June 10, 12:39 PM

Hi all

Hi all,

Just wanted to check in and post some more pics of the ongoing construction at SVU while we are on hiatus.

It takes a lot of work and time to redo/add on to existing sets. We have to completely remove the old lighting set ups above and then install new ones to accommodate the new piece of the set. Any more guesses on what we may be building?

I’ll post them more once construction gets a little further on it’s way.

Also, if you have a second, check out this link:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/the-many-deaths-of-mike-doyle/1194840653472/index.html

It’s the Many Deaths of Mike Doyle, he plays or should I say played (tear) CSU Tech O’Halloran on SVU. Seems like every roll he takes he ends up a dead guy. Check them out.

May 19, 02:46 PM

Hi everyone,

Some people wanted me to confirm SVU on Twitter.
It’s true, SVU is @nbcsvu
It is also true that @NEALBAER is in fact the real Neal Bear.
Hopefully sooner then later some more of our cast will be live on Twitter, but for now if you want to check out Ice T’s twitter it’s: @FINALLEVEL

Now that we are on Hiatus, there is some interesting stuff happening here at the SVU stages. Wanted to give you all an inside peek of the transformation of our Squadroom. Not going to tell you exactly what’s changing, but I’ll keep posting updated construction shots to keep you up to date

This is a shot from what was the Squadroom hallway towards what was a wall of the Squadroom.

This is a reverse shot from what was inside the Squadroom towards where the Multiplex monitors were.

Any guesses about what we are adding?

May 05, 02:56 PM

Thanks

Thanks for all the feedback.

A few people are asking if Chris and Mariska will be in the season finale. Absolutely.

Again, I’m sorry to say I can’t reveal who is going to be killed in the finale. I can hook you up with some behind the scenes photos from the season finale.

We lugged all our stuff out to Coney Island. We were blessed with a beautiful day to shoot.

We always provide some shade for the actors and crew when it’s sunny. Here’s Chris, Richard, and Ice staying cool.

Can you speculate from here on why we’d be shooting at Coney Island????

So lastly, I know it’s not the biggest question that many of you are asking, but I understand some of you think that I am the showrunner, Neal Baer. Sorry to say that I am not. That’s a fact.

Hit me up with some question on tonight’s episode “Crush”.

April 22, 08:20 PM

Hi Everyone

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to be away for a bit. As each season wraps up here at SVU, it gets busier and busier.

As many of you have read someone will be killed in the season finale. No chance that I’m going to spill the beans on that one. You are going to have to tune in on June 2nd to find out. Again, please discuss within your comments your guesses. Good or bad, it’s good to have all discussions on the blog.

Since we aired a repeat this week, I figured I’d post some generic pictures from set. Do you ever wonder how we shoot those wide, swooping shots around our sets? We use a techno-crane. Here’s a shot of it in the set during rehearsal:

The way it works: The camera is attached to the end and spins on it’s own axel. The long arm it is attached to extends as well to add more movement. The camera it self (turning, zooming in and out, etc. ) is controlled by the camera operator from here:

And the long arm itself is moved by our grips from here:

Notice all the weights we have to add to this end of the arm to counter act the weight of the camera on the other end.

This specific episode aired already. Does anyone have any guess which episode it was?

April 06, 01:21 PM

Wardrobe Answers

Hi hi hi.

Some answers from the crew:

People were asking about the wardrobe our actors wear. Thanks to our costume department, here’s a break down of our stars’ designers:

Stabler’s suits are primarily Hugo Boss

Benson wears quite a few things: Theory, Vince, Rag and Bone, J Brand, Joie, and of course Me & Ro Jewelry

Cragen wears Brooks Brothers

Fin has a lot of Levi, Hugo Boss, and Nike

Munch wears John Varvatos

Greylek goes with Hugo Boss & Theory

This week's episode “Baggage” has a great guest star: Delroy Lindo. Enjoy watching him team up with Stabler to track down a serial killer!

Hit me up with some questions.

March 30, 01:00 PM

Hi Everyone.

Glad you enjoyed the behind the scenes video. I’ll work on getting you more.

Tuesday’s episode “Hell” is a ground-breaking show for television. “Hell” is the first television show to shoot at the United Nations in New York City...EVER. It’s an amazing place and we couldn’t be more thankful for the U.N..’s support in helping us tell a story that highlights such an enormous problem throughout the world.

Here are few shots from our day at the U.N.:

Inside the lobby. (Where we shot people aren’t even allowed to go!)

Outside, toward the street. (The famous U.N. flagpoles.)

On 3/20 Nat asked if Amanda Green was going to write another episode. Tonight’s episode is an Amanda script!

Check out “Hell” tomorrow night!!!

March 17, 06:26 PM

Carol Burnett is on tonight!

Here’s some behind the scene footage to check out tonight:

Notice how the windows shattered a second or two, too late? Well, that’s why we always have doubles. Lets do it again!:

As you can see we dropped a dummy on the car and then through special effects we blow out the windows.
The question is, who got killed???

March 11, 01:15 PM

Hi Everyone

Seems there is a lot of chatter about a few things. Let me hit them quick:
1) Mariska is recuperating well and will back with us very soon. I’ll be sure to relay all the kind thoughts and prayers going out to her on this blog.
2) We have great ideas and many storylines in development that will go into what hopes to be a season 11, including ideas for Stabler and Benson.
3) Is Benson gay? What do you think!?

Answers to some more direct questions:

On March 8th Arabesque asked: In the older seasons of SVU, you used to use set dressings to establish a general time frame (i.e. a skeleton hanging on the wall around Halloween, Easter basket on the edge of the desk, etc.). Is there a reason we don't get to see that anymore?

We don’t necessarily air our episode in the direct order that we film them anymore. So even though we may be filming a show during say Halloween, it may not air until January.

On March 4th Nat asked for me to clarify the switch in airing order regarding the 5/12 episode.

There will just not be an episode on 5/12 and all the rest would be pushed back? So what would have been the 5/12 episode will air on 5/19, and the finale will be on 6/2.

So last night Stephanie March came back. NEXT WEEK: Carol Burnett and Matthew Lillard (Shaggy from Scooby Doo)…

March 03, 12:44 PM

Carol Burnett

Hi Everyone!

So I'm sure most of you noticed last week (2/10) we did not air a new episode. As I mentioned in the last post, NBC controls our airdates and even though we were scheduled to air an episode last week, we were preempted for a Dateline Special. "Transitions" aired last night instead. One other change: we will not have a new episode airing on 5/12. Instead we will air it on 6/2.

Here's something to get you excited for upcoming episodes -- a behind the scenes photo during the filming of "Ballerina," scheduled to air on March 17th.

So this is a shot of our Director Peter Leto watching a live feed of what we are filming in the near by Interview Room (look at the upper left corner of the photo). Peter Leto is at what we call "Video Village" (which I described in a earlier post: http://blog.nbc.com/laworder_svu/production_blog/confession_behind_the_scenes_p/#comments ). Video Village is set up in the Squadroom (can you tell?). Why are there two monitors with the same image? Sometimes we use two cameras at the same time to film., so we have the separate images up on the two different monitors. However, when we are only using one camera (as we are here) we just put the same footage up on both monitors so it's easier to see for the crewmembers near video village. Cool fact about the Video Village: it was invented by Jerry Lewis…

Last, but absolutely not least thing about this photo….that's CAROL BURNETT we are filming!!! Stay tuned on 3/17 to see her episode!

February 03, 05:45 PM

Hey everyone

Tonight's episode, "Snatched," has excellent guest stars. Ron Eldard and Dabney Coleman are just great. It was really fun meeting Burt Young too. Most people will recognize Burt as "Paulie" from the Rocky movies.

Here's something cool about tonight's episode. The script called for a few mug shots of Dabney's character "Frank Hagar" from the last 30+ years. Sometimes the actors themselves find some old pictures of themselves that work and we just turn them into mug shots. However, this time Dabney didn't have anything we could use. So our graphics department (Dylan and Dan) took photos that were taken of Dabney during prep and de-aged them. Dabney's 77 years old in real life. Check out how young we made him look in some of them:

Few Questions answered:

Emily asked "Why do you tape the rugs down?" She is referring to the picture of Stephanie on set from my previous post. We tape them down for a few reasons. 1) So the actors don't trip. They have stage directions and lines to know, the last thing we need is for them to have to worry about tripping. 2) We tape them so they don't slide or move during the scene. Lastly and most importantly, 3) SOUND. Those high heels make a lot of noise when actresses walk around. The rugs eliminate that sound.

Katt asked: "Now that Cabot is back; is Greylek not the ADA anymore?" Cabot is back but Greylek is still here as well. Stay tuned on 3/10 to find out.

