Sex and safety on set: intimacy coordinators in television drama and film in the VOD and post-Weinstein era

ABSTRACT

This article examines the work of intimacy coordinators on television drama and film sets and the rise of this new role in the screen industry from a policy and production studies perspective. Since HBO made the employment of an intimacy coordinator mandatory on all productions with scenes of sex, nudity, and physical intimacy in 2018, intimacy coordination has become an industry standard and expectation. Through interviews and analysis of production practices, this article explores how intimacy coordinators change and challenge established production practices on and off set and interrogates the reasons behind the emergence of this role in the screen industry. It situates intimacy coordination in the context of recent industry policies and initiatives that promote equality and diversity, and counter harassment and abuse in the post-Weinstein era. It analyses this role on relation to changing production and distribution models and regimes in the era of VOD portals. The article argues that intimacy coordination is not only a catalyst for reforming practices on set, but a way for the screen industry to negotiate contemporary and historic concerns about sexual harassment and abuse, comply with recent policy and funding requirements, and a mechanism for mitigating economic and reputational risk to productions.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimacy Coordination
• VOD
• #MeToo
• screen industries
• equality

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to my interviewees and roundtable participants, my colleagues at Centre for Cultural Policy Research and at University of Glasgow, and, as always, to David Simon Cooper Griffith.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This role is called a Movement Director or Intimacy Director in theatre, and an intimacy coordinator in film and television.

2. For a detailed and extensive breakdown of practical measures and considerations for each department and job role, when filming sex scenes, please see Bucher’s A Best Practice Guide to Sex and Storytelling. Filming scenes with sex and nudity.

3. Stuntwomen in the US are in the union Stuntwomen’s Association of Motion Pictures (SWAMP) and stuntmen in Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures (SAMP).

4. Exploring “invisible” work below the line the Indian film industry, Ranjani Mazumdar notes that the work of body doubles in India involves standing in for stars’ body parts, but also the performance of intimate acts that the star is not willing to perform. More often than not, body doubles receive no credit and have to sign non-disclosure agreements as part of their contracts. The facts that this work is obscured and that the identity of both the double and star are protected by affidavits leave body doubles vulnerable to abuse and harassment, and with little protection and opportunity for recourse if the things go wrong on or off set. This conflation between double and actor, as well as the invisibility of the work of the body double and stunt workers make issues around consent, safety and wellbeing more, not less, complex and problematic on Indian film set (2015). This is beyond the focus of this article and would be a fascinating and important area for future research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Inge Ejbye Sørensen

Dr. Inge Ejbye Sørensen is Lecturer in Media Policy at Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow. She advises government, national screen agencies, regulators, and trade unions. Inge has secured grants as PI from RCUK and RSE and serves on the editorial boards of the Nordic Journal of Media Studies and Audiovisual Thinking. Inge has worked in the screen industry for two decades, and is an award-winning producer of documentary and fiction for the BBC, Channel4, and Five. E-mail: [email protected].