It’s no secret that Law & Order: Special Victims Unit gets inspiration from real news for the show’s plotlines.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal which has seen some of Hollywood’s biggest actresses accuse the producer of sexual harassment, it seems SVU will be covering the case in their own way.
“We are hitting Harvey Weinstein head-on, but it’s not in the realm of the entertainment business,” executive producer Michael Chernuchin told Entertainment Weekly.
“It’s a real important episode about the rape culture in an industry, and we wanted to try stretch the law to criminalise that sort of environment.”
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The episode will deviate a little (the TV show is fiction after all) and focus on an airline as opposed to Hollywood.
Michael went on to explain that they were writing an episode on the “boys club” as the Weinstein case broke in the news.
“We were actually working on a story about airline pilots and what a boys club that is,” Michael said. “We were beating the story out and said, ‘Wow, this is exactly what the actresses go through in Hollywood. It’s the same environment.’ So we got all of our Harvey stuff out with airline pilots.”
In early October, The New York Times published the story of Weinstein’s abuse that had spanned decades. The news has encouraged others to speak out about other high-profile figures including Brett Ratner and Kevin Spacey.
The Law & Order: SVU episode will air in 2018.