KT asked: "How many episodes are left to air this season?" Including tonight's episode we have 10 more. There are some big guest stars coming to SVU down the stretch so keep watching. Seems there is some confusion with our airdates in general so let me lay them out for you (and of course these can change per NBC): SVU has new episodes tonight and next week (2/10) followed by a break. We'll be back on 3/10 with new episodes for four weeks. We'll have a small break again, and then our last four episodes begin airing on 4/28. Hopefully that's not too confusing.

January 28, 02:47 PM

Mariska is back

Hi Everyone,
I know everyone is concerned about our leading lady so I am thrilled to say Mariska is back to work and doing better. And I'm also happy to report that she will appear in all our episodes. Thank you for all your kind wishes and prayers posted on the blog.

So Stephanie March had her first day of shooting last week with us. When I was walking by on set I snapped a quick photo with my phone so all could see her first scene back (sorry the quality is so poor). I'll get some good ones next time.

Some people are asking when we saw her last. Her last appearance on SVU was when she came out of witness protection to testify against the man who shot her. The episode was called "Ghost" which aired back in 2005.
Stephanie also was part of the cast for "Conviction" which was another one of Dick Wolf's shows and as Alexandra Cabot.
When she returns to SVU we'll tell you why our detectives haven't heard from her…
Her first episode is slated to air on March 10th…

January 08, 01:23 PM

People's Choice Awards

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay since my last post. We were on Hiatus for a few weeks.

If you haven't heard THE GREAT NEWS, Stephanie March is returning to SVU as Alexander Cabot for six episodes!!!

Congrats to Robin Williams on his People's Choice Award for guest starring on SVU!
You can see his accpetance speech here:

Robin Williams - People's Choice Awards

As usual, it's crazy just getting back to work. So I thought a quick way to start the New Year is with some cool tidbits about SVU:

Did you know:
In the open credits of the show all of the people shown/seen (outside of the actors) are current or former crew members
Did you know:
In the 10 Seasons that SVU has been on the air, we have seen over 25,000 people for casting for rolls on the show
Did you know:
Before Diane Neal was casted as our ADA Casey Novak, she originally appeared on the show a few seasons earlier as Amelia Chase, a female rapist in the episode "Ridicule".
Did you know:
Here at our stages (not including our permanent sets) we will often use the same set pieces in over 50 different sets before it gets discarded.
Did you know:
Many of the pieces in our Courtroom set were original from Night Court, then were used in the Dragnet Movie, then (after major renovations) landed here at SVU

Thoughts about this week's show "Stranger?"

Happy New Years Everyone!

December 10, 10:55 AM

Smut

Hi everyone!

Any questions about last night's episode "Smut"? I personally thought it brought up a very intriguing question about what is worse: Knowing you were sexually assaulted and having to live with it, or being sexually assaulted and never knowing you were??? Our guest actors were great. Did anyone recognize Michael Trucco? He plays Sam on Battlestar Galatica.

To answer what seems to be a big question everyone is asking: Yes Jay Leno's new show will be airing on NBC at 10:00pm every weeknight, so our time slot will be moving. When I know more you will know more!

Does anyone know what Tech Advisors are? These are people who are experts or well trained in a certain career whom we go to for technical advice for certain details in our episodes. For example, we have a regular Tech Advisor for legal matters/procedures and also a regular Tech Advisor for police procedures/processes. Some shows just take what is called "Creative License" and do what ever works best for their story or show. However, at SVU we do our best to be as accurate and real as possible. So much to the point where (as an example) we will have real ER nurses playing background roles during our hospital scenes to make sure everything we are doing is correct.

I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak behind the scenes of the episode "Hothouse" airing later this season. We had a professor and grad student from Columbia write all of our equations on the board. The gentleman on the right is David Bayar (professor at Columbia) and on the left is Jonathan Bloom (grad student). David Bayar was actually the technical advisor for "A Beautiful Mind". So we were lucky enough to get them both.

Hopefully you all will appreciate how we try to be as accurate as possible, for such details as equations on a blackboard.

Hit me up with some questions on last Tuesday's show!

November 24, 01:49 PM

Wildlife

Thank you for all the feedback on "Wildlife." No more lions, tigers, or bears at SVU (…for now).

A few people seemed curious on how much interaction the Cast/Crew had with the animals. We shot that warehouse in NJ, and according to the state's rules when it comes to animals on the set, people weren't even allowed to pet the "friendly" animals. The only exception made was with our white-handed gibbon, Kimba (the monkey that comes out of the basketball). Because the scene specifically called for Cragen to get Kimba out of the basketball, we have a Wavier to interact with him. Which leads me to answer another one of your questions: The cast members (more specifically Dann Florek) needed some time to work with Kimba, so he could get comfortable with Dann. So Kimba came in to hang with Dann a little bit.

Lastly, you asked if trainers/handlers were right off camera during the animal scenes, i.e. the Tiger. Yes, very very close. To give you a shooting secret: Chris Meloni was not really there when the tiger lunged at him. We shot Chris's reaction on his half of the frame with the camera locked off (meaning not moving) and then had the tiger come in and shot him on his side of the frame. We got the tiger to lunge by having his trainer stand where Chris was with a stick with some meat on it. Then in Post Production, the magic happens. They overlay the two shots, removing the trainer from the tiger shot and insert Chris's reaction shot. Tada!

I have to tell you, as of the 5 seasons I've been at SVU, this one is at the top when it comes to the fun we have had shooting it.
Stay tuned this Tuesday for "Persona", as we welcome back Judith Light, but NOT as JUDGE Donnelly…….

November 14, 04:49 PM

Hi Everyone!

So what did everyone think about "Babes?" Once again this year we had great guest casting in it: Debi Mazar, Britt Robertson, and Jesse McCartney. The best thing about them was not only were they great actors, but they were really nice people as well.

So it seems like you all want so see some more behind the scene photos from Wildlife. Ask and you shall receive:

PHOTO #1: Here is Stabler looking like he may be undercover in a pretty sketchy place, just maybe...

PHOTO #2: Here is Cragen holding what seems to be just a basketball...

PHOTO #3: Has anyone seen Madagascar?

PHOTO #4: Ever been this close to a Cougar?

PHOTO #5: Hard to imagine this little guy (5 months old) is going to turn into a vicious leopard.

PHOTO #6: Last, but not least. Meet Sally the monkey. By far my favorite.

October 31, 06:10 PM

Happy Halloween from the SVU PAs!

October 28, 02:24 PM

Hello out there!

Glad to read all the feedback on "Swing" and "Lunacy". Make sure you tune in tonight to see "Retro" with guest stars Martin Mull and Donna Murphy. It deals with a very interesting subject: HIV/AIDS Deniers.

On to some questions:

On 10/18 Scott asked: Could you please tell me if Helen Shaver will be directing any episodes this season?
Yes she is. In fact she is here right now directing the episode "Persona", which deals with Domestic Violence.

On 10/19 Chris asked: Where was the beach scene in "Swing" filmed?
It was suppose to take place on the Jersey Shore, but we actually filmed it in the Rockaways.

On 10/26 Maddie asked: Do you always shoot the show in a general area except for special moments or do you shoot wherever you have a good shot?
Good question. This actually touches on the previous question that Chris asked. We have our stages where we film on our sets (Squadroom, courtroom, hospital, etc). However, outside of those sets, we go wherever the story needs us to be. We often try to go to places that are more "shooting friendly" which means not really busy, but if the story calls for us to be in Grand Central Station, we are in Grand Central Station. However, when we needed to be on a beach (like in Chris's question), we went to the one that was closer, as most beaches look similar. That usually goes for things like airports as well.

On 10/22 CC asked: Was that Jeffery Scaperrotta in "Lunacy?"
Yes it was. It was in fact the same actor who played Stabler's son Dickie all this time. He's just all grown up now!

On 10/21 Kirby Van: Question about the "Swing" Episode, the pictures of Elliot as a kid, were those actual photographs of Christopher Meloni? Or were they made using movie magic?
We have Chris Meloni's mother to thank, as she sent us actual photos of Chris growing up! Now we also got real pictures of Ellen Burstyn for the photo album. If you noticed, there was a picture of a younger Ellen with a younger Chris. For that photo we photoshoped a real picture of the two together. Looked real didn't it?

And for all of you who'd like to see some behind the scene photos from the episode Wildlife….stay tuned for the upcoming weeks. But for now, here's a sneak peek:

October 15, 03:06 PM

SVU Birthdays

What did everyone think of "Swing" last night? How amazing was everyone in it? One of my personal favorite SVUs as far as performances go. If anyone has questions about the episode, please let me know.

On 10/7, Amber asked: Do you guys do anything special for the actor's on their birthday?

Does this answer your question?

On 10/4 Bella asked: How many takes of the Basement scene in "Undercover" did the director have to do until he was satisfied, or did Mariska and the actor playing Harris do it in one take?

