‘Law and Order: SVU’: 1 Episode Takes a Week to Film
Law & Order: SVU has been running now for over 20 seasons. The show has stood the test of time, and it has a loyal fan base to show for it.
Shows of this caliber take a lot of work and dedication to produce weekly. Viewers get to see the end result of all the hard work, but they don’t see the grueling schedule the actors and crew have to follow to get SVU into our living rooms.
‘Law & Order: SVU’ films year round
Chris Meloni played the part of Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU for 12 years before he left the show in 2011. According to Outsider, he has since returned to the franchise in the Law & Order: Organized Crime series.
Meloni spoke with NPR about the many perks of landing such a life-changing role. He also spoke about the long hours he was expected to follow to keep the show going.
Meloni said that each episode of SVU took the cast and crew more than one week to film. Each episode took about eight days to complete. Once each episode was complete, they would move right on to the next episode the next day.
He said, “And you know, you’re doing these scripts back to back, and it would take eight days to do an episode…So you know, you start on Monday, and the following Wednesday, you finish. And Thursday, you have your new script.”
Filming also happens throughout most of the year.
Meloni continued, “And this continues for nine months…And after about four or five months, you’re more liquid than solid. It just you know, the horrors just keep coming and coming.”
Each episode of ‘Law & Order: SVU’ has three stages
Like most TV shows, Law & Order: SVU goes through three stages before we see it on our TVs, according to Beverly Boy Productions.
You start with pre-production. This is when the show’s producers and writers work on developing storylines and scripts. Characters are cast, scout locations, and plan the production schedule. The actors will need to learn their scripts before the next stage.
Production is when all the filming happens per the script developed in pre-production. Each scene will probably require multiple takes, which can be a long and tedious process.
Finally, there is post-production. This is when all the editing of the footage happens. Music is added along with sound effects and any special effects. The editors work closely with the producers and directors to get the episode they want. Post-production requires a lot of attention to detail.
Since Law & Order: SVU typically only takes eight days to film each episode, it shows how much is going on behind the scenes at a fast and break-neck speed to make this show possible.
Other shows also have grueling schedules
Law & Order: SVU is not the only popular show that keeps the cast and crew working an incredibly busy schedule.
According to Complex, Euphoria also keeps everyone hopping. Some cast members shared that some scenes require multiple shoot days that can last 12 hours or more. Sometimes the filming can go well into the night.
Both the two current seasons of Euphoria consist of eight episodes each. Each episode can take upwards of a month to film.
One particular scene in season 2 required three 12-hour days in a row to film. These scenes take a long time to film, and they take a toll on the actors due to the often emotional weight of the scene.
Another example is the New Year’s Eve party in the season premiere, which was also very challenging. That one scene made filming stretch out over a week because they only filmed at night.
Maude Apatow, who plays Lexi Howard, said, “We shot all night, so we would start at 6 pm and go until whenever the sun would rise — 5 am — and we were so tired. “
She continued, “We shot that party for over a week, so very quickly it’s like being in Hell. It’s like being in a party that you don’t want to be in.”
