Read Online Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion by Susan Green, Randee Dawn - Free Book Online
Authors: Susan Green, Randee Dawn
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twenty-five boxes of files because I’ve had a fair number of jobs in which we canvassed New York,” Adlesic says, enumerating “some of SVU ’s more magnificent locations over the years: the old TWA terminal at JFK (‘Angels,’ season four); Reuters’ 30 th floor (‘Pure,’ season six); the Museum of Natural History (‘Alternate, ’ season nine).”
She also likes to find “new, cutting-edge locations. I read Architectural Digest . I network. It’s always an evolving situation in the city.”
Executive producer Ted Kotcheff quotes Dick Wolf on the show’s mise-en-scene : “He says the audience loves seeing New York—our sky-scrapers, our yellow taxicabs—and hearing the New York accents. I just love exteriors. I often ask, ‘Why don’t we move it outdoors?’ There’s such an endless parade of interiors. It gets claustrophobic. Exteriors engage the eye.”
For California-based producer Judith McCreary, the eye of the beholder is what counts and Manhattan exteriors just aren’t up her alley. “When I returned to New York for ‘Venom’ (season seven), it was my first time back there in, like, two years,” she recalls. “But it was really cold that winter and we were downtown, at 60 Centre Street, which is some sort of wind tunnel. I refused to go out and tried to change the script so we could shoot indoors. I didn’t get my way.”
Her New York nightmare was only getting started. “As I recall, the snow came; a horrible blizzard that dumped inches of snow and brought the city to a standstill,” McCreary says. “And imagine my concern when some pedestrians that weekend actually lost their lives by walking on grates in the sidewalk and getting electrocuted from exposed wires because the salt had eaten away their protective coating!”
Neither rain nor snow will keep Adlesic from her appointed rounds, which begin every six or seven days by “getting a new script and starting to break it down immediately,” she says of the “prep” phase. “I sit in on Uncle Ted’s Story Hour (a session with Kotcheff and other key staffers) and tell them my ideas.”
Adlesic and her team need to find roughly ten to twenty locations per episode. “We also have ‘bottle shows’ (shot primarily on the soundstage) that conserve money, because we have to pay for locations,” she points out. “But 30 to 40 percent of SVU is shot on ‘practicals’ (locations).”
On the set of season ten’s “Lunacy,” Battery Park City, New York
In terms of scouting, “I’m part of the assistant director’s team, with about five people,” Adlesic says. “We’re the cornerstone of the production.”
To pave the way, Adlesic asks writers to give her a heads-up “if they plan any challenging locations—like the subway—so I can hit the ground running. The Fire Department’s training academy does have a platform with modern trains.”
DeClerque works with Adlesic in this process. “The producer, episode director, production designer, location manager, first and second directors, we become joined at the hip,” he says. “We try to find hub locations—the Museum of Natural Science, for instance—and build a full day of shooting around that. Can’t find a doughnut shop the script calls for? Is it possible the guy could be in a bodega instead?”
And then there are those endless details, such as the distances an episode can travel without running up the cost. “I’m always mindful that the Screen Actors Guild rules specify only eight miles from the city for actors and the crew’s trade union (IATSE 52) says they can’t go beyond twenty-two miles. Otherwise, we pay penalties,” Adlesic says.
To secure a site, Adlesic has other hoops through which to jump. “I have a sense of what’s fair and within budget,” she contends. “Most people will negotiate. We draw up a legal document, get insurance, coordinate the crew. It’s remarkable how smooth that can be. But it’s always deliver, deliver,
She also likes to find “new, cutting-edge locations. I read Architectural Digest . I network. It’s always an evolving situation in the city.”
Executive producer Ted Kotcheff quotes Dick Wolf on the show’s mise-en-scene : “He says the audience loves seeing New York—our sky-scrapers, our yellow taxicabs—and hearing the New York accents. I just love exteriors. I often ask, ‘Why don’t we move it outdoors?’ There’s such an endless parade of interiors. It gets claustrophobic. Exteriors engage the eye.”
For California-based producer Judith McCreary, the eye of the beholder is what counts and Manhattan exteriors just aren’t up her alley. “When I returned to New York for ‘Venom’ (season seven), it was my first time back there in, like, two years,” she recalls. “But it was really cold that winter and we were downtown, at 60 Centre Street, which is some sort of wind tunnel. I refused to go out and tried to change the script so we could shoot indoors. I didn’t get my way.”
Her New York nightmare was only getting started. “As I recall, the snow came; a horrible blizzard that dumped inches of snow and brought the city to a standstill,” McCreary says. “And imagine my concern when some pedestrians that weekend actually lost their lives by walking on grates in the sidewalk and getting electrocuted from exposed wires because the salt had eaten away their protective coating!”
Neither rain nor snow will keep Adlesic from her appointed rounds, which begin every six or seven days by “getting a new script and starting to break it down immediately,” she says of the “prep” phase. “I sit in on Uncle Ted’s Story Hour (a session with Kotcheff and other key staffers) and tell them my ideas.”
Adlesic and her team need to find roughly ten to twenty locations per episode. “We also have ‘bottle shows’ (shot primarily on the soundstage) that conserve money, because we have to pay for locations,” she points out. “But 30 to 40 percent of SVU is shot on ‘practicals’ (locations).”
On the set of season ten’s “Lunacy,” Battery Park City, New York
In terms of scouting, “I’m part of the assistant director’s team, with about five people,” Adlesic says. “We’re the cornerstone of the production.”
To pave the way, Adlesic asks writers to give her a heads-up “if they plan any challenging locations—like the subway—so I can hit the ground running. The Fire Department’s training academy does have a platform with modern trains.”
DeClerque works with Adlesic in this process. “The producer, episode director, production designer, location manager, first and second directors, we become joined at the hip,” he says. “We try to find hub locations—the Museum of Natural Science, for instance—and build a full day of shooting around that. Can’t find a doughnut shop the script calls for? Is it possible the guy could be in a bodega instead?”
And then there are those endless details, such as the distances an episode can travel without running up the cost. “I’m always mindful that the Screen Actors Guild rules specify only eight miles from the city for actors and the crew’s trade union (IATSE 52) says they can’t go beyond twenty-two miles. Otherwise, we pay penalties,” Adlesic says.
To secure a site, Adlesic has other hoops through which to jump. “I have a sense of what’s fair and within budget,” she contends. “Most people will negotiate. We draw up a legal document, get insurance, coordinate the crew. It’s remarkable how smooth that can be. But it’s always deliver, deliver,
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