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It’s interesting that it was so comfortable, because I imagine it could potentially have gotten really awkward. What were your sex scenes like?

It was ultimately quite fun. When you’re doing intimacy scenes, it’s a closed set and you’ve only got the key people there, so that takes the pressure off because you haven’t got like 80 people looking at you having sex. But it was all so well-handled — we had an intimacy workshop way before filming, where we spoke about our worries and any questions we might have…

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F​ew TV series are as likely to cause such a stir this year as Sex Education. This addictive new comedy drama from Laurie Nunn which was written as a love letter to those American High School movies such as John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club.

Be warned – with sex both shown and discussed in graphic detail, the series is not suitable for younger teenagers. The programme makers hired an “intimacy coordinator” in order to make the young cast (several barely out of their teens) feel safe as regards the many explicit scenes.

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In the wake of the MeToo movement, the major TV networks are hiring ‘intimacy coordinators’ to ensure actors don’t feel exploited. Alice Vincent reports.

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Netflix is going to get down and dirty this week as it launches its new comedy-drama Sex Education.

The series follows a boy and his sex therapist mother who set up an ad-hoc clinic in his school.

With that subject matter you can expect plenty of scenes of people going at it, which even the most talented of actors can struggle with (or in the case of Olivia Colman, involves some devilish pranks).

To get it right, the cast of Sex Education had an ‘intimacy director’ to choreograph the scenes, and they told Digital Spy and other media that they’re glad they did.

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Hollywood’s #MeToo reckoning not only shone a light on the industry’s toxic culture of predation and sexual violence. It also underscored the critical need for an overhaul of the way sex and consent are portrayed on our screens, and a major change in the way cast and crew members are treated on and off set.

In Netflix’s new teen comedy Sex Education, that change is palpable in the way the writers’ tackle the topic of sex, but also in how sex scenes were filmed.

Netflix hired an “intimacy coordinator” to ensure both cast and crew felt comfortable when filming sex scenes and responsible for making sure actors agreed to be touched during intimate scenes

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The Independent newspaper in the UK dubbed her the world’s leading sex scenes director. Ita O’Brien from the UK has the job title of ‘Intimacy Cooridnator’. She teaches in some of Britain’s premier acting schools, hosts Intimacy on Set and Stage Workshops for film and theatre actors around the world, and devises her own work. Ita is currently working to establish best practice for producers, directors, and actors working with scenes with sexual content

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Ita O’Brien, the UK’s leading intimacy coordinator, has worked with Netflix, BBC1, Channel 4 and many more to ensure sex scenes on set are done safely

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Sex scenes tend to arouse great passion in people; they either love them or hate them. Not surprisingly, most actors hate them. Ita O’Brien is one of the world’s leading intimacy directors, making the process safer and less traumatic for actors.

Listen to the interview (14min 5sec) first broadcast on Wed 28 Nov 2018, 12:30pm.

Listen on abc.net

Staging workshops and seminars on “best practice” approaches to intimacy on screen and stage, Ita O’Brien is finding there has been significant progress in the #MeToo era – but much needs to be done.

“There is a lot of good practice out there already and there are lots of directors and productions that have done this well,” says the British intimacy coordinator, who was brought to Australia by the Equity Foundation.

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In the past year, Ita O’Brien’s job has become part of a global conversation. An “intimacy coordinator” for stage and screen, based in the UK, her role is to coach production companies through the protocols of touch and contact between actors in explicit scenes.

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One of the many conversations #MeToo and Time’s Up have inspired has to do with the nature of creative arts professions. If you work in film, television, theater, or a related field, chances are some of your specific duties — i.e. conducting a screen chemistry test or shooting an intimate scene — would be unacceptable in any other career. But just because the entertainment industry comes with some unusual responsibilities, that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be standards or best practices to ensure everyone’s comfortable and treated with dignity…

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Fight directors coordinate fight scenes in theatre, and choreographers assist with movement sequences. Why shouldn’t sex scenes also be carefully blocked and defined?

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MeToo is one of the reasons why the role of an ‘intimacy director’ has become more prominent on many sets, writes Marjorie Brennan.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, writer David Simon spoke about his most recent television show, The Deuce, which explores the nascent porn industry in 1970s New York.

The Wire creator revealed the producers had hired an intimacy coordinator to facilitate the filming of simulated sex scenes…

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Countless women have been mistreated ever since sex became common on our screens. Hollywood’s newfound awareness of intimacy choreography can help change things…

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Shot by straight male directors, lesbian sex scenes are all too often pornographic fantasy. But now film-makers are portraying a more realistic experience…

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It’s mid-afternoon at Camden’s New Diorama Theatre and two actresses are practising a sex scene — without touching.

Instead, they’re saying every action out loud: “I’m looking at you and smiling, I put my hand between your legs, I turn my body and lift my buttocks, I go down.” Across the room, a male and a female actor are rehearsing an on-stage kiss as a director watches on. They begin by establishing boundaries: “Can I touch the side of your neck?” “Yes.” “The back of your neck?” “Yes.” “The front of your neck?” “No.” She doesn’t give a reason. They carry on, discussing whether the kiss should portray love or lust.

It sounds remarkably scripted but that’s the point. This is one of a new set of “intimacy workshops” for actors, producers and directors by professional movement director Ita O’Brien…

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Filming sex scenes in front of a crew of sound technicians, gaffers, and cinematographers has never been easy. In fact, most actors seem to have numerous bad sex scene war stories. Or at the very least, can recall how uncomfortable they felt on set that day.

Jamie Dornan, who starred as Christian Grey in the 50 Shades franchise, said filming the BDSM scenes could be ‘heinous’.

In the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, directors, actors, and producers are keen to find out what exactly the correct etiquette is when shooting risqué scenes.

Ita O’Brien, whose family are from Clonmel, is one of the UK’s leading Intimacy Directors…

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Hollywood star Andy Serkis says new rules surrounding the filming of sex scenes could amount to “censorship” and stifle creativity. Actors’ union Equity is considering bringing in guidance for intimate scenes on stage and screen in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

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