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By Kathianne Boniello
Crew members for television’s long-running crime drama “Law and Order” demanded quiet from the students, faculty and other onlookers at Bayside’s Queensborough Community College this week who stopped and stared at the filming of an upcoming episode.
As production assistants began setting up equipment and actors in the main quad of QCC and behind the school’s library, dozens of students and staff were ushered to the side by college security, clearing the way for shooting to begin.
Monday afternoon marked the second time in less than a year that “Law and Order,” now in its 11th season, used the Bayside college to shoot some scenes.
This time around stars Sam Waterston and Angie Harmon, who play assistant district attorneys Jack McCoy and Abbie Carmichael, were part of at least one of the three scenes being done at QCC and they attracted a number of students and faculty eager for a photo with one of the actors.
Matt Lamb, an assistant location manager for “Law and Order,” praised Queensborough as an ideal spot for the Emmy award- winning show to film at.
“We really like it,” Lamb said of the QCC campus. “It gives us a couple of different looks and it’s convenient to other locations around Queens that offer a suburban look.”
QCC Spokeswoman Jennifer Dullahan said the school works to give the show’s crew a problem-free shoot.
“I think they had a good experience the last time they were here,” she said as camera people and assistants began setting up a scene near the Kurt Schmeller Library. “It worked out well for both sides. We were happy to have them — the students here were very good and everyone was very cooperative.”
Lamb, who said the producers have only eight days to scout out locations for upcoming episodes, said “Law and Order” also filmed in several homes in Bayside near 35th Avenue and Bell Boulevard earlier in the day.
He praised the school’s staff for helping to make the filming go smoothly.
“We’ve never gotten as much cooperation from a security staff at a university than at Queensborough,” he said. “It’s a great place to come to.”
The assistant location manager said about 60 crew members and actors were needed for Monday’s scenes, which were being filmed for an episode slated to air May 9 with the working title, “Brother’s Keeper.”
Dullahan, who watched most of the filming as it happened, said the episode’s storyline centered around the death of a student by drug overdose and the subsequent murder of the student’s drug dealer.
Students were pleased that producers of the highly rated program chose the Bayside campus.
Melissa Betancur of Jackson Heights praised the show for returning to QCC.
“This is really great. I think it’s cool that they came back,” she said. “They should keep doing things like that here. It’s a nice campus.”
Dina Scherer of Rego Park said she likes “Law and Order” because “they use all five boroughs and this is including a small school. That’s what’s great about it. I’m kind of curious as to why.”
Alizandra Santana of Corona said: “I think they would rather go to a four-year school than a two-year. I saw it last time and am very surprised they came back. I guess they liked it.”
Lamb said the show could get a number of different looks out of the buildings on the QCC campus, from the setting of a big university, to mansions, to a suburban or countryside atmosphere.
“We’ll use this as an exterior of a prison,” he said, pointing to the rear of the library. “We’ll use the quad as a large upstate university, and the Holocaust Center as a high school yearbook office.”
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
