Sex Education
Netflix, 2019–21
Season 1 & 2
BAFTA winning series telling the story of a socially awkward teenager, Otis Milburn, who is ambivalent about sex, despite his mother being a sex therapist. Then Maeve, the school’s resident bad-girl, approaches him about opening an underground sex therapy clinic. Otis accepts, but things become complicated when he starts developing significant feelings for Maeve, whilst the school’s head boy pursues a relationship with her, even seeking guidance from Otis on how to ask her out.
Created by Laurie Nunn with cast including Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Hugo), Golden Globe and Emmy winner Gillian Anderson (The Fall, The X Files), Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who), Emma Mackey (Emily, Death on the Nile) and Aimee Lou Wood (Living, On the Edge).
Intimacy Coordinator
Ita O’Brien for Intimacy On Set
“Ita was the intimacy co-ordinator, and before we started filming, we had a whole day, big ‘ole conversation with producers, directors, cast, about intimacy scenes, about our fears and worries, just a general conversation, really in depth, for hours… Thenbsp;whole point is it demystifies sex scenes. It makes them more practical and actually more fun, because then suddenly you’re like, ‘Oh,nbsp;actually this is fine,’ ’cause you’re almost making it mechanical. Andnbsp;the whole aim of the game is to make it look as real and truthful and messy as possible.” (Emma Mackey)
Indie Wire, 24 Jan 2020
“For (Aimee Lou) Wood, who got her big break playing the lovable Aimee, having O’Brien there to guide her through the mechanics of shooting a sex scene like the one series one opens on, meant she could forget about any embarrassing hang-ups and focus on acting out her character’s desires in the moment. ‘I feel really grateful and also quite sad for the people who didn’t have that because even if the director is amazing and open and lovely like any of the directors on Sex Ed, it is still nice to have someone who you can run stuff by,’ Wood says.”
Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan 2020
“It shouldn’t be so hard to get sex scenes right, but one show that does is Sex Education and that’s due in large part to its Intimacy Coordinator, Ita O’Brien. With a background in dance and movement, she’s been a key figure in developing best practice for filming sex scenes, having devised the Intimacy on Set Guidelines which aim to provide a framework for directors and actors to refer to.”
Body and Soul, 3 Feb 2020
