News & Press: Press

By Abigail Glasgow 

Cue Alicia Rodis (High Maintenance, The Deuce), who, in her intimacy coordinator role at HBO, is the first intimacy coordinator in the US to be employed by a mainstream network. She and Ita O’Brien (Normal People, I May Destroy You) are widely considered to be the original intimacy coordinators, simultaneously having developed their techniques on opposite sides of the world.

Though the job is only in its third year in the limelight, Rodis underlines that the “industry has grown considerably and continues to today.” And while not every network requires its projects to retain an intimacy coordinator on set, the industry’s evolution is evidenced by coordinators’ employment beyond HBO at Netflix, Hulu, and elsewhere — like Lena Waithe’s production company, which announced last summer that it will use intimacy coordinators on all of its projects. Schachter estimates that there are 80-plus intimacy coordinators in training or graduated in the US as of late 2020.

Since production in Hollywood has restarted after a wave of shutdowns earlier in the pandemic, intimacy coordinators like O’Brien, Rodis, and Schachter have seen their work in communication, consent, and boundaries become an important pillar of successful Covid-19 prevention measures. On what is to be expected of the intimacy coordination role for the remainder of the pandemic and even after it, HBO’s Rodis anticipates being called in more frequently. “It’s even more important to define consent and be specific. I think we’re going to find a lot of those tools being used.”

By HAYLEY ANDERSON

In the first episode of Behind Her Eyes, subscribers get a taste of the awkward relationship between David and Adele.

As she tries to seduce him, David reluctantly gives in and there is an intense sex scene where she says she loves him and her husband doesn’t respond.

There is then a shift in the scene where the camera goes from one end of the mattress to the other and the next thing viewers know, it’s gone from the evening to the following morning.

When talking about her favourite sex scenes, Behind Her Eyes’ intimacy co-ordinator Ita O’Brien said this was one of the best.

O’Brien explained to Express.co.uk: “The scene in the first episode, we were going ‘yes!’

“It’s juicy, it’s fun and I loved it because we had the intimate content, the detail of that and then [it went] from night to day.

BY SAM DAMSHENAS

It’s A Sin also became the first television production with an LGBTQ+ script in the UK to utilise an innovative new method of intimacy coordination for its sex scenes. Intimacy On Set, founded by Intimacy Coordinator and Movement Director Ita O’Brien, provides services to television, film and theatre productions that include scenes of sexual content and nudity, to make sure the actors involved aren’t pushed into a place of discomfort. 

Ita tells GAY TIMES that her idea for these guidelines came to fruition in 2014, as she researched “the dynamic abuse in our society”. After one of her fellow colleagues at Mountview, one of the UK’s leading drama schools, asked her to teach the method to their students, Ita spent the next three years honing the technique so the entertainment industry could “do intimate content well”. Following various accusations of sexual misconduct aimed at Harvey Weinstein, and the subsequent Me Too movement, Ita’s guidelines were in high demand. Soon after, she landed work as an Intimacy Coordinator on Netflix’s Sex Education and BBC One’s Gentlemen Jack. 

“We’re making sure there’s open communication, talking about it right from the get-go, way before the day on-set, putting in place agreement and consent. That’s across the board of touch, nudity and making sure there’s really clear choreography so there’s a physical structure, so all the actors know exactly what they’re gonna do, serve the writing and the director’s vision,” Ita says. “The intention is that nothing is left unsaid; everything’s communicated with clear details. We do our homework so that we make sure we’re honouring whatever the storytelling is and whatever physicality is asked. Then, we can create the best work.” 

In the past, Ita reveals that she’s been on several problematic productions where the actors were in “fear” over filming sex scenes, due to a significant lack of “communication” with the director, who failed to outline what the scene should look like and how they should perform. “While they’re putting their clothes on, they’d be shaking. They’d walk on set and wouldn’t know what was going to happen,” she recalls. “Very often, they wouldn’t have even met the person they’re having the sex scene with. They’re told, ‘Get in front of the camera and do it.’” On numerous occasions, Ita would be told by a producer to ‘Check in with the actors, do waivers, stand back and do nothing.’ Ita remembers one specific incident where she attempted to help an anxious actor in the middle of their scene, which resulted in an unnamed, disgruntled director stepping in and shouting, ‘Just let her act it!’

