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By Sarah Rappaport<\/strong><\/p>\n The sex scenes between the duke and Daphne on Netflix\u2019s regency romance \u201cBridgerton\u201d, and those between Daemon Targaryen and Mysaria on HBO\u2019s \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d, have one thing in common: They were filmed with the use of an intimacy co-ordinator.<\/p>\n The job is new to TV and film sets and only started gaining prominence as the entertainment industry made changes to prioritise safety and mental health on set following the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017.<\/p>\n A sex scene on a show such as \u201cBridgerton\u201d might look spontaneous, but a lot of work goes into it making it as seamless and safe as possible. The intimacy co-ordinator talks with the director and actors beforehand about what they\u2019re comfortable with simulating \u2013 or willing to simulate. <\/p>\n They will work with performers to outline what parts of the body are acceptable for touch, based on their comfort level, and what parts are off limits. They\u2019ll discuss with wardrobe such items as \u201cmodesty socks\u201d, which allow male actors to be nude for the camera while protecting their dignity. <\/p>\n And the intimacy co-ordinator will work out the choreography \u2013 who is touching whom and when \u2013 the way a stunt co-ordinator would stage a fight for the camera. With movie magic, body parts don\u2019t have to be touching for it to appear so on screen.<\/p>\n In 2018, HBO became one of the first major networks to require that all of its shows featuring sexually intimate scenes have such a co-ordinator. In 2020, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), unveiled guidelines for intimacy co-ordinators \u2013 and later released standards for training and vetting \u2013 after consulting members and such trade bodies as the producers\u2019 and directors\u2019 guilds.<\/p>\n The 160\u00a0000 member-strong actors\u2019 union takes the position that intimacy co-ordinators should be used in scenes involving nudity or simulated sex \u2013 or on request for other hyper-exposed scenes. <\/p>\n As a result, demand for intimacy co-ordinators has boomed since 2020, with the union seeing calls from people interested in becoming intimacy co-ordinators and from producers wanting to hire some. <\/p>\n Their focus is acting before a crisis to create a safety net for members, not just being in a reactive situation where most of the industry was before 2017.<\/p>\n Still, not everyone sees the meteoric rise of intimacy co-ordinators on set as a positive thing. Actor Sean Bean told the \u201cTimes\u201d that intimacy co-ordinators \u201cspoil the spontaneity of scenes\u201d.<\/p>\n His comments drew backlash on social media. Actor Rachel Zegler said \u201cintimacy co-ordinators establish an environment of safety for actors\u201d, adding that she was extremely grateful for the one she worked with in shooting \u201cWest Side Story\u201d.<\/p>\n Emma Thompson said on a radio programme, in response to Bean\u2019s comments, that \u201cintimacy co-ordinators are the most fantastic introduction in our work. And no, you can\u2019t just \u2018let it flow\u2019 \u2026 there\u2019s a camera there and a crew. It\u2019s not on your own in a hotel room. You\u2019re surrounded by a bunch of blokes carrying things. So it\u2019s not a comfortable situation, full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n In Thompson\u2019s most recent film, British sex comedy-drama \u201cGood Luck to You, Leo Grande\u201d, she plays a woman who employs a younger sex worker. The film didn\u2019t use an intimacy co-ordinator, following a discussion among director and cast.<\/p>\n The job of intimacy co-ordinator itself can be best compared to that of a stunt co-ordinator, according to intimacy co-ordinator Lizzy Talbot, who has worked on such productions as Netflix smash-hits \u201cBridgerton\u201d and \u201cThe Witcher\u201d and Hulu\u2019s \u201cFire Island\u201d.<\/p>\n She says her job is a mix of advocating for the cast, liaising with production and the heads of such departments as make-up and costume, and helping choreograph sex scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t improvise a fight scene; you shouldn\u2019t improvise an intimate scene,\u201d says Talbot, who was previously a fight co-ordinator. She sees a need to protect mental health on set as physical health is protected in stunts; mental trauma, however invisible, is no less real.<\/p>\n \u201cThe attitude toward mental health in this industry has changed dramatically,\u201d says Talbot. \u201cFor so long, film has had this attitude where you just get on with it on sets, but the industry has taken stock and looked at itself and realised that it needs positive change.\u201d<\/p>\n Talbot says her job embodies the change, and says she\u2019s seen a massive increase in demand for it.<\/p>\n She says her work includes advocating for the mental health of members of the cast and crew as well. It\u2019s a sentiment shared by intimacy co-ordinator Alexandra Tydings, who has worked on such projects as the upcoming \u201cCity on Fire\u201d for Apple TV+ and \u201cFlatbush Misdemeanors\u201d on Showtime. <\/p>\n She says she first heard first about intimacy co-ordination from a friend who had spoken up early about problems regarding producer Harvey Weinstein.<\/p>\n \u201cI started off as an actress. I\u2019ve done sex scenes, I\u2019ve done nudity, I know exactly what it feels like to be on that side of the camera without an intimacy co-ordinator,\u201d says Tydings, who played Aphrodite in \u201cXena: Warrior Princess\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you shoot a regular scene, you get direction from everyone on set. You\u2019ll get a make-up artist telling you to lift your chin, or the (director of photography) directing you toward the lights, or even direction from the focus puller.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when we did a sex scene, it was like: Go. Okay! Full cameras, and that\u2019s it \u2013 that\u2019s all you\u2019re going to give me? And no one wanted to deal with it or had the language to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n She explained that her job could save producers money. Scenes that are choreographed instead of improvised can be lit and filmed faster, saving the production time \u2013 which equals money during a busy filming schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to a director who told me a story before intimacy co-ordinators, where everyone was so freaked out about the sex scene that one of the actors bought a fifth of vodka and was just, like, \u2018I\u2019m going to give everyone a shot.\u2019 That\u2019s not very healthy,\u201d says Tydings who highlights the importance of open communication before shooting scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of our job is us interrupting the power dynamic between production and actors, and just acknowledging the basic fact that for actors, it\u2019s really hard to say no,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n British actress Alix Wilton Regan, who starred in such films as \u201cThe Wife\u201d (with Glenn Close), recalls an unpleasant experience in a film rehearsal before the advent of intimacy co-ordinators.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were rehearsing a scene where me and the lead actor were furiously making out, and it was insinuated that the characters would have sex. The director asked what we would be comfortable wearing, and I said a bra and knickers, or something like that, because I had a no-nudity clause in my contract. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd he still said, \u2018Well, can I at least have your nipples\u2019,\u201d says Wilton Regan. \u201cA director should never be saying that to an actor in the first place, but I firmly believe that if there was an intimacy co-ordinator there to begin with, that conversation would have never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n She thinks the rise of intimacy co-ordinators can only benefit actors and should be especially necessary for any scene that involves sexual violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIf one in four women in the world have experienced sexual assault, then it\u2019s likely that someone on set \u2013 whether that\u2019s the actress or producer or make-up \u2013 has experienced that,\u201d says Wilton Regan. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd when we\u2019re filming sexually violent scenes, then it\u2019s needed to have to have an intimacy co-ordinator on set to protect the person who could be victimised by that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Tydings says that part of her training to become an intimacy co-ordinator was to learn to recognise a response to trauma and to help people should they go into an emotional spiral or become too uncomfortable to turn down a request. <\/p>\n Informed consent, she says, is crucial: \u201cProducers are seeing the necessity of the job I do, more and more. I\u2019m getting hired for stuff that doesn\u2019t even have nudity or simulated sex.\u201d<\/p>\n