Press

Daily Express: Behind Her Eyes: Which sex scenes is the show's intimacy co-ordinator most proud of?

26/2/2021

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.

"That felt like a really exciting moment when setting up and there were a couple of those, back when they [David and Adele] were young in Scotland.

"That again was another one on the track that goes around, so those things that are complex but you nail it and everyone feels like they've got something really special."

Another key moment for O'Brien is when David and Louise are having sex on the sofa in her flat.

Once again, this is because of the unique camera angles used where viewers get to see what's happening from a birds-eye point of view.

O'Brien said: "One of the many things that I loved about this was the voyeuristic aspect of all the intimate scenes.

"So it sometimes meant that you would have a scene and they would want to have a camera roving up and that's what made it challenging.

"You had the scene and then it's about where you shift the bed, where you shoot it all. "

O'Brien continued: "It's this image that you're always being watched and that was an added aspect of this production which I loved.

"The very fact that you saw it from that view and you see her go 'oh' and then you go 'so who is watching from that view?'"

Another key moment in the series for O'Brien is the dream sequence where Louise and David are having sex in her childhood bedroom.

She added how actors Brown and Bateman "nailed it", during this performance.

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Gay Times: Here’s how the sex scenes in It’s A Sin were a first for British television

23/2/2021

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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Inside Hook: How Intimacy Coordinators Are Helping to Fix a Broken Entertainment Industry

18/2/2021

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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BaCKSTAGE: The ‘I May Destroy You’ Intimacy Coordinator Knows That Those Scenes Were Tough

18/2/2021

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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Instyle: Eve Hewson Is About to Haunt Your Dreams

16/2/2021

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.

By Isabel Jones

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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Ask: What Is an Intimacy Coordinator, and How Are They Making Sex Scenes Look More Realistic?

12/2/2021

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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BBC World Service: The Conversation

8/2/2021

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 an Indian movie director and to 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?

Ita O'Brien is a British movement director and intimacy coordinator for film, TV and theatre. She worked on the set of I May Destroy You, Normal People, Gentleman Jack and Sex Education. She has developed the 'Intimacy on Set' guidelines for those working with intimacy, scenes with sexual content and nudity.

Alankrita Shrivastava is an Indian screenwriter and director. Her 2017 movie, Lipstick Under My Burkha, was initially banned in India for containing 'contagious sexual scenes'. She explains the challenges of shooting sex scenes in Bollywood, where nudity isn't allowed, and how to put women's desire at the centre of the narrative.

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Digital Spy: It's a Sin director Peter Hoar on censorship, authenticity, and that sex controversy

4/2/2021

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.

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The Irish Times: The best sex scene ever? The puppet copulation in Team America

30/1/2021

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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Digital Spy: Why It's a Sin's groundbreaking sex scenes are more important than you realise

29/1/2021

By David Opie

Thankfully, there was no shame in this scene – and there was no shame involved for the actors working on set either. Everyone I've spoken to who's worked on It's a Sin has sung the praises of all the intimacy coordinators involved – and Callum even goes so far as to describe them as "vital".

Elaborating more on their work, Peter explained that they helped create a safe space through a mix of carefully choreographed rehearsals and deeper talks about the process:

"They took the guys aside, and they asked some questions about the scene, how they felt about it. They also talked about it from a performance perspective. It brought up a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, but they did it in a safe space."

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