“Before the guidelines, there was this unspoken place where it was like, ‘Everyone does sex, so we don’t need a specialist,’ when it’s actually a body dance. These are two people moving together with a rhythm. It’s just like a tango or a fight,” she states. “There’s a risk, when someone’s intimate and private body is at play, if it’s not done well, they can feel anything from awkward to harassed and downright abused. That impacts, not just someone’s artistry and craft, but their lives.” 

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Today’s subject: Ita O’Brien, an intimacy coordinator for film and television and key player in reshaping the entertainment industry’s practices regarding intimate content. O’Brien has worked on a multitude of high-profile (and highly celebrated) projects that feature prominent themes of sex and intimacy, including Netflix’s Sex Education, HBO’s I May Destroy You and Hulu’s Normal People, and is the founder of the consultancy/advocacy organization Intimacy on Set that works with major studios all over the world. We spoke with O’Brien about ushering in a new era of communication, boundaries and safety around intimate content that the industry has lacked for far too long.

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By Casey Mink

Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You” struck a nerve with audiences, in part because of its hyper-realistic, challenging sex scenes (which depicted instances of assault). Fortunately, actors on the HBO miniseries had intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien as an advocate every step of the way. O’Brien, a leader in the field who has also choreographed for series including “Normal People” and “Sex Education,” spoke with Backstage about collaborating with Coel and how she protects performers’ psychological wellbeing. 

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By Isabel Jones

The Behind Her Eyes star discusses Netflix’s new psychological drama, emulating slugs in her sex scenes, and the strange date she went on with a fan.

Did you work with an intimacy coordinator?

Yeah, Ita [O’Brien]. She was the one who did Normal People. She was amazing. And that was the first time I worked with one. She uses animal references for the sort of noises or the physical reactions that she wants from you. So she might say, “Have you ever seen a horse buck? Do it like that.” Or, “Have you ever seen slugs having sex? It’s kind of like this movement.” So, it’s a sort of way to communicate with you that doesn’t feel as invasive as just saying “harder” or “faster” or something that might make you feel really uncomfortable.

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By Patricia Puentes

Ita O’Brien — intimacy coordinator for Normal People, Sex Education and I May Destroy You and a pioneer in the industry — likens her profession to that of a dance choreographer or a stunt coordinator. “An intimacy coordinator is a practitioner who brings a professional process and professional practices to the intimate content,” she says during a video chat interview. “[We’re] dealing with the intimate content in a professional way, with open communication, agreement and consent inherent within the process — and that’s of touch, of simulation of sexual content and of nudity. Whereas in the past, it was just like: ‘You’re an actor, get on with it.’

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Two women challenging the way actors and directors approach intimate scenes on camera

Whether it’s a stroke of a cheek or a sex scene, filming intimate content for movies and TV is a delicate business. When badly handled, it can even cause the actors harm. Kim Chakanetsa talks to Indian movie director Alankrita Shrivastava and Ita O’Brien, a pioneering intimacy coordinator about ensuring actors feel safe on set while filming simulated sex scenes. Also: has the #MeToo movement fuelled a demand for better boundaries, and how is the industry responding?

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By David Opie

Then along comes an intimacy coordinator, and the first thing I thought was, “Why on earth had we never done this before?” The funnel of information was perfect. Not only did they have rehearsals, but they did talks. They’re actors, most handily. They’re actors, these intimacy coordinators, so they understand the process of performance.

Note: this article is no longer available on the original link: www.digitalspy.com/tv/a35390866/its-a-sin-sex-censorship-controversy-peter-hoar/

By Donald Clarke

The arrival of the #MeToo movement in 2017 accelerated that critical shift. In the succeeding years, the role of intimacy co-ordinators – hired to ensure that actors are comfortable in sex scenes – increased on film and TV sets. Ita O’Brien, who performed that task on Normal People, had been making the case for years. “Everything shifted on the dime, and everything that I was calling for then was welcomed,” she said about the #MeToo aftermath.

O’Brien’s work with directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald on the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel helped create sex scenes charged with emotion, awkwardness and excitement. Far from constraining creativity, the new arrangements, by providing discernible limits, free film-makers from moral and creative tensions. They can feel more confident in depicting explicit acts. They no longer need to show fingernails digging suggestively into satin pillow cases. Fewer edits are required of trains powering into tunnels. No longer need anybody close the relevant scene with a montage of gushing oil wells.

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