I May Destroy You
BBC/HBO, 2020
Emmy and BAFTA winning series exploring the concept of consent – where does liberation end and exploitation begin? Set in London, this fearless, frank and provocative series centres on Arabella, a carefree, self-assured young Londoner with a group of great friends, a boyfriend in Italy, and a burgeoning writing career. But when she is spiked with a date-rape drug, Arabella must question and rebuild every element of her life. Based on creator Michaela Coel’s personal experience of sexual assault. Cole dedicated her BAFTA Award for Leading Actress to Ita O’Brien.
Created by and starring Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum), with cast including Weruche Opia (Bad Education) and Paapa Essiedu (Gangs of London, The Lazarus Project).
Intimacy Coordinator
Ita O’Brien for Intimacy On Set
“I want to dedicate this Award to the Director of Intimacy, Ita O’Brien. Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe, for creating physical, emotional, and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power without being exploited or abused in the process. I know what it’s like to shoot without an Intimacy Director, the messy, embarrassing feeling for the crew, the internal devastation for the actor. Your direction was essential to my show and I believe essential for every production company that wants to make work exploring themes of consent.”
Michaela Coel, BAFTA speech, 2021
“To be fair, I actually loved it. Ita is a very weird and wonderful woman. She’s absolutely integral to the creative process. All the scenes that have been much heralded after the fact, or that people have talked about as having had an impact on them, wouldn’t have been possible without her work and process. We prepared those scenes three or four months before we shot them – that’s how she works. It’s about creating a dynamic on set where everyone is pulling in the same direction, and everyone feels safe and comfortable to go the extra mile to recreate something that is hard to do off the bat”.
Paapa Essiedu, The Face, 27 May 2022