It defiantly wasn't a scene that could be completed it one take. With a scene with that much emotion and energy the director had multiple cameras rolling and we did a few takes with a few angles. Nothing against the performances, but the director absolutely wanted to go to different levels on different takes, so he did it a few ways. And as we all saw, Mariska knocked it out of the park with her performance.

Bella also asked: I heard a rumor from a website that later this season in an episode entitled PTSD, Olivia falls for a US soldier. Is there any truth to this or no, and if it is true will it last?

There is absolutely an episode called PTSD coming up. It's currently scheduled to air on 11/25. As far as Oliva falling for a soldier: there is some truth. The extent and to what degree you are going to have to tune in to find out.

A few people are asking for some behind the scene photos from "Wildlife" (which we are currently shooting). Check back and you won't be disappointed.

In the mean time, here a sneak peak of an upcoming show. I'll leave it up to you guys to try and figure out which episode it's from.

October 07, 12:36 PM

Producing the Show

Hi Everyone,
A lot of you are wondering why there is no new episode tonight. There is a presidential debate so we are taking the week off. "Swing" will air next Tuesday, 10/14.

Great questions. Going to take me a while to get through them all, but let me chip away.

On 10/5 Jae asked: I'd like to know how the show's time and continuity match up to real time. In other words, is each episode's airdate equal to the real time date? If the ep airs in December, is the month in the show then December?

ANSWER: We try to avoid putting anything with dates in episodes, because our episodes sometimes air a few months after we shoot them. We usually have a good idea of when the episode will air, so if we do put any dates in the show we'll match it up. Once and a while you can notice that our detectives are wearing light clothes and it's airing in December (or vice versa, jackets in warm weather). In order to get an episode turned around quick enough, filming something and then airing it the next week is close to impossible.

On 10/5 Tata asked for the air date guide.

ANSWER: These dates are always changing, but as it stands here you go: 10/14 (Swing), 10/21 (Lunacy), 10/28 (Retro), 11/11 (Babes), 11/18 (Wildlife), 11/25 (PTSD).

On 10/4 Sophie asked: Hey, I was just wondering, is there anyway we can find out where they are filming in NYC so we can go watch???

ANSWER: I get that question a lot, and unfortunately that's something I cannot give out. I'm sure 99% of you are true fans who'd love to just come by and witness what goes on. However for security reasons I can't give out shoot locations for actor and crew safety.

On 9/30 Kimmmmmmie asked: 1) Last week you said you shot "Undercover" in a real prison, so were the people in jail playing Liv's inmates and stuff or did you use an empty jail or something. 2) I was also wondering if Liv will keep going to counseling or is that the only episode with her reaching out for help?

ANSWER: 1) The other inmates in the prison were absolutely not real prisoners. We shot in a secure closed section of the prison and all the prisoners you see in the show are background actors. 2) Continue to watch this season and you will find that Benson's experience in that prison is not something that will just go away.

For anyone who posted a question(s) and didn't get an answer yet, don't think I'm ignoring you. I will continue later this week to answer some more questions, so come back soon!

September 30, 05:14 PM

"Confession" Behind the Scenes Photos

Hey Guys!

Loving the feedback, keep the posts coming. Does anyone have any questions outside of: if Benson and Stabler will hook up? If so post them and I'll do my best to get you an answer.

So in honor of tonight's episode "Confession" I figured I'd sneak you guys some behind the scene photos:


Here's Mariska and Tamara on set.


Here's Richard Belzer right before "ACTION."


Lastly, here is what we call "Video Village." This is where the crew watches what the camera is rolling on. You almost always find the Producers, Script Supervisor, Hair, Make-Up, Costume, and 80% of the time the director and D.P. (stand for Director of Photography). About 20% of the time the Director and D.P. will watch right from the camera itself on the set. "Video Village" is usually set up right next to set, such as the neighboring room or if we are outside it'd be around the corner.

Thanks for checking in and keep coming back!

September 23, 12:35 PM

Season Premiere

Hello Everybody!

So the wait is finally over and tonight Season 10 gets the green light! We are kicking off the Season with "Trials." Reminder: Luke Perry, Julie Bowen, and Sara Gilbert all guest star. With a special appearance by Mary Beth Evans from Days of Our Lives. This season is jammed packed with guest stars and great stories. We have stories that range from astronauts to exotic animal trading. So hold on for the ride because it's going to be a great year!

Did anyone watch the Emmy's on Sunday? How beautiful did Mariska look?

So many posts are asking about who's leaving the show, who is getting killed off, who isn't coming back, etc. Sleep easy gang, right now no one is leaving. So all the rumors you've heard are just that, rumors.

Some people are asking why SVU's full episodes aren't online. If you miss an airing of SVU don't fear, we always run the new episode on the USA Network two weeks later. Check your local listings for day and time.

Make sure you go online to watch The Today Show's interviews with Michaela McManus (ADA Kim Greylek) and Luke Perry (Noah Sibert in "Trials") for tonight's premiere.

The project I'm working on for you guys is still rolling along, so hang tight!

September 08, 01:37 PM

Production Updates from SVU

Hi Everyone,
We are back in production and rolling along. We are just about done filming four episodes for Season 10. Keep an eye out for guest star: Ellen Burstyn who plays someone very significant is Stabler's life: HIS MOTHER!

Glad you liked the photos and I'll keep them coming if you keep the replies coming.

While I have a moment let me answer some questions:

Alexa Cooper asked "Please let us know how to apply for an internship with SVU?"

To apply to work as an intern at any show or department at NBC you need to apply online at NBC.com. Here's the link: http://www.nbcunicareers.com/internships/la_ny_area/

Carly in MS asked: "In an interview, Neal said that Olivia goes out on a date with an actor named James Brolin. Is it true?????"

All I can say is don't miss the episode airing on 10/14 called "Lunacy"

Sorry for the short post, but I'm working on putting something very special up on the site for you guys!

For now, make sure to check SVU's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Law-Order-Special-Victims-Unit/9840307932

August 25, 12:31 PM

Behind the Scenes Photos

As promised, here are some exclusive behind the scenes photos at the SVU set:

Here's an action shot of the crew at work:

Can anyone guess what we are shooting here?:

Can you guess from this angle?:

ANSWER: Our new live action opening. It's part of the opening credits. After the individual actors shots, there is a quick zoom out in which the actors are all together looking at the camera. WITH the addition of Michaela we redid the live action open for season 10.

We're going on a quick week break here, so I'll be back first week in September with some new stuff!

August 11, 12:13 PM

Guest Stars

So we just finished filming the premiere episode called "Trials". You won't be disappointed. Its 90210 meets Roseanne meets Ed meets Days of our Lives! You must be thinking: "What the heck is he talking about?" Well, I'm referring to the star-packed cast for the premiere: Luke Perry (Dylan from "90210"), Sara Gilbert (Darleen from "Roseanne"), Julie Bowen (from "Ed"), and NBC's own Days of our Lives' Mary Beth Evans makes a guest spot. The story is incredible also. So many twists and turns you'll be amazed by what you see! It's a great episode to kick off the season.

Lets see what kind of questions you all have for me:

Are there gonna be any famous guest stars on SVU?
Well I just finished telling you about the star-packed premiere. We also have James Brolin and Teri Polo, and we are only just starting to film Episode #3.

I noticed SVU has the same people, same faces, in their precinct scenes all the time, yet these nonspeaking people are never credited as to who they are? They can't be extras??
Well you are right and wrong. You are correct that it's the same people in the background. We do this to keep it as real as possible. Would a real police precinct have different cops working there everyday? Of course not. That's why we hire the same background actors. To answer your next question, they are in fact "extras." Just because you are a background actor (or "extra") doesn't mean you can't be a regular one.

Is Elliot gonna have his personal episode?
Keep your eyes/ears open for an episode called "Swing."

Any chance of some photos of filming we can see on the blog soon?
As you wish, check back in next week for some exclusive photos taken by me on the SVU set!

July 31, 03:35 PM

Emmy Announcements & Your Questions

Hi Everyone,
Just in case you haven't heard, SVU has earned three Emmy nominations this year: 1) Cynthia Nixon in "Alternate", 2) Robin Williams in "Authority", and 3) Mariska in " Undercover".

We couldn't be happier for them and I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who continue to watch and love SVU. It says something when a show is in its 10th season and still getting not just one but multiple Emmy nominations. You are all amazing!

Now on to some of your questions:
On 7/27 you asked: "Svumac, are you still the same person who was posting under this name at this time last year?"
ANSWER: Yes, I am the one and only SVUmac! Same guy since day 1 of the production blog.

On 7/26 Ephraim asked: "Back in an '06, in an interview Neal Baer was asked if there was a possibility for Elliot and Olivia to ever get together. In that interview he said something along the lines of, "You never can say never." Some of us were wondering if that statement still holds true? Is there still a chance?"
ANSWER: I'm sorry because I know many you want to get away from the E/O involvement questions, but Ephraim asked so I will answer. I've confirmed with Neal Baer himself, and the statement "you can never say never" is absolutely still true.

