Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has a penchant for yanking storylines out of actual news coverage – after all, real life can be far, far more fucked up than televised fiction – but the series is now turning its gaze on abuses experienced in the film and TV industry itself, with an episode inspired by the dizzying list of allegations made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s executive producer Michael Chernuchin said writers were already constructing a storyline based on the airline industry’s so-called “boys club” when the New York Times published its massive exposé on Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults.
“We are hitting Harvey Weinstein head-on, but it’s not in the realm of the entertainment business,” Chernuchin said. Instead, the episode will see the same culture and pattern of abuse laid across what Chernichin asserts is a not-too-dissimilar industry.
“We were beating the story out and said, ‘Wow, this is exactly what the actresses go through in Hollywood. It’s the same environment,’” Chernichin added.
“So we got all of our Harvey stuff out with airline pilots.”
As it stands, law enforcement outfits across the globe are investigating the harrowing claims levelled against Weinstein.
The outpouring of stories about his alleged abuse have also sparked more allegations against other massive Hollywood figures, so it’s likely SVU may even get another shot to address abuse within the industry – this time, maybe even with an episode set in Hollywood itself.
The episode is set to air in 2018.
