Law & Order: SVU production crew pictured, waiting and ready for lights, camera, action.
ANISSA LATIF / COURTESY
Maddie Rosado, Managing / News Editor
On Feb. 9, Manhattan University’s (MU) quad was transformed into a set for the filming of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” The visit marked the show’s third official appearance on campus this academic year, following careful coordination with university staff.
A week prior to filming on campus, The Quadrangle received approval from NBC to speak with two members of the production team, providing insight into the detailed arrangements needed to shoot on an active university campus.
On the day of filming, The Quadrangle spoke with Katy Nolan, assistant location manager for Law & Order: SVU, about her role and the production process.
“My job is basically constant event coordinating…There’s two different types of days,” Nolan said. “We have prep days and set days. During the beginning of our prep days, we’ll have a concept meeting. That’s when we’ll sit down and go through scene-by-scene.”
During these meetings, the team plans each scene in detail and coordinates with all departments to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“We review the director’s vision, the writers’ initial concept, the customer’s ideas and where we want these scenes to take place,” Nolan said. “Immediately after that, we begin scouting locations for filming.”
After about eight prep days of organizing and planning, Nolan and her colleagues move into set days to begin filming.
“Some places really need a lot of preparation to make the scene work, while others not so much… And MU has been great,” Nolan said.
Following Nolan’s statement, Harry Cruz, location assistant for “Law & Order: SVU” agreed, emphasizing how accommodating MU’s staff makes the production process.
“The fact is that the staff here are very accommodating and even if we can’t do something, you’ll find a way to work around it,” Cruz said.
ANISSA LATIF / COURTESY
Despite the possible challenges of filming on a university campus, Cruz noted that the process is fairly routine, even with the curiosity of passing students.
“Filming here is pretty much how it normally goes, the only difference is the students… Some students that are walking around during filming, and watch out of curiosity, but usually stay at a distance, which we don’t mind,” Cruz said.
Ioannis Rountos, a sophomore civil engineering major, commented on the matter, stating that the filming production did not disrupt the regular flow of campus life at MU.
“It was pretty cool seeing the production crew… It didn’t really affect my class schedule too much… I think they worked well between MU students,” Rountos said.
Following Rountos’ perspective, Robert Cole, MU’s executive director of marketing, shared his own thoughts on working with the Law & Order: SVU team in an email to The Quadrangle.
“While I cannot speak for the production team, I am confident that MU affords ‘Law & Order: SVU’ a professional and welcoming atmosphere for filming,” Cole wrote in an email to The Quadrangle.
Cole continued, noting that he believes part of MU’s appeal to the production crew lies in its versatility and visual opportunities for filming.
“Many of the university’s buildings have distinctly classic architecture,” Cole wrote. “With such an extremely picturesque campus, MU can appear to be many different locales, thus it makes sense from an economy of filming.”
Cruz added that the production team values the university campus for more than its visual appeal, emphasizing that “Law & Order: SVU’s” experience at MU always ensures a favorable environment for filming. “Usually, if a school is willing to work with us, we’ll definitely be back. We’ve already been back at MU twice this season… That just really shows how much we really like it here,” Cruz said.