On 7/24 Zora asked: "What's going to happen to the Munch and Fin partnership this season? Can you tell us any info at all as to whether they will have a lot more screen time this season than the last couple of seasons?"
ANSWER: Thanks for the question Zora. I'd love to tell you that Munch and Fin are going to have more screen time together, however that is based on the fact that Fin is staying at SVU. As we left it at the end of season 9, Fin wanted out. So all I can say is stay tuned for the season premiere on 9/23 to see if Fin stays or gets his transfer.

July 22, 01:14 PM

More Fan Questions

On July 11th "Janice" had a great post with a few questions. I want to respond.

FIRST QUESTION: Why didn't Benson tell captain Harris she was a cop when he had her in the basement?
ANSWER: Every one has his or her own opinion about why Benson didn't announce she was a cop to Harris. I have two reasons why I feel she didn't: 1) Benson was currently locked in a basement with this rapist and was pretty much helpless. If she told Harris she was a cop what do you think Harris would have done? He would have killed her to save himself and spin it into some way that a "prisoner" died, like we heard earlier in the episode. As strong and trained as Benson is, she was an unarmed woman and trapped in a basement with an armed, over powering male guard. 2) My second reason is that Benson (as the great cop she is) wanted to get enough on Harris to arrest him and make it stick. Granted that point came very quickly, but initially that could have been part of Benson's reasoning.

QUESTION #2: Will that be answered when they revisit what happened in undercover?
ANSWER: An experience like the one Benson had cannot be ignored. Benson will continue to deal with this (watch episode one, September 23rd!) and it will be addressed in the season to come.

QUESTION: What will happen to Detective Fin?
ANSWER: As you know Fin has had just about enough of Stabler and wants a transfer. I'm not giving up any inside info on this because it's going to be addressed in the season premiere on 9/23. And Stabler will have a little shocker too!

July 15, 01:06 PM

Introducing Michaela McManus

As promised, we wanted to give our Blog fans first dibs at our new cast member: Michaela McManus.

Michaela comes to us from the TV series "One Tree Hill" and we couldn't be happier to have her! She is originally from Rhode Island but went to Fordham University for undergrad and NYU for grad school, so we consider her a NY native.

Her character: ADA Kim Grayleck has a great back-story. She is a hot-shot young DC up-and-coming lawyer who has recently separated from her husband, also a government lawyer. Her marriage is at an end because Grayleck used information her husband gave her in confidence to blow the whistle on a Congressman involved in a sexual harassment case. She had been dealing with the policy-making side of sex crimes for years and worked for the Federal Office of Violence Against Women. So she works hard to keep things like what her husband leaked about the congressman from happening.

After losing her husband and many friends, too many people in DC developed a negative opinion about her biting the hand that feeds you. This sends Grayleck spinning. She reexamines her life and career and comes to the realization that it's the victims she wants to help. So she jumps ship to NYC and makes a lateral move into the Manhattan DA's office (she's no baby ADA, she's a proven trial attorney).

She's a crusader, she's a newly single woman not interested in dating, and she's going to pour all of her energy into her work. ADA Kim Grayleck is going to take on all comers!

July 11, 01:32 PM

Hi everyone!

So I just wanted to let everyone know the production at SVU has resumed. Even though episodes don't start airing until September, I'll be updating and posting here on the SVU Blog all summer. Check back next week and you'll be the first to learn about our new ADA and what her story is.

Glad to be back!

May 01, 09:21 AM

200th Episode!

As I'm sure so many of you were aware, last week's episode was SVU's 200th. I decided it was only fitting to share a photo from our on set celebration of that milestone.

Can't celebrate without cake!

Thoughts on "Authority" from last night?

Anyone notice who OBGYN Nurse was? It was Frenchie from Grease! (Didi Conn)

April 23, 02:56 PM

Giants Stadium Scouting

So what did everyone think about episode #199: "Closet?" It seems as though Bill Pullman's character, Kurt Foss, will not last with Benson. Keep watching and you might see some more "secrets" about our detectives that you didn't know about.

To step away from the actors for a second: This was one of the crew’s favorite shows to shoot considering we got to film at Giants Stadium. We got to see the Jets’ and Giants' locker rooms, the Giants' weight training room, and best of all BE ON THE FIELD. The crew was having 100-yard dash races and were trying to kick field goals. I hit a 45-yarder, unfortunately none of the Giants scouts were watching, haha.

Continue reading "Giants Stadium Scouting" »

April 18, 12:27 PM

Going Undercover

I'm glad everyone liked "Undercover." After reading your responses, a lot of people are pointing out how hard it was to see such a strong, independent woman like Benson have to struggle as a victim. SVU fan345 said it best: "She's supposed to be the protector so to see her needing to be protected was hard." Benson is the protector we've seen for so long, but Tuesday's episode showed that Benson is both a strong cop and a real woman. Trapped in a prison basement, Benson tried to save herself with her police training, but it was obvious that training wasn't going to be enough to save her. In the end, her training kept him away from her long enough for Fin to rescue her at the last minute. I too think this was one of Mariska's best performances on SVU.

I'm also noticing that many people heard about Diane Neal. This wouldn't be a production blog if I didn't confirm the rumors to be true. I am sorry to say she will not be returning next season -- and on our season finale "Cold" (set to air on May 13th), you'll find out why. We are going to miss her terribly.

Continue reading "Going Undercover" »

April 14, 01:29 PM

Answering Your Questions

So in response to an overwhelming amount of questions about Benson's boyfriend:

Yes, Bill Pullman is playing Benson's boyfriend. Is it a long term thing? You'll have to watch "Closet" on April 22 to find out!

Is Vincent Spano out of the picture? I wouldn't say that. I know so many of you out there feel a connection to Benson and really want us to get more into her love life. I am not a writer or a producer but I can tell you to be patient and stay tuned.

On 4/8 Fearless4LifeJHF asked:
1. Do you guys shoot in the same locations (when you're not on a sound stage) most of the time and just change things up to make it look different, or do you change locations each episode?

2. Also, I saw you were shooting last Friday in Grand Central Station, and I was wondering how you work around the hundreds of people walking through constantly while you're filming. Do you just work them into the shot (ie: are the crowds in the shot really just the crowd there at the time) or did you rope off the part of the station you used (even though I noticed Chris & Mariska ran through most of the main concourse!) and then use the extras you chose as the people in your crowd?

1. There are certain areas where we like to shoot when we are not at the sound stage, but not in the same apartment or specific location. Any film crew will tell you they'd rather shoot in a quieter neighborhood as opposed to Times Square, as everything goes quicker with smaller crowds around. A good example is when we have scenes that are scripted in Central Park. Regulations and times when we can shoot in the real Central Park are restrictive, so we often use a park somewhere else in the city and make it seem like it's Central Park.

2. Believe it or not, all the people you saw in the Grand Central Terminal scene were hired background actors. We have PA's stop foot traffic when we are actually rolling, so the crowds of people you saw were all actors. Since you saw that we were shooting, you are aware that we were shooting at off peak hours at Grand Central so it would be easier to control the crowds. Occasionally people are seen who aren't hired background. However, we have HUGE signs posted all over our sets stating that we are filming and that people's entrances into the area is their agreement and acknowledgment that they may be seen and we have the right to use the footage they are seen in.

On 4/6 Olivia S asked:
"Do Chris and Mariska respond to Olivia and Elliot or Benson and Stabler since so many people know them as their acting roles instead of their real names?"
As with any actor/s who have been playing the same role for some time, our actors are used to being called by their character names. Would they prefer to be called by their real names in public? I'm sure they would.

April 03, 07:58 PM

Behind the Scenes

Hi All,

So here's some more behind the scene photos. It's a sneak peak into one of our remaining episodes for Season 9.

Look like an old school Record Studio?

Bye-bye building. The trick here: It's not a real building. We just built the façade of the front of a record studio then blew out the windows and doors. It looks so real that the post office actually dropped off phone books the night after we built it (look at the door step of the first photo again). Where are the actors you ask?

Continue reading "Behind the Scenes" »

March 13, 05:46 PM

Answering Your Questions

On 3/7 Jason Porta asked:
What do you mean by "we will be completing season 9"? Does that mean that all of the episodes ordered at the beginning of the season (I think 22 is the standard these days) will be done?

Many shows will not be finishing their seasons and will return in the Fall. SVU will not wait until the Fall to bring you new episodes! We will have five new episodes starting April 15th (giving us 19 episodes for season 9).

On 3/7 Fearless4LifeJHF asked:
A couple of questions:

3. Can you give us any clues as to who may be guest starring in the rest of this season, or provide any juicy info on plots developing in upcoming episodes?

1. I don't think the writers feel pressure, I think every writer out there is just happy to start writing again. Some of our writers, one way or another, have been writing everyday for the last several years so having to stop was just as hard on them as it was on everyone. I can't speak for other shows, but I know our writers at SVU definitely want to make every episode amazing, and the last five will be memorable.

