STRICTLY ON BACKGROUND, PT. 36: "LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT"

I wouldn't take part in a protest outside a Brooklyn courthouse on a drizzly, humid August afternoon if you paid me. Well, actually I would. Which is how I found myself holding an anti-abortion placard for an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 

It was my first time working on SVU since February -- a fast shoot on a cold February morning as a Fordham alum watching a faculty football game on a West Side athletic field. When it aired, we were all so far in the background -- and the scene so short -- that I wondered why they even bothered with such character detail. On the other hand, when you're paid a full day's wage for two hours work, you're not going to complain. Or at least I'm not.

On the far left, looking either worn out from the humidity or
getting into character as an idiot.

This summer day would be different. Sure, there were a lot more extras. But now we were actually important to the scene. Likely due to my age, I was chosen to be an anti-abortion protester (most of the extras on the pro-choice side were younger and skewed female). 

Now, even extras need to get into character, and I'm no different. So I wore a nice blue blazer, pressed button-down shirt, tie, khakis, and sensible shoes. I literally topped it off with a cap I had bought (on sale!) at the JJ Hat Center on 5th Avenue some months earlier. Being a fedora guy in real life, I bought the cap more for work usage. Finally it would come in handy. 

If nothing else, this angle showed me how stupid my wallet looks
bulging from my pocket.

We worked in Brooklyn's Borough Hall section, where the courthouses stand. Often when shooting on location, productions close off the area to pedestrians. Not this time. So while many of the people walking by were extras, just as many were real people. Note to real pedestrians: you want to get paid to do what you do for free? Join Central Casting.

Unlike other shoots, not many pedestrians paid attention to us. Being busy locals, few noticed the cameras and other equipment. As far as they were concerned, this was just another group of goofy New Yorkers with nothing better to do than block foot traffic.

Mariska Hargitay doesn't recognize me because I wore a baseball
cap the last time we worked together.

However, one woman pushing a baby stroller paused long enough to berate us for being anti-abortion. No matter how clearly one of my colleagues tried to make it clear that it was only a TV show, this meddlesome dame kept on yelling at us until she made her point ad nauseum before walking away in triumph. 

I hope she's an SVU fan, just so she can appreciate what terrific actors we are -- or how blind to the obvious she was.



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