HBO now requires its shows have an “intimacy coordinator” for sex scenes

It was a year ago this month that The New York Times and The New Yorker reported on over a dozen claims of sexual assault against high-powered movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Since then, Hollywood has been having a reckoning with itself. Many powerful people have been implicated, including Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, CBS CEO Les Moonves, Matt Lauer and many more, with several losing their positions and disappearing from public life. How, Hollywood is asking itself, can it be more sensitive to and better protect those low on the pecking order? How does it change in the era of #MeToo?

HBO, a network known for in equal measure for being on the cutting edge of TV and for nudity, is trying something new. According to The Rolling Stone, it now requires an “intimacy coordinator” be present during the filming of all sex scenes. What is an intimacy coordinator? David Simon, the guy behind The Wire and now The Deuce, puts it like this:

"We hired a woman (Alicia Rodis) for the second season whose sole job is to be the intimacy coordinator. Her job is to facilitate the filming of simulated sex and intimacy in such a way that we’re protecting the emotions and the dignity of everybody who’s involved. ’Cause it’s hard work, a lot harder than violence. You know, everyone’s an old pro about simulating violence. But I don’t think I’m ever going to work without an intimacy coordinator again. Because the truth is, we knew we were asking a lot of actors and directors and crew in terms of professionalism and to deliver this material bluntly and honestly. But you can ask all you want — at a certain point everybody has to trust everybody."

The Deuce, if you don’t know, is about the porn industry in the 1970s, so naturally, there are a lot of sex scenes. HBO was actually inspired to hire Rodis after actress Emily Meade, who plays a prostitute named Lori, came forward asking for an advocate on set. “Even I didn’t understand the scope of just how much this had been ignored, and for how long,” Meade said. “There is such a power dynamic on sets, so much pressure and this sense that [as an actor] you just suck it up and do it.”

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By the sound of it, that’s what Meade is on set to do: balance the on-set power dynamics and speak up for actors during sex scenes when they might be hesitant to do so themselves. Sometimes this is practical. For a scene where Meade was simulating a blow job, for example, Rodis provided her with knee pads, and offered her mouth spray and flavored lubricant between takes. When Meade is naked between takes, Rodis offers her ways to cover herself. This sounds like stuff you’d think would happen anyway, and that it doesn’t is kind of the point.

Another part of her job involves interfacing with various levels of the production to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding sex scenes, which can be vulnerable and awkward to film. “I am here to give a voice to actors, especially actors who feel like they don’t have one,” Rodis said. “And I’m also here for the producers, to make sure that they know they’re doing their best to make sure the set is safe.” Although it looks real enough on camera, for actors, sex scenes is work, and Rodis helps it feel that way, by “separating the sexuality between the characters and what’s actually happening between the actors.”

Before becoming an intimacy coordinator, Rodis worked as a stunt performer and fight scene director. That makes sense, since she’s basically applying the same set of standards to sex scenes that are already applied to action scenes, standards that prioritize the physical and emotional safety of everyone involved. That results not in sanitized sex scenes, but in sex scenes that feel more like they’re part of the story. Says Rodis:

"With intimate moments, from kissing to intense sex scenes, it’s been the practice [for directors] to just say ‘Whatever you’re comfortable with, just go for it.’ But if you’re not giving someone a map or an exit or a voice, just asking actors to roll around and get off on each other, are you asking your actors to do sex work? Or tell a story with their movements?…If your set doesn’t have an intimacy coordinator, at best, you might not be able to tell the story you wanted to tell. At worst, you have actors who are being physically assaulted."

Rodis has been a success at The Deuce, and HBO now uses intimacy coordinators on all of its movies and TV shows with sex scenes, as a matter of policy. Rodis also oversees the sets for Crashing, Watchmen and the Deadwood movie, and is training people for work on other sets.

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