2. I don't think it was too difficult. Everyone was ready and itching to come back to work. So other then getting used to working the long hours I don't think it's been hard at all. Here at SVU we have really have hit the ground running. The time off felt like a break at school, and now the summer is over and we are ready to get back at it.

3. Here's some juice for you: Look for Benson to go under cover on April 15th, look out for an episode filming at the home of the Superbowl Champs: Giants Stadium, and as far as guest stars, keep an eye out for our 200th episodes currently scheduled to air April 29th with a VERY special guest star.

Talk to you later!

March 04, 06:39 PM

We're Back!

Sorry for the delay all, but I'm glad to say we at SVU are back to work. March 3rd was our first day of shooting and we are already rolling along. More good news: we will be completing Season 9. Production will be turning episodes around for you as fast as we can, so come mid April we will be back with ALL NEW episodes. One of which will be SVU's 200th episode!

I want to thank everyone to for continuing to visit and post comments on the site. I'm going to do my best to go through all of them and make some responses, so when we start airing new episodes we'll be all caught up.

Looking forward to starting the Production Blog up again!

November 06, 08:59 PM

Hi all!

No rerun tonight, we are back with an all-new SVU episode called "Svengali." The Art Department here at SVU did great work on this episode, as they created around eighteen different comic book covers from scratch. I'll bring you through the process from start to finish of one of the key covers, comic book #9 "Shafted".

It starts with what's called an idea sketch from our Production Designer.

Continue reading "Hi all!" »

October 30, 08:17 PM

Lots of Questions and Answers

Recently Chelie posted a few great questions: 1) On the set, when reading a script for the first time, how long do actors have to memorize it? 2) Also, is it the emotional work that is the hardest thing on camera? 3) Do your actors ever get tired of the on camera and wish they were doing stage? 4)How do you guys kill time behind the scenes when you're not filming or not in a scene?

Today's your lucky day Chelie, as I'm going to answer all these questions...

Continue reading "Lots of Questions and Answers" »

October 22, 01:57 PM

Questions Answered

So here are some of your questions answered:

QUESTION: On Oct 17th you asked "The girl playing Katie in "Savant," was she wearing fake teeth? Did anyone help her prepare for that role being that she was so young?"

ANSWER: Katie, played by Paulina Gerzon, was wearing fake teeth. Paulina was an amazing little girl. She was so polite, smart, and a WONDERFUL actress. She was portraying someone with Williams Syndrome. One of the characteristics of people with Williams Syndrome is the teeth that Paulina wore in the episode. She also wore prosthetic tips on her ears and prosthetic bumps under her eyes. She had to sit through about 2 hours of make up to make the mold/prosthetic. Yes, Paulina did get help to prepare for the episode. She was given a lot of information on Williams Syndrome and she met with the Director before the episode began filming. But, as I said earlier, Paulina was a great actress, so she was a quick learner.

Here's a photo of the teeth mold:

Continue reading "Questions Answered" »

October 15, 01:31 PM

Impulsive

Hi Everyone.

So how was last week's episode "Impulsive"? Anyone else think it was a cool twist to have Melissa Joan Hart's character (Sarah Trent) not be the rapist? And how great is Annie Potts (Attorney Sophie Devere)?

Melissa Joan Hart was an awesome person. When I thought of her my mind went straight to "Clarissa Explains It All" (which I loved as a kid). Many other people know her best for "Sabrina the Teenage Age Witch." As a thanks to SVU she got an Espresso Bar for the entire crew for the last day of filming. Everyone was bouncing off the walls on caffeine!

Continue reading "Impulsive" »

October 03, 02:24 PM

Hi All!

So what did everyone think about the season premiere? Did you think the cave looked even better on screen? I went through your posts and noticed that some people had questions about the cave set. Let's answer some:

1) Are we ever going to use that cave set again?
After we completed filming the episode we tore down the set. So we will not use that specific set again, but it is possible that somewhere down the line we might film in a cave again and build something very similar.

2) Weren't there any real caves we could have used in Central Park?
The location actually wasn't supposed to take place in Central Park. Even if it did, finding one large and safe enough for us to be filming in is unlikely.

Continue reading "Hi All!" »

September 19, 03:39 PM

Hi Everyone!

First off, I want to thank everyone for your patience during our filming hiatus. Everyone from our crew to cast is well rested and ready to rock out some more great episodes for Season 9. Wow, Season 9! Isn't that amazing? I'm happy to say this year we'll be filming our 200th episode in December! We have some AWESOME things in store for you this season, so let's not waste anytime.

Here's some behind the scenes stuff from our season premiere called "Alternate" (guest starring Cynthia Nixon)...

Continue reading "Hi Everyone!" »

July 17, 07:22 PM

Brief Hiatus

Wow, great ideas everyone. The amount of feedback and responses were spectacular! It's interesting to see all of the different points of view.

I'm sad to say this is going to be my last post for some time. Production will be going on hiatus until the beginning of September. But don't worry, come Sept. 5th I'll be back with a ton of inside info and topics. But I won't leave you empty handed, here's a sneak peak at some of our fantastic guest stars for next season: Cynthia Nixon, Melissa Joan Hart, Aidan Quinn, Method Man, Gloria Reuben, Steven Weber, Elizabeth McGovern, Forrest Griffin (UFC), Coco, Beverly D'Angelo, Annie Potts, Shannon Woodward (The Riches), Kyle Gallner (Veronica Mars), Kevin Tighe (Lost), Gaius Charles (Friday Night Lights), Bronson Pinchot.

So keep the comments, ideas, and posts coming throughout August and be ready for when SEASON 9 starts on September 25th. When I get back I'll be posting some behind the scenes PHOTOS!

July 09, 11:52 AM

Everyone Wants Drama

I want to thank everyone for visiting the site and also posting comments. This was by far the most responses the Production Blog has gotten in such a short period of time. You're all AWESOME. The Production Blog is a great outlet to let us know what you think, and I can assure you that our Writers and Producers read it. Keep visiting and keep the comments coming!

So going through your responses it seems that the crowd is split. Some would like to see more personal information for our detectives, some don't want to make it too "soap-opera like", and some are fine with the way it is. And of course everyone is hoping for Stabler and Benson to be more then just detective partners. Most of all, everyone wants the DRAMA.

I have another question. Some people referenced Darrius Parker (Ludacris) and Agent Porter (Vincent Spano) in their last comments. I would love to know what our audience thinks of our Guest Stars. Any favorites? Any one you hate? Anyone you want to see come back? Anyone that has been gone for a while that you'd like to see reintroduced?

June 20, 12:58 PM

Open for Discussion

Wow, great responses. Loving the feedback! From your comments, it seems like there is an overwhelming feeling that FBI Agent Dean Porter and Benson are going to end up as an item. Sorry, I can't say yes or no to that, but I will say the finale is NOT the last time you will see Agent Porter.

And the answer to my question last week: the song from the end of the season finale was also in the movie "Crash" (with Ludacris). It's called "Sense of Touch" by Mark Isham. From the comments, I'd say about 9 out of 10 people liked the music, and I'd have to agree. The emotion we observed by just seeing the character's faces and actions without any words had such an impact. Everyone has an opinion, so those 1 out of 10 who weren't a fan of it, that's not a problem. This blog can be considered an open forum. Positive or negative, keep the posts coming.

On June 5th Miley asked since we were introduced to Simon (Benson's brother) will we ever meet some of Stabler's siblings? I think that's an interesting idea. Stabler has a wife and kids, so the show has focused on that aspect of his personal life. Let's open that up to discussion. Does anyone have any interests/ideas for some background stories on our characters personal, family, love interests? (…that is other then Stabler and Benson getting together…)

June 04, 02:29 PM

Season 9 Production Begins

Hi Everyone!

So I wanted to take a second to let everyone know that even though the Season 8 is finished, I will continue to post on the blog. We have begun filming Season 9 and are already up to Episode 4. We are all still in production until late July so keep checking in to the site.

What did everyone think of the season finale? I see a lot of people enjoyed the end of the episode with the music. I personally thought it was amazing and extremely effective to cut all the audio out and just see the emotions on everyone's face. How awesome was Capt. Cragen in that montage?

Can anyone guess the movie that had the same song? (Here's a hint: one of our guest stars from the finale was also in the movie.)

Let me hear some feedback on who you think is coming back and who isn't? What do you expect for Season 9?

May 16, 02:10 PM

SVU Writer Amanda Green

Hey everyone!

In response to so many of your questions referring to the writing process and those questions only one of the SVU writer's could answer, as promised, I contacted one of our writers, Amanda Green, to help out. Some of the recent episodes Amanda wrote were "Haystack" and "Annihilated" (the episode that aired on 5/8).

