STRICTLY ON BACKGROUND, PT. 15: "LAW & ORDER: SVU"

Usually, I have a pretty clear memory of the shows I've worked on. But as I looked over my spreadsheet and saw that I worked on Law and Order: SVU on October 26, my mind drew a total blank.

Other shows I did in the weeks before and after -- Billions, Ronald, The Romanoffs, Bull, Grave Secrets, Madam Secretary, etc. -- were clear as a bell. But SVU? Nothing. Had I become this jaded about extra work that I couldn't remember working on one of the most popular dramatic series of the last 20 years? This certainly must be a sign of success. Or early senility. 

It wasn't until the day before the SVU episode aired that it all came back. Location shooting near the East Village. Two scenes, one mid-afternoon, the other a couple of hours later in the early evening. Holding area in a church across the street from a park. Ah yes, I remember it well...

I wish I had a chance to prepare
before the picture was taken.

The first scene was 1st Avenue and 18th Street. The two SVU leads have each gotten a cup of java from a fancy coffee cart -- the kind that actually grinds the beans in front of you. I've never seen it anywhere else, but I don't frequent coffee carts except on TV shows.

By the way, you might have seen me walk past a coffee cart outside Washington Square Park on Blue Bloods, but I neglected to ask when the episode was going to air. Look for the guy in the Panama hat. The entirely candid photo of me on the left, shot between takes, should help.

But that was then, and SVU was... well, not quite as then. Two months had passed; fall had arrived, necessitating a fedora and overcoat. As usual, the a.d. paired me with a woman, which, if I were single, would be the only way I could get one at my age.

It was rather startling to see me not only unusually clearly, but actually facing front before going for a coffee. For some reason, I'm far more nervous watching me than I ever am working on these shows. I'm always sure I'm going to look like a doofus -- mouth hanging open, shoulders hunched too high, that kind of thing. And I'm never disappointed.

I have no idea what "character" I was supposed to be in that scene, but in the next I was definitely a businessman chatting with colleagues in a downtown bar. We were sitting at a table near the entrance, where I was instructed to remove my jacket.

That was no problem. But unlike my "colleagues", I was placed with my back to the camera. This would not do. Since the three of us were supposed to be conversing, I shifted my chair so that I would be in profile, facing the woman to my right. What some consider scene-stealing, I call method acting.

Although we were just background, we wanted to make it look somewhat realistic; we had already been given pens and pads of paper, so why not use them?

Does this count as a  tax write-off?

We went so far as to quietly discuss a "real" business proposition, which kept changing from take to take. The only "business" I remember was sugarless chocolate (not my idea). My contribution was advising them that if it was going to be sugarless, it better be organic, or else nobody would be interested. Genius.

The other guy at the table was roughly my age, while the woman, as I recall, was 27. Don't get the wrong idea. There was no hanky-panky going on. Not only were we professional, but that's a cop and a prosecutor at the bar. Why do I keep running into them everywhere I go?

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