Demand for on-set ‘intimacy coordinators’ has increased since Hollywood sex abuse disclosures sparked the #MeToo movement five years ago, but experts warn that resistance, power imbalances, and a fear of refusing sex scenes are firmly ingrained in the entertainment industry.
Since a Harvey Weinstein probe in 2017 forced a larger awakening, a young industry of experts who choreograph intimate sequences, supply devices to protect performers’ privates, and negotiate consent with filmmakers has risen quickly.
According to Claire Warden, an intimacy coordinator based in New York, ‘there has been an astounding difference, in that when it was initially introduced, there was a lot of hostility from the business — from directors, some actors, and producers.’
Warden estimates around 60-80 experts are now working on sets, and she is working with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) to quickly train more.
‘After years of yelling into the void and pushing as hard as we could in the industry to educate, the industry has started listening,’ she said.
Intimacy directors were largely confined to the stage before 2017, and they were glaringly absent from film and television, where actors frequently had to rely on wardrobe departments to invent simple ‘modesty garments’ to conceal their genitalia in nude scenes.
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