Here is her post:

In response to a bunch of recent questions about the process of writing SVU, here's a quick overview from the writers' point of view. People wanted to know how the writers come up with the ideas for the episodes, and how they make sure the legal/medical information is accurate. In short, the answer is: research.

All of the writers on SVU read constantly. Newspapers, books, and professional journals often spark our interest. Many episodes begin when one writer excitedly says to another, "I just read the coolest article..." or "I had no idea that..." It may be about an actual crime, but more often, it's not the headlines that grab our attention, but an advance in science or technology, or an ethical/legal dilemma that serves as the starting point for an episode. For example, the recent episode "Loophole" began when Neal Baer read a newspaper article about the cancellation of a research study that paid impoverished families to test insecticides on their children.

Once our interest is piqued, the writer will usually ask our staff researcher to get as much information as possible on the subject. The research he compiles for a single episode can run to hundreds of pages. Then, the next step for the writer is talking to experts. While many of our writers themselves have backgrounds that contribute to the show's authenticity (the writing staff includes a doctor, a forensic psychologist, a lawyer, and a journalist), we constantly talk to experts in the field to keep ourselves up to date on the cutting edge issues, procedures and technologies that affect the criminal justice system.

SVU has a roster of technical advisers (including a former NYPD SVU commanding officer, an Assistant District Attorney, a Crime Scene detective, a law professor, and a psychiatrist) who we consult with on every episode, but we also call specialists on every topic we discuss. It's very important to us to get the facts straight - accuracy really matters to us. Also, when we talk to experts and professionals in the field, they share details with us we could never dream up. Incorporating their knowledge and experience into the show makes SVU feel real.

So even when an episode of SVU involves a crime that seems outlandish, or a legal complication that seems unbelievable, do some research: you'll find it happened somewhere. The old saying "Truth is stranger than fiction" is definitely true, and in our opinions, more interesting than anything we could dream up on our own.

- - - - - -

Thanks Amanda!

By the way, I noticed that some of you think that my name is Taylor...I just thought I'd set the record straight and let you know that's not me. Sorry, but thanks for the comments!

May 10, 03:05 PM

Q & A

Hi all!

Tara asked "Is there any crossover in the production of SVU and CI, ie are there any common areas where actors and crew from both shows hang out -- a cafeteria or something?"

No, the reason is that we do not film at the same sound stage as CI.

Before Season 6, we would use the courtroom sets on the original Law & Order, so we would film on their stages. However, we built a courtroom here at the SVU stages, so we no longer do that. No Crossover is being planned at this time.

Anna asked: when there is a long break between new episodes and it's just reruns, is that because the cast has off or because that is just how the schedule goes?

It has to do with NBC scheduling. NBC only has 22 eps of the series and needs to parse them out over the course of the season, which runs approximately 35 weeks thus the long slog of reruns. Also, our show does go on hiatus and we do not film during that time, but we always have a certain amount of episodes completed before we go on break. The amount of time between the filming completion and airdate varies.

Shawn: How often do the actors goof around?

The actors always goof around. With the amount of hours we work it's great when there is a good mood on set. However, there are times when the actors really need to focus on the sometimes "heavy" subject matter, and all joking is put aside. If I had to choose, I'd say Diane Neal would be the biggest goof-ster.

I've noticed a lot of questions have been directed towards the writers. Check back shortly, as I'm having one of our SVU writers answer those questions.

April 25, 04:08 PM

An Episode to Remember

Hey everyone...

So this Tuesday we're back with a new episode: “Florida” and it's going to be one to remember! A few hints: a certain sibling is back, a friend from the FBI will be around, and I hope you folks like dramatic stand-offs.

It'll help if you saw the episode “Philadelphia”. For those of you who missed it or need a refresher on it here's the synopsis:

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is doing surveillance on Simon Marsden (Michael Weston) at his Riverpark home, but before she can catch up with him two New Jersey cops pick her up for infringing on their case. Stabler (Chris Meloni), who was spying on Benson, gets in the middle of things and they are both taken to the local precinct. Cragen (Dann Florek) talks to the Jersey captain, Julia Millfield (Kim Delaney), and she lets them off the hook, but Cragen wants answers. They tell him they were following a lead from an informant, but really Benson was checking up on the man she thinks is her brother.

Cragen is concerned that his two lead detectives are getting too attached to each other, and forces them to see a psychiatrist. They independently talk to Dr. Hendrix (Mary Stuart Masterson), who tells Cragen what he already knows - they are too close - but if he does anything about it he will lose his two best detectives.

…and here's a link on the SVU site for “Philadelphia”

Check back, in the upcoming weeks I'm going hit up of each of the different departments here at SVU and give you an inside look (and yes, this includes talking to some of the actors). Looking for feedback on what departments (outside of the actors) you guys/gals are curious about and want to know more. Post where you'll like me to go here in the SVU comments!

April 17, 02:27 PM

Responsible

So what did everyone think about last Tuesday's episode: “Responsible?” Just to think, on average 7 underage kids die in drinking related situations a DAY! If you have a second, you should really check out our link to find out more!

In Responsible, does anyone remember the scene where Judge Donnelly played back the video on her computer of the kids drinking and mocking Benson, Stabler, and the Judge? We shot that video about 3 feet away from my desk. The SVU Stage are over 4500 square feet, but sometimes we still run out of places to build a set, so often we use every square inch of the building. In this case we used our Line Producer, David DeClerque's, office as one of the kid's basement. Funny story: As soon as we finished filming the video the crew and everyone cleared out, however Set Dressing hadn't gotten in yet to clear out all the beer cans and bottles of liquor. So everyone who walked by the office thought one of our producers was having a party in there.

On to some questions:

On March 27, Jordan C. asked: If Adam Beach is joining the cast...then who is leaving?? Fin or Munch???

Well Jordan I am very happy to say that no one is leaving. Adam will return as his character Detective Chester Lake. He will be joining the SVU team starting Season 9 (and maybe a little sooner, wink..wink).

On March 26th, valsatcamp asked: Are fans allowed to visit the sets? I have heard that they are in an old airplane hanger in Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, fans are not allowed to visit the SVU Stages for security reasons. However, when we are on the streets filming in NYC, anyone can stand by and get a glimpse of filming. (Sorry, I can't give out the locations in advance). We also aren't in an old airplane hanger in Brooklyn. We have built the SVU permanent sets in a warehouse in New Jersey.

On March 19th, Sara C. asked: Do you shoot year round?

It changes slightly every season, but we shoot a little over nine months a year. In an earlier post I talked about how we film some seriously long hours. I think it's fair to say that the 9th months we work is close to, if not equal with, a year round 9-5 job.

Lastly I wanted to address what seems to be the two biggest questions. The release dates for some seasons on DVD and the pregnancy. I promise everyone who reads the blog that I have questions in on when the DVDs will be released and I am waiting to hear back. The second I have an answer I will post it, even if it's 2am, I PROMISE. Next, the pregnancy. Ok, here's the deal: Unlike what some people are posting, the one thing I can tell you with certainty is that Munch is not pregnant! As time goes by and we get closer to the episode with the “baby bombshell” I'll leak a little more info here and there. So stay tuned…

March 28, 05:14 PM

Prepping for Each Episode

Hey everyone!

I mentioned earlier in one of my posts that we go through an eight-day prep for each episode. Essentially that means we prepare locations, schedules, and anything needed to shoot an episode in eight days. Think how hard that is considering movies often have months to prepare.

Throughout the prep we also have three important meetings for the script. I thought it’d be cool to take you through them:

1) Director Read Through.
This meeting happens during the early days of prep (usually on the first day). This is the first time the prepping crew goes through the script and makes notes on a variety of things, such as locations, stunts, props, logistics, etc. The way it works is that one of our Executive Producers, Ted Kotcheff, reads the script aloud scene by scene and after each scene the members present in the meeting will give notes to him. The folks present in this meeting are the Director, the Producer, the Assistant Directors, the Art Director, the Locations Manager, the Script Coordinator, and often the Writer, who has the final decision on what notes to take.

2) The Tone Meeting.
This is the longest meeting of the three and usually happens towards the last three days of prep. This where our Writer (show specific) and Executive Producer and Showrunner, Neal Baer, go through each page scene by scene describing the “tone” of the scene to our Director, Producers, and Assistant Director. For example, Benson should be upset here but not on the verge of tears or the rage in Stabler needs to be through the roof, etc. As opposed to the Director Read Through, this meeting is where the emotional content is discussed and where some great creative decisions are made.

3) The Production Meeting.
This meeting is on the last day of prep (the day before we start filming the episode) and is run by the First Assistant Director (or First A.D. for short). The head of almost every department attends this meeting, so you can naturally assume that this is the largest meeting of the three. Some of the departments in attendance: Costume, Casting, Accounting, Set Dressing, Safety, Hair/Make-Up, Locations, Art, Production, plus others. The First A.D. goes through the script in scene order and runs down specifics about each scene, such as props needed (detective’s gun and badge), how many background actors we need (i.e. hospital scene: 5 doctors, 4 nurses), Wardrobe issues (i.e. blood on the clothes), and Make-Up/Hair issues (i.e. cut on victim’s face). You get the picture. There are also small “side bar meetings” at the end of the Production Meeting to talk more specific with some departments.

