LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Pratibha Parmar on the ‘Real Gift’ of Making Her Network TV Directorial Debut with ‘Did You Believe in Miracles?’

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT — “Did You Believe in Miracles?” Episode 23020 — Pictured: (l-r) SVU director Pratibha Parmar. — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

Though Pratibha Parmar has been directing for decades, the decision to dive into network television led her to apply to NBCU’s Female Forward for a way into this world.

In the program, female directors are mentored and assigned NBCU shows. There, they’d shadow directors on their assigned series for a number of episodes before stepping behind the camera themselves. (Other participants this season went on to direct CHICAGO FIRE, CHICAGO MED, and NEW AMSTERDAM.) For Parmar, her episode ended up being the May 5 SVU hour, “Did You Believe in Miracles?”

“To be able to shadow on and direct an episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU was like a dream come true,” Parmar says. “It’s one of the longest-running series, and I’ve been a big fan of the show for years. I absolutely love that cast—particularly Mariska [Hargitay], who I think is just legendary and iconic, both on- and off-screen.”

“To have an opportunity to be able to work with her, Ice T, Peter [Scanavino], and Kelli [Giddish]—how can I describe it? It was more than wonderful, it was just a gift,” she continues. “It was a real gift.”

Here, Parmar talks about stepping behind the camera on the long-running series… Read more