Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion Read Free Page B

David Burke, an L. A. resident who joined them in trying to pitch projects—without success—to what was then called Court TV.
    Once Burke began working as an SVU executive producer during the first season, it wasn’t long before all three men were immersed in Wolf World. “David says to Bob, ‘We need stories,’” Greene says of the trio’s reunion.
    He dusted off one of his old scripts and, along with Campbell, rewrote what would become a season two episode, “Honor,” about certain cultures that condone family members executing a young woman for any romantic relationship other than an arranged marriage.
    Dick Wolf apparently was impressed. Still in New York, Greene and Campbell were promised other assignments and, maybe someday, staff positions.
    Already on board the SVU express, Jeff Eckerle had longtime ties to the tribe. He describes rooming with Peter Jankowski after college in the late 1980s: “Just three guys in a tiny apartment.”
    That sounds like the premise for a sitcom, but both men wound up toiling in the trenches for the crime-drama hothouse known as the Law & Order brand.
    “I went out to dinner one night with Dick and he said, ‘Come work for me. Come be senior vice-president for my company and we’ll put it in your contract to write three scripts a season,’” says Eckerle, a former producer. “When he offered me that opportunity, I jumped on it.”
    At the time, SVU was just getting started. “The first season, I was an executive,” Eckerle continues. “After reading my script, ‘Legacy,’ Dick said, ‘I think you should start writing for the show now.’ So, I became a full-time writer in the second season (and) I went from producer to supervising producer.”
    He contends that his friendship with Wolf grew out of a mutual appreciation for their profession: “One reason Dick and I became pals is I knew what it felt like to stick your neck out, and put your talent and reputation on the line. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah.”

    Chutzpah is not an unfathomable personality trait for the exuberant Peter Leto. “I’d been such a fan of the Mother Ship and always thought: ‘God, I would love to be part of that in the city where I was raised.’ But that’s such a tight-knit group, it’s hard to find a job,” says the current SVU supervising producer and episode director, who started in season one. “So I came to a crossroads in my career: pursue TV or movies? And then I got an offer for a movie on the same day an offer came from (the show). To hell with Hollywood! I wanted to tell these New York stories.”
    Amanda Green, now a co-executive producer, had been living her own New York stories for ten years in the law enforcement field by the time SVU began gearing up. “I was running a forensic psychology project that went between the DA’s office and the NYPD,” she recounts. “I was working with the detectives and the DAs and the victims of sex crimes, child abuse, domestic violence, homicide, you name it.”
    But one fateful day, show business came calling when SVU researchers learned about her expertise. “They said, ‘Would you mind answering some questions?’ I’ll never forget it was like 10 or 11:00 on a Friday night. I was out on a case, sitting in Special Victims in Brooklyn. I hid in the captain’s office for two hours and talked to one of the writers. And I came out thinking, ‘Hmm, that was really cool.’”

Tinkering with the Concept
    “Out of ego, I wanted my show to be different,” recalls executive producer Ted Kotcheff. “I didn’t want to be a step-child. I felt that for SVU you can’t be detached. These are difficult emotions, dealing with children and people who are such a puzzle.”
    Creator Dick Wolf wondered whether or not the subject matter would frighten audiences away, according to Kotcheff. “Dick asked, ‘Is there any way you can lighten this dark material?’ But, as a cinephile, I wanted to head towards film noir. So it was