So there it is. Just think, all this happens in basically a week’s time.

March 15, 09:20 PM

Q&A From the Comments

On to some more of your questions…

On March 13th MicroDJ asked: When there are scenes inside the hallways/stairways of the courthouse is that a set or a location shoot?

The answer is both. It all depends on the shooting schedule and where we are filming. If filming down at the actual courthouses we use their hallways/stairways. If the scene calls specifically for a stairway, it’s normally on location. However, our courtroom is actually one of our sets here at the stages. So we can re-arrange things to film hallway scenes here. Believe it or not, sometimes we will redress a location to make it look like a courtroom hallway if the schedule calls for it; if we are filming at a school, we redress hallways to make it look like the courthouse.

On March 12th John asked: How far in advance do you film episodes? How long does each episode take?

There is no specific answer for how far in advance we film an episode. We are in our last week of filming for Season 8 and these episodes air in May. Sometimes we finish an episode and it will air in less then a month. We start filming Season 9 in April, and those episodes won’t start airing until September. We schedule seven to eight days of prep for each episode and we film each episode in eight days. Occasionally episodes take a little longer to film. If there are long chase scenes or stunts, they take more time to film.

On March 12th Giulia asked: There are a couple of episodes through the 8 seasons where Munch and Stabler have respectively a broken leg and a broken arm. Did they break them in the reality or it was just a script thing?

It was just a script thing. Neither Chris Meloni or Richard Belzer has had a broken arm where they need to wear their actually cast/sling in the show.

On March 5th Melanie asked: Chris Meloni mentioned a “full moon” on his blog, will you please elaborate on this and tell us which episode will he give us this scrumptious treat?

Well Melanie, I’m going to have to leave this for what it is. (I think you can figure out what he meant). If I were you I’d make sure to tune in on May 8th for the episode “Annihilated.”

On March 3rd Chris M. asked: Was that Mariska photo in the old newspaper clipping (in the episode Philadelphia) that her brother had or was it one of her relatives?

That was in fact an actually photo of Mariska from her youth. She was kind enough to bring it in and let use it. It was real photo that we doctored to make it look like a newspaper clipping photo.

On March 2nd Zeina Kanafani asked: Why was the episode called Philadelphia named that? Usually there is a hint to the episode titles during the show, but I couldn’t find one in Philadelphia.

Well there was no specific reference to the name in dialogue. However, the city Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love. Benson finally finds and meets her brother in this episode. Clever huh?

Keep the questions coming!

March 08, 08:25 PM

Set Secrets

As I’m sure you all know, last night’s episode “Underbelly” was a rerun. But have no fear, we return on March 27th with an original, “Sin”. But we’ll talk about that next week, today I wanted to let you in on some of the secrets about our sets that you might find interesting.

The Soda Machine
Outside the Squadroom in the hallway there is a big soda machine that now and then our cast will grab a soda from during a scene. I know it looks like a full functioning soda machine; Stabler will hit the cola button, and out will come a can of cola. Funny thing is it’s not even plugged in. It’s actually not even really a soda machine. The way it works is before the scene we open the machine, which is basically a hollow wooden box inside, and we put one of our smaller crewmembers with a can of soda in the machine. We close he/she in and start shooting the scene, Meloni will hit the cola button and our crewmember inside will drop the soda down the shoot so it comes out the front. Sound effects are added later.

The Elevator Doors
Often our detectives come out of or go into the elevators in the squadroom hallway. They look like fully functioning elevators. Wrong again. These are two wooden doors that a crewmember pulls open when the detectives hit the button and then push close when the detectives are inside. Even funnier, the elevator doors open into our morgue set, so every time we need to use the elevators, we need to build the inside of the elevator in the morgue! Again, sound effects added later.

The Jail Bars
It’s a good thing we don’t lock up any real criminals in our jail cell sets here at the SVU Stages. Reason being is that even though they look like metal bars, they are really just painted plastic and wooden bars.

I know, I know, you all feel cheated. The magic of television! I’ll get to some more questions later this week, so check back!

February 27, 06:11 PM

Philadelphia

Hey everyone...

Simply put: tonight's episode, called “Philadelphia”, is a must see. Benson finally unravels a part of her past. For those of you who do not know Benson's back-story: she was the product of a rape. Her mother was an alcoholic and she never knew her father.

Tonight, that all changes. For those of you who watched last week's episode “Haystack” very closely, M.E. Warner showed the detective a new type of DNA comparison tool where, with a DNA sample, it's possible to locate members of one's family (via the police database). In “Haystack” it was used to locate an infant's relative; but Benson was listening closely and had very specific questions about the process. She seemed a little more interested in what M.E. Warner had to say than the other detectives. There are lots of casting surprises as well: new faces, same faces, and some faces we haven't seen or heard from in a while.

Two of the guest stars on “Philadelphia” are Michael Weston and Kim Delaney, both awesome people. You might know Michael Weston from the television series “Six Feet Under” or the film “Garden State”. Kim Delaney comes from a long career on “NYPD Blue” and more recently “The O.C.” They had great chemistry with each other and with our cast. By the way, Kim starred with our very own Chris Meloni on NYPD Blue, one of Chris' first big dramatic roles.

On to some of your questions:

On Feb. 26th Briena asked: What's the significance of the gold necklace Benson wears?

The necklace Benson wears is part of Mariska Hargitay's real life. She spends a lot of her own time outside of the show working with sexual assault victims. One cause she is deeply involved in is the Joyful Heart Foundation, which is committed to the healing of rape and sexual assault victims.

The pendant Mariska wears is called the “Fearlessness Necklace” and 100% of its sale profits go directly to the Joyful Heart Foundation. For more information on the foundation and the necklace you can go to Mariska.com and/or the joyfulheartfoundation.org.

On. Feb. 25th Giulia asked: How do the actors get to set?

Some actors drive themselves and some we send drivers for. It's beneficial for both production and the actors when we provide transportation. It's good for the actors because they have a car ready and waiting for them, and it's good for production because it helps us keep the shooting on schedule. If someone is running late we can communicate with the driver who's picking the actor up.

On Feb. 23rd KatieThing asked: How long are the breaks on the set, and how many breaks do they get? Also, when a person isn't in a scene, do they still come in to work that day?

Depending on the shooting schedule the actors' breaks vary. We have a break for lunch each day, and the actors have time off when we are lighting a before we shoot the scene. Actors have other breaks as well. For example, Chris Meloni might be scheduled in the first scene and the third scene; in this case he has the entire second scene “off”. If an actor is not scheduled to film, they do not have to come to work. There are exceptions; for a cast read through of a new script, for example, we'd need them all to come to set.

February 22, 11:38 AM

Tandem Episodes & Your Questions

So how did you like this Tuesday's show?

Did anyone notice that Benson was not in the episode as much as usual and Stabler was in almost every scene? Last night's show was a "tandem" episode for us. As I mentioned in the last response to your questions, a "tandem" episode is when we film two episodes at the same time. "Haystack" (which aired this week, 2/20) was filmed in tandem with the show that aired on February 6th, "Loophole."

In the beginning of "Loophole" Stabler was thrown through a window by Bill Goldberg and knocked out of commission for that episode. In the production world this meant that Stabler was out of that episode, so he could film primarily in "Haystack." Here's a challenge for everyone: can anyone figure what other episodes might have been filmed in tandem?

Since I didn't get a chance to answer any questions last week, I wanted to get to some of them today.

On Feb. 20th TAYLOR ELLEN asked: "What was Peter Herman's first episode (Mariska's real life husband) and how many episodes has he been in?"

Peter's first episode with us was back in Season 3 in an episode called "Monogamy." His recurring character is Attorney Trevor Langan. So far, Peter has been in a total of 21 episodes here at SVU.

On Feb. 20th GW1973 asked: "Are the bodies on the show played by real actorsor props?" and on Feb. 15th SARA C asked: "Are the people killed in the show all fake or real people posing as if they were dead?"

The answer to this one is both. When we can (which is the majority of the time) we use actual actors. We have a great Make-Up department that can make any person look as dead as can be. So bodies on morgue tables or crime scenes are normally actors holding their breath (haha). Sometimes we do use prop dummies for safety concerns. For example, when the detectives find a dead body floating in a river: There's no way we are going to put an actual person in the East River in the middle of the winter.

On Feb. 15th LEE ANN asked: "I have a bet with a friend, what did Mickey Hargitay (Mariska's real-life father) play when he was on the show: the creepy guywho kept people in the dungeon or the homeless man?"

