Good actors make scripted sexual encounters appear steamy and unrehearsed, but in reality every move is choreographed and often monitored by intimacy coordinators.
Because intimate scenes can cause emotional damage if boundaries are not firmly established before the clapperboard clacks shut, many South African film and television sets now employ intimacy coordinators to protect actors.
What it boils down to is if an actor is touched in any way they have not consented to it is classified as abuse.
Because a lot can go wrong in simulated sex scenes, many actors now sign contracts with very specific parameters of where they are prepared to be touched and what parts of their bodies they are willing to expose.
Award-winning director and intimacy coordinator Sara Blecher explains that an easy way to understand the work done by intimacy coordinators is to liken them to stunt coordinators.
“You don’t just stunt a jump off the side of a building and see where we land. You have to work within a palette of safety.
“Sometimes you see a man [actor] saying we can do this, we are fine, but the woman [actor] is shaking her head. It should be an intimacy coordinator who negotiates the boundaries.”
Blecher, who was a panellist on a discussion about intimacy on set at the Silwerskerm Film Festival in Camps Bay in August, says there has been an uptick in sexual scenes in South African film and television.
“There is more and more intimate content on our screens and intimacy coordinators allow us to tell the stories we couldn’t before.”
Blecher says working with actors who know their boundaries, whether these are based on moral or religious reasons, is helpful because it is then easier to work within these boundaries. She says some actors change these parameters over time.
“They may get older and be less confident about their bodies or are now married and their spouse is not comfortable with it.”
Intimacy coordinators also protect the interests of the crew and can advocate on their behalf.
“There is so much sexual violence in SA and when actors are acting this it can take its toll, and the industry understands that, so [crew members] can be given something else to do on set while this is being shot.”
As the co-founder of Real Eyes Films, Blecher has directed scores of documentaries and drama series, including the 2001 doccie called The Penguin Murders about the senseless slaughter of penguins, pelicans and gannets at the East London Aquarium.
“The killing of every one of those birds was such an act of unbridled rage,” she said. “I couldn’t really understand what would make a person do something like that. So I wanted to understand what was going on.”
She is also behind the international Emmy-nominated Zero Tolerance and most recently made the Netflix documentary series Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star.
Blecher also worked as a journalist and senior producer for Special Assignment and won the Safta for best documentary for Surfing Soweto.
Because she has worked on so many productions, Blecher gained a deep understanding of the challenges faced by both producers and performers in tackling intimate content and is now one of the most experienced intimacy coordinators in the country, having certified with Safe Sets to trainer level.
She is also the founder and former chair of Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT), a Southern African organisation dedicated to the concerns and experiences of women working in the industry.
She has led the organisation’s mission to advocate for safety, gender parity and intersectionality in front of and behind the camera.
The Weekender asked Sara Blecher:
Q: How long have you been doing this work, what qualification do you have to do it, and how many productions have you worked on?
A: Since 2019. And I think I must’ve worked on more than 30 different productions.
Q: Why is it so important to have an intimacy coordinator on set?
A: Because intimate scenes, like stunt scenes, have the potential to cause damage and harm. Intimacy coordinators bring a process to the scene that allows creativity to thrive while also protecting all the cast and crew involved in making the intimate content. Just like a stunt coordinator does.
Q: Is your work mainly on SA productions or international ones?
A: Mostly South African, but also international.
Q: Is it a legal requirement on SA sets to have an intimacy coordinator and do you think it should be? If not, who hires you?
A: It isn’t. Yet. And it is unlikely to ever be a legal requirement. Just like having an animal wrangler isn’t a legal requirement. But it is a moral one and also it is becoming a broadcaster requirement, as well as an insurance requirement. Just like having a stunt coordinator. It’s a question of risk mitigation because the risk of a scandal or sexual harassment suit is very high with intimate content. Having an intimacy coordinator helps mitigate this risk.
Q: In what is a very competitive environment, if an actor insists on an intimacy coordinator, is there not a risk that they may not get the work?
A: Not after they have been cast. But also if a production refuses an intimacy coordinator and anything bad happens it is like not getting a stunt coordinator when the actor asks and the actor gets injured. It is a huge risk for a production to take.
Q: Who choreographs intimate scenes and how does consent work?
A: This is usually the intimacy coordinator in collaboration with the director. But it depends on the director and the intimacy coordinator. Negotiating consent is literally half the job of the intimacy coordinator.
Weekender
