The job of TV intimacy coordinator is still experiencing growing pains two years after its debut

The Hollywood Reporter

The post-#MeToo job aimed at making actors feel comfortable on set while filming sexual scenes has yet to be widely accepted, with some TV showrunners preferring to do things their own way. "While the proliferation of the role is certainly a net positive for safety and comfort on set, interviews with dozens of intimacy coordinators and those who work with them show that the boom has also come with growing pains, from wary creators who view them as on-set buzzkills to a lack of diversity and inconsistent training," says The Hollywood Reporter's Emily Hilton. "And, of course, shooting during a pandemic has introduced a fresh set of challenges. As defined by SAG-AFTRA, an intimacy coordinator is 'an advocate, a liaison between actors and production … in regard to nudity and simulated sex.' Most of their work is done during the shoot, choreographing intimate action, monitoring closed sets and working with costume on modesty garments and prosthetics. But coordinators are also involved in preproduction with filmmakers, planning the types of touching and exposure that will be permitted and managing nudity riders and actor concerns." Some TV show producers look at the intimacy coordinator as being like human resources or health and safety. "When we go on set, we're sometimes called the fun police. It's not about that; it's about educating people about this work," says Brave New World intimacy coordinator Elle McAlpine. Ed Guiney, executive producer of Hulu's Normal People, which used an intimacy coordinator, says he was "concerned that an intimacy coordinator might interfere in the creative relationship between the cast and the director." But he came away from the experience pleasantly surprised. "It takes a lot of the awkwardness out of shooting these scenes and really frees the actors up to properly be in the moment," he says.