to that side of my family. You know, I always honor everyone knows me as Rich Ting, obviously after my father's last name. So it's kind of cool, you know, to have a full circle moment. My mom is a huge Dick Wolf fan. My cousin, John Koyama, is a huge stunt coordinator in the business. And he's the one who kind of grandfathered me into the stunt world back in the day to get my SAG card.

[00:03:36] So, you know, it's just a cool opportunity to pay homage to not only my Japanese heritage, but to my mom and my cousin who are, you know, my huge support system. What drew you to the role now? Like, how did you find an easy playing a character like this? And I know Eric told me that you guys went even on ride-alongs to learn. Right. Well, you know, truth being said, I've always wanted to play a police officer, you know, ever since I was probably four years old. You know, Halloween came around.

[00:04:06] I want to be a police officer. Right. So I think the dream fantasy started a long time ago. But to really dial in, you know, I've had the opportunity and been fortunate enough to do ride-alongs throughout my entire life, you know, whether it's junior high school and in college. But, yes, according to Eric, that is right. You know, shout out to Long Beach Police Department, to the gang unit out there.

[00:04:27] We were able to get some front row seats to really what's going on and just the vast demographic and, like I said, multiculturalism of Long Beach, California. You know, I grew up really close by, but it's so big. And that's why I'm so excited to showcase this community, you know, for the world because everyone knows L.A., you know, through Hollywood. No one really knows Long Beach, you know.

[00:04:52] So the prep side was just getting dialed in back to the community, you know, through these ride-alongs. And on the tactical side, I was able to go out to Taron Tactical. Taron is very famous for training basically anyone that does a military police action show. He's the man behind all the John Wicks, so was out, you know, was out on his, I call it his ranch, right, shooting guns, getting dialing in just real technicalities, you know, as far as loading, holstering, shooting.

[00:05:22] So between those two elements, I felt very confident going into the show. So Tyson, he's a drug enforcement team leader, right? Right. Pretty much. How do you think his leadership, like, and style reflects the themes of the show? And, like, what was, like, the biggest challenge for you for this character? Right. So Tim Walsh has referred to me as Trojan's character's Obi-Wan. So we meet Trojan, who plays Officer Tracy Harmon, and Brandon, who's her trainee. We meet them right in their moment.

[00:05:53] But the backstory is I was Tracy Harmon's training officer 12 years ago. And so that puts me more of in a mentor, kind of advocate, you know, more of a mature role, kind of like an older brother to her. You know, so throughout the season, you know, the viewers will see, you know, kind of my past with her, our personal arc, you know, as past training officer and trainee. I always want to look out for her. I always want to include her. I always want to help her out in whatever she needs.

[00:06:21] As far as difficulties, I think the thing that I really want, and not necessarily a difficulty, but, you know, with all characters that I play, I hate to be one color. You know, I hate to be one dimension. So, you know, even though Tyson Koyama, you know, he's a great police officer. He's tough. He's intimidating. He enforces the law. He's a man of knowledge and maturity. At the same time, you know, he's vulnerable, you know.

[00:06:45] And I always want to bring out, you know, I have a tendency to play more, I would say, for lack of words, more tough characters in my career, right? And the important thing in playing these kind of characters is to show the opposite, is to show that they're a real human being, you know. So, and the way I do that is through their vulnerability. There are a few moments that you'll see and everyone will see that, you know, you feel Sergeant Koyama's love, you know, and the fact that he wants to take care of other people.

[00:07:13] So, not difficult, but that's always the challenge when I play these kind of characters. What I enjoyed about this show, too, is like the way they decided to film this with like, you know, you got the handheld cameras, you got the body cams, you got the dash cams. What's your thoughts on that? Oh, man, I thought it was awesome. You know, shout out to our crew and everyone behind the camera work, you know, because you get a second of a steady cam, you get a second of a body cam. You know, those take hours to set up and to film, right?

