North grad keeps it real for 'NCIS'

SPRINGFIELD — Chris Waild could be a very dangerous man.
He’s done thorough research on how to bring down bank security and the destructive power of bombs.
He’s looked into, as he explained, “how choke holds affect breathing and the carotid artery.”
And he knows what happens to a body after it’s been submerged in water for a few weeks.
Fortunately, Waild is using all this knowledge for the good of humanity — he’s a television writer.
“I’m probably on some government watch list,” he confessed. “I fully expect to buy an airline ticket, go to the airport and be detained.”
In just his second full season working on the CBS drama “NCIS,” the 2000 North High grad has packed all sorts of macabre factoids in his head — and there’s lots more to learn.
Once just an awkwardly titled rip-off of the network’s own “CSI” — only set in the Navy — “NCIS” is more popular than ever.
Never mind that the Navy apparently has a Goth forensic specialist and that Mark Harmon’s character’s name is Jethro.
If it weren’t for “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” “NCIS” would be the most popular show on the flat-screen.
In its sixth season, the show is getting its best audiences yet, Waild said.
“It’s our characters,” said Waild, 27, who went from the guy who takes lunch orders to staff writer in roughly 12 months. “That’s what separates us from many of the procedurals, and especially the crime procedurals. It’s not so much about, ‘Oh, here’s another odd, gross case.’ ”
Keeping things believable
Oh, there’s still plenty of grossness.
While still technically a writers’ assistant — but with the duties of a staff writer — it was Waild’s job as an assistant to conduct research, distill it and give it to the writers “short of writing the scene.”
Typically, a writer would ask if something was possible, and he’d find out.
“I’ve looked into what possible things a dog has swallowed,” Waild said. “One of the writers wanted a dog to swallow a knife.”
He found a real story — complete with an X-ray — about a dog swallowing a 13-inch knife.
That was more than good enough for an episode in which man’s best friend swallows a piece of knife while licking his master’s neck wound.
Yeah. Eww.
While his research duties have been farmed out while he writes, Waild did glom tons of cool trivia from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, where he routinely spoke with the chief medical examiner.
“It’s fascinating, especially all the stuff the medical examiner has,” he said. “Sometimes, those talks with the coroner can get pretty gruesome.”
Like what happens to a body in the water.
First, the body sinks, then floats as gasses are released.
“Then,” Waild said, “he started giving me the details about all the crustaceans who find every little crevice.”
It’s all in the name of believability.
“I run the scenario by the medical examiner and he usually tells me how crazy that is,” Waild said.
But, hey, it’s L.A.
“He’s very familiar with how things work on television,” Waild said. “He’s very good at saying, ‘That’s not really how it would work, but here’s how you can make it work for television and also how to make it believable.’ ”
That believability is crucial.
“We want to keep people into the show and riveted,” Waild said. “Part of that is keeping things believable. Gravity is still real.
“But everybody knows DNA tests take longer than 48 hours.”
Tales of swabbing the kitchen
It’s also supposed to take longer for a guy to go from production assistant to staff writer.
Waild initially was hired to fill in as a production assistant to the writers for three days.
“My job was to come in and take orders for lunch, make copies, all that kind of stuff,” he said.
But then, he did something no one had dared.
“I’m a fairly neat person,” Waild said, “so I cleaned the kitchen.
“That’s what got me noticed — the fact I cleaned the kitchen.”
They kept bringing him back to fill in “and clean the kitchen.”
When he was hired full-time in 2007, he made the leap from production assistant to writers’ assistant — taking notes and doing the research — in three months.
Six working months after that, with production restarted after the writers’ strike, he received credit for co-writing the second part of the season-five “NCIS” finale.
People still talk about him cleaning the kitchen.
“You come in, you do the job, you do a little bit more than your job,” Waild said. “You go from there.”