The episode in which Mariska's father was on our show was our 100th episode, called "Control." I'm sorry to say that both you and your friend are incorrect. He was neither of the two guys you described. Mickey had a small cameo as the kindly grandfather who was riding the escalator with his grandkid (right before the man who kept people in the dungeon falls down the escalator). In a later scene Mickey is actually interviewed by his daughter Mariska.

On Feb. 13th TRACEY asked: "How many episodes are left in Season 8?"

After the 2/20 episode, Season 8 has seven remaining episodes left to air. Benson discovers a big part of her past in some of the upcoming episodes.

Thanks for visiting.

February 13, 08:13 PM

Cary Elwes/Tonight's New Episode

Hi all,

I love the responses to my posts. We really appreciate the opinions (both good and bad) of the show. So keep them coming, as we always want to know what our viewers are thinking.

Tonight's episode is “Dependent”. It's a very interesting story line, so make sure you tune in.

We had a GREAT cast for this show. A terrific guest star on this show was Cary Elwes. For those of you who don't know him, check out “Princess Bride” or “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (my personal favorites) or more recently, check out the movie “Saw.” Some of the guest stars who come on the show sometimes keep to themselves or just hang out in their dressing rooms. Cary hung out on set or in the production office more then he did in his dressing room, so it was cool getting to know him. A nice Cary story: We taped this episode right before Christmas. Cary came to set one day with an entire box of red candles and started giving them out. Everyone thought this was a nice gesture in general, but then we found out more about the candles. These weren't just any red candles, these candles were from the campaign that the Gap is doing, in which proceeds go to a Global Fund for AIDS in Africa. How great is that? Cary was really funny and you can tell he was happy to be here. This makes it really easy on everyone, the more comfortable we are with the guest actors, the happier the crew and main cast is, the smoother filming goes.

Keep the questions coming. I'm trying to find out more about your DVD questions and why the order they came out in was so funky.

Thanks for visiting.

February 09, 09:34 PM

Answering Your Questions (Pt 2)

ON FEB. 4 SVU DUDETTE ASKED: “Why was Scheherezade filmed during season 7 (when Mariska was pregnant), and air during season 8?”

Good eye. You are correct; Scheherezade was filmed during Season 7 and aired in Season 8. There are a few reasons we did that. First, as you noticed, Mariska was pregnant and would miss some of Season 8 when she left to have the baby. So we wanted to film a few shows with her for the next season while she was still working. That's why we filmed them during Season 7. Next, we need to have a certain amount of episodes completed by a certain date. This has a lot to do with how long it takes us to send a completed show to NBC. So with this episode, we filmed in what is called “tandem.” Simply put, we filmed two episodes at the same time. That's why you'll notice that Chris and Mariska are in that episode a lot, and Ice-T and some of the others are not (that's because they are filming the other show).

ON FEB. 4 KRISTIN ASKED: “How much longer do you think the show is going to go?”

Well Kristin, I'm happy to say that I, and everyone here, do not see an end anytime soon (knock on wood). Chris and Mariska just re-upped their contracts, and our writers have plenty of ideas for the upcoming shows and seasons. (Hopefully I can leak a hint of them as time goes by). And since you also asked, I will be sure to tell them that they have one of the shows biggest fans in SF New Mexico!

For those of you who asked questions that I didn't respond to this time, keep checking back. I'll do my best to get answer as many as I can!

Thanks for visiting.

February 09, 06:11 PM

Answering Your Questions (Pt 1)

You guys posted some great questions, and I wanted to get to some of them today.

ON FEB. 2, MARY ASKED: “I am curious as to know who decides the locations of the street scenes in New York?”

Good question. Ultimately, the answer is the director chooses the location, but that is after a lot of other folks here narrow it down. This is the process: Say that, in one of our upcoming episodes we will be filming at the exterior of a theater. Our Locations Department goes through their walls and walls of file cabinets containing photos of all types of locations. In this case they'd look specifically for theater exteriors. Say we have 15 theater folders that the Location Manger likes. The Location Manager will contact the theaters and see about availability. That cuts the options down to 10. Then the Location Manager meets with the Production Designer in the Art Department and will cut the choices down, based on his vision, to about 6. Finally the remaining folders are brought to the Director. He'll look through them and decide on his 3 favorites. Then we “scout” the 3 locations. Scouting is when the Director, Producer, Assistant Directors, Locations Manager, and Production Designer visit the possible locations. After seeing the 3 locations the team decides which is best. The Director makes the final decision on which he wants. A few days later we'll be filming there!

ON FEB. 2 DETECTIVE PDQ ASKED: “How many hours is an average day on set?”

Everyday is different. I'd say on a really good day we finish in a little over 12 hours. Though sometimes we film close to 14 hours. So I'd say the average would be 13 hours. One thing to note: one of the main determinants on how long the filming day will be is what we are filming that day. For example, if we are filming any kind of stunt it takes longer. If we are filming a very emotional scene where we need to get a lot of different size shots (wide shots, mid shots, close ups) it takes longer. Lastly, if we are filming a scene where we need to cover a lot of people in a scene (often scenes that take place in a courtroom) it takes longer. The scenes that we call our “bread and butter scenes” go a lot faster. These include squad room scenes where our detectives spitball with one another.

ON FEB. 3 ASHLEE DAWN ASKED: “Who was the writer and director for the episode, Scheherezade?”

That episode was written by Amanda Green, and the director was David Platt. For those of you familiar with the titles of our episodes, in season 8 Amanda also wrote: “Underbelly” (which aired in November), “Haystack” (which airs on Feb. 20th), and “Annihilated” (which airs on May 8th). David Platt has been with our show a long time and has directed 9 of the 22 episodes in Season 8.

More to come...

February 05, 03:09 PM

All About Bill Goldberg

Hey everyone!!

Thanks for responding to my post. I can tell you all have a lot of questions, and I'm going to try to give you the answers you're looking for later this week. But today, in honor of the sneak peak on the SVU site, I wanted talk about my interaction with Bill Goldberg, who's in tomorrow night's episode “Loophole.”

Our show gets a lot of great guest stars, so we on the crew are pretty used to celebrities coming through, and rarely do we get too excited. But when we heard Goldberg was coming, we pretty much had adult men acting like they were teenage girls about to meet Justin Timberlake.

For those of you who don't know who Goldberg is, watch the sneak peak on the SVU site or just google him. He is a professional wrestler and I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest wrestling fan, but I know who Goldberg is. He's at least 6'4” tall and about 285 lb.. The guy pretty much has a bulging muscle on every square inch of his body. I'm a pretty fit guy and I go to the gym four days a week, but I've never seen anyone this large. The guy could break me in half and not even break a sweat. Which brings me to the point; you'd think this would be the last guy you'd ever want to meet in a dark alley. You couldn't be more wrong.

From the second he walked through the door, he couldn't have been a nicer guy. He must have posed for 100 pictures and shook about 200 hands, never once complaining or turning people away. On set he was picking people up over his head and letting people try to pick him up! He instantly got along with everyone on our cast, and it was actually hard for everyone to keep a straight face during his scene because they were all laughing so much in between takes. He's a good actor too. Hanging out between takes, he was all smiles and calm, but as soon as the director yelled action, he turned into a raging, veins pulsing, eyes popping, beast.

I personally have a good Goldberg story. As I said, I don't follow pro-wrestling, but I know who Goldberg is mainly from my seventeen-year-old little brother who loves that stuff. So when I met Goldberg of course the first thing I do is tell him: “you have no idea how big a fan my little brother is!” You figure he'd say thanks or I appreciate it. No, you know what he does? He says “let's get him on the phone!” So I call my brother and tell him to say hi to my “friend” here at work, Goldberg gets on the phone and introduces himself; my brother flips. You think they have a one minute conversation and that'd be it. WRONG AGAIN! They were on the phone for about 10 minutes, and next thing I know he is inviting my brother to come down to set to hang out with him! Unfortunately my brother had class and couldn't leave school, so he couldn't make it. But it just goes to show how awesome Goldberg was.

Check back this week and I'll post some answers to your questions…

Again, thanks for visiting.

February 01, 07:10 PM

Welcome to the SVU Production Blog!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to take a second and welcome you to the new SVU Production Blog. You can consider me your eyes and ears inside the world of L & O SVU. I've been working on the show for sometime and have access to every aspect of the show, from the writers and producers to the actors and the crew, I'll be the guy giving you some inside access and behind the scenes stories and looks (maybe even leak a secret to you every now and then).

As time goes on, I'll talk with/about our actors, guest stars, and crew. I'll give you some eyewitness accounts, from myself and crew members, of what's going on, on the set of SVU. I'll also try to snap a picture here and there.

Long story short, we are going to have some fun and I'm going to show you what it's like here at SVU. I'll also do my best to answer any questions you may have.

So thanks for visiting, and I look forward to giving you the lowdown every week!