[00:07:39] It just all came together to really bring the audience, you know, into this cinematic experience. Like, you literally feel like you're in a ride-along, you know, and you get kind of tricked because it's not, it feels like a documentary because it's so real, but then it's not, right? So, I think with the, you know, like the culmination of all these different styles of lenses, camera work, it just really keeps you engaged.

[00:08:01] And I swear, because I've seen the episodes, the 30 minutes feels like an hour in the best way possible because you're just so drawn in and engaged and you can't deny what you're seeing. You know, you stay in it until the end and it's exhausting in the best way possible. I was told all the actual on-calls that you guys filmed are actually true stories. Right, right. You know, and again, shout out to Elliot and Tim for doing that.

[00:08:27] You know, that's the one thing I think we pride ourselves on, not only being pro-character in every element, but also just bring truth, right? They were very adamant about everything. You know, usually on police procedurals, you'll get these calls to kind of kick off the episode, you know, and those seem to be not as significant as the main chase or the main case of the entire season. As the viewers will see, these calls that come in at, in every episode, they're so intense. They're so real. They're based on facts.

[00:08:57] You know, they're inspired by real events and we don't take plays off, you know, for lack of terms, you know, everything gets hard. And I think that's, again, what keeps you in it. You know, there's no time for you to really exhale in a good way. Was there a specific theme or like even like an event that you guys filmed that you enjoyed that you were looking forward to? Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, we get the episodes as they come out and as they get edited and whatnot.

[00:09:27] And, you know, I think, you know, the thing that distinguishes our show from other shows is that the crime isn't solved at the end of every episode. Right. It's a rolling season, which, again, keeps you engaged. So I think for us as characters and as actors, you know, we're excited to find closure on some of these things. And, you know, we would obviously, like I said, we know we're shooting and we know these big action moments or these big intense moments or, you know, light, you know, these life moments, so to speak. And so, of course, you know, I can't give any spoilers away.

[00:09:57] But the cool thing was, is that we knew we were going to finally, you know, we saw the light, you know, towards the towards the middle of the season. And we get, you know, we get to that light at the end of the tunnel at the end. I like, you know, this also has an amazing cast. Was there a specific member of the cast that you enjoyed having scenes with or somebody that if we see a season two, you hope you get more scenes with? Oh, definitely. I mean, I mean, you know, the immediate family cast with Troy and Brandon, Eric and Laurie.

[00:10:26] Like, you know, the thing I loved about it was everyone comes from a veteran past. Right. Right. This is this is by far not anyone's first show. So in that sense, it was a very, very mature cast to be around every day, which made it great. You know, everyone knows their job. Everyone's been here before. Most of my scenes are with Troy and obviously, just like I said, as our our relationship on the show is, you know, I'm a train. I'm a past former training officer.

[00:10:55] And so I loved every scene with her and Brandon. I have interaction with Eric as well. You know, he's a legend to me. You know, I've not not to make him feel old, but I grew up I've grown up watching him. So it's you know, it's always cool to see and work with these actors and now develop relationships, you know, kind of off camera with people that you've grown up watching. That's always a bit surreal. But no, I just hope, you know, that we do get to come back for season two.

[00:11:21] And if we do, there's just so much more history between Tracy Harmon's character and myself and as well as what's to come. You know, we definitely end on a great note. But, you know, it's dot dot dot. Right. So I would love to not only go back and keep exploring contextually our past and our history, but to also move forward and to see what happens with my with my with my character as well as hers. Yeah. You mentioned Eric.

[00:11:48] You know, not only he was on the show, he also directed, produced it. Any pointers for him while he was behind the camera? Oh, yeah. I mean, first of all, he's a great director. You know, everyone has their own style. Well, I love being directed and working for Eric in that way. I also love working with Eric on camera. So, you know, I think I think, you know what? How do I say this so that everyone understands?

[00:12:13] You know, when a director doesn't give you notes and he doesn't and he doesn't focus on you, it's because it's because most likely you're doing a good job. You know, this game is a little different than other games where you may not always get positive encouragement every take because there's so many elements going on. But, you know, my goal with Eric was to have him talk to me the least because that meant I was doing everything he wanted. Right. But no, great notes. Great direction. And I think, you know, he's a player coach. You know, he's an actor. He's a director. He's a director. He's an actor. So he knows how to communicate.

