Intimacy Coordinator
Amanda’s professional work in the mental health field and client advocacy combined with her acting and choreography experience have equipped her with a unique skillset as an Intimacy Coordinator.
Amanda’s Intimacy Coordinator training is international. She’s also a Certified Yoga and Meditation Instructor with the gift of grounding those around her in a seemingly effortless way. Her confidence and calm, even when facing sensitive and taboo topics, instill the same in actors, directors, and crew.
What is an Intimacy Coordinator?
For film and TV, an Intimacy Coordinator’s job is to work with a production (film, television, print, or stage), to assist in the facilitation of a scene or scenes that have intimate content or nudity.
Sometimes they’re part of the crew from the very beginning, meeting with the production team and department heads to support the development of the vision of the directors, to share knowledge and applicable industry guidelines.
Alternatively, an IC may come in and run a workshop with the actors and director to facilitate rapport, healthy boundaries, and comfort for all parties.
Other times, an Intimacy Coordinator will be called on set or into rehearsals for one or more specific scenes that require nudity or other intimacy.
Intimacy Coordinators serve as advocates for actors and other team members: voicing concerns and boundaries while problem-solving to find solutions for challenges as they arise. They are experts at facilitating challenging conversations: consulting and collaborating with directors, actors, wardrobe, and other elements of production.
For film and TV, an Intimacy Coordinator’s job is to work with a production (film, television, print, or stage), to assist in the facilitation of a scene or scenes that have intimate content or nudity.
Sometimes they’re part of the crew from the very beginning, meeting with the production team and department heads to support the development of the vision of the directors, to share knowledge and applicable industry guidelines.
Alternatively, an IC may come in and run a workshop with the actors and director to facilitate rapport, healthy boundaries, and comfort for all parties.
Other times, an Intimacy Coordinator will be called on set or into rehearsals for one or more specific scenes that require nudity or other intimacy.
Intimacy Coordinators serve as advocates for actors and other team members: voicing concerns and boundaries while problem-solving to find solutions for challenges as they arise. They are experts at facilitating challenging conversations: consulting and collaborating with directors, actors, wardrobe, and other elements of production.
At first glance, it may seem as though an Intimacy Coordinator would be the “wet blanket”, taking all the fun out of shooting racy material.
What’s actually true about having a qualified Intimacy Professional on your set is that moments of intimacy become more fun!
Think about actors navigating one another’s bodies and intimate space like playing on a playground. Before playing safely, and in order to have the best time, you have to build an awesome playground, right?
It’s the Intimacy Coordinator’s job to establish an overall vision for the playground with the director. From there, the IC works with actors to establish what types of slides, monkey bars, and rock climbing walls feel safe and fun for them (and their characters!).
Boundaries around body parts, choreography to obtain the desired shot, and the empowerment to say “stop” combine under Amanda’s care to create the best work possible from everyone involved.
Finally, the IC reviews all the incredible playground equipment with everyone and sets a few ground rules for safety. From there, everyone is free to play! And this play feels way more fun (and reads as much more real, genuine, and honest for the camera too)!
Intimacy is, at its core, closeness with another being. When we think about the #MeToo movement (which essentially brought about the realization that there was a need for Intimacy Coordinators in the first place), we think of ICs being important for simulated sex and nudity on set but there is far more intimacy on screen than just the sexy stuff.
In the time of COVID-19, even the simple act of breathing the same air in close proximity to a human outside of your family bubble feels like an intimate act.
An Intimacy Coordinator can be helpful to choreograph and cultivate moments of non-sexual intimacy in film and television.
This can include sweet, tender moments between friends and family as well as moments of intense fear or violence between loved ones.
When an IC establishes boundaries with actors, this can include their comfort level in participating during scenes of domestic violence and/or assault (i.e. “I am okay with her yelling at me in this scene but no closer to my face than six inches” or “He can throw something my direction but it must be aimed toward my left side”).
When actors feel safe personally because these boundaries have been established, they can perform at a higher level professionally – it’s a win win!
Recently, there has been a call for Intimacy Coordinators to work in scenes of childbirth and breastfeeding. With an IC onset, labor and delivery and breastfeeding scenes can deliver the emotion needed to propel the story forward without feeling exploitive, unrealistic or unnecessary.
Learn more: SAG/AFTRA Intimacy Coordinator Standard
Planning a production?
Let’s talk about what support could look like for your cast, crew, and creative team.