[00:12:44] And, you know, shout out to him. And just again, surreal. You know, I'm being directed by Eric style. You know, that was dope. How many episodes are we expecting for the first season to drop? And is there a specific episode that you can't wait for viewers to watch? Well, yeah, it's an eight episode season. Amazon Prime is dropping it all at once. You know, Dick Wolf's bringing back the half hour drama so you can binge all eight episodes in four hours.

[00:13:09] My episode, honestly, no spoilers, but the finale is dope, man. Like, it's just all the buildup pays off in the finale, obviously. But on this season, everyone's got to just wait. Like, you know, that's probably my favorite episode of the whole season, which is cool because you get to finish on a great note, you know, as far as I'm concerned. Right.

[00:13:37] But, you know, I think, like I said, every episode, you know, there's a formula. And Tim and Elliot and Eric and everyone involved, all of our producers, they really nailed it. You know, because, again, you know, I know I know the bad thing. People are going to be upset when it ends because it's going to end and they're going to want more. You know, I know it. I'm not hoping I know it. And hopefully there is more to come. Right. Those are the best shows when it ends. You're like, now I got to wait another year. Right. Right. Right. Right.

[00:14:07] So that's amazing. You know, January 9th, Prime Video. I just want to jump before we end this interview a little bit on Tulsa King. I want to let you know that I was upset what happened to your character of Jackie. I was hoping we were going to see more of him. Yeah. You know, Tulsa King, that was what an experience, man, to work with that cast. And obviously with Sylvester Stallone. That came up. I wasn't planning on that.

[00:14:33] You know, being a fan of the show of season one, I never saw a person like me of my ethnicity, of my look somehow infiltrating that world. But actually, it worked schedule. Schedule wise, it was beautiful. It was such a gift because, you know, we had that SAG strike last year. Right. So actually, on call to premiere earlier this year. And so we ended up finishing on call early, early 2024.

[00:15:01] And we were just getting ready to premiere it and do all the press for it. And then I get a call for Tulsa King season two. And I had I had this this this weird gap that it worked out perfectly schedule wise, you know, spent spent the whole time in Atlanta shooting with, you know, that whole entire cast and crew. And yeah, it sucks how it ended for me character wise.

[00:15:24] But just what an experience, man, from from the first episode of season two to, you know, to the end and just another checklist, man. I never thought I'd be able to have an opportunity to work with Stallone and can check that box off for sure. Even with Taylor Sheridan. I mean, that that's the man, bro. Like that dude, just to be in his universe was another it was a huge win for me personally.

[00:15:49] You know, I'm a fan of all of his material, which is a rare thing, because usually, you know, when I book shows or I book movies or whatnot, I have to go back and rewatch, you know, the prequels or or all like eight seasons or whatever it may be to kind of catch up. You know, Taylor Sheridan is one of those guys where I would say, shoot, man, like at least three or four of his shows. Like I'm on like I'm dialed in right now. Like, you know, there's a role for me and I can jump in. I will not miss a beat.

[00:16:17] So to be able to jump in out of all shows, Tulsa King. I mean, that was epic for me. So, yeah, it sucks how I how I how it ended for me. But like I said, what a fantastic journey and experience. Right. And the one thing I noticed about like the Taylor shows, he likes to bring cast members back to his other projects. So who knows? I see you. We might see you on something down the road. I would be honored and I would be, you know, available for that man any day of the week.

[00:16:47] So hopefully hopefully that comes true. Try to manifest that into existence. So Rich, let's add this by helping the listeners, the viewers now find you on social media. Keep up with you. I noticed you've been posting stuff about on call and a few other things. Right. Right. I'm on all social media platforms at Rich Ting World. Amazing. Rich, I want to thank you for giving me a miss today. And I want to get you back on hopefully with the next project. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for the time.