Intimacy Coordinator

An Intimacy Coordinator is an independent specialist on set who prepares and choreographs intimate scenes and, during the take, watches that the agreed limits are observed. The role is deliberately separate from direction and has no authority to instruct the performers.

The position arose in international film and television, where it is now standard on larger productions. The idea: the person who stages the scene cannot at the same time check neutrally whether it remains tolerable for the people involved.

What the role does before the shoot

The larger part of the work sits before the shoot day. The Intimacy Coordinator goes through the script, speaks individually with the people involved and matches their limits against what the scene requires. The basis for that is usually the Yes-No-Maybe list.

From that a choreography arises: which touch happens when, which body areas are excluded, which aids are used, how the frame is. What is choreographed does not have to be improvised on set.

During the take

On the shoot the role watches that the agreed choreography is observed, that the room is occupied only by the people needed, and that breaks actually happen. They are the address for feedback that is not meant to go to direction.

They are expressly not a supervisor over you and not an instance that decides for you. Whether an act happens is your decision. The Intimacy Coordinator makes sure that decision is heard.

The line to direction

Direction is responsible for how the scene looks and what it tells. The Intimacy Coordinator is responsible for the conditions under which it comes about. If both sit in one person, a conflict of interest arises: the same person who wants a more intense setup then checks whether it is reasonable.

That is why the split is the core of the role and not an organisational detail.

The situation in Germany

In the German erotic industry the role is rare. It appears on larger studio productions and on commissions from broadcasters; in the everyday of mid-size productions you usually do not find it. Anyone who insists on it for every booking will barely shoot.

That is not an excuse; it is the starting position you plan with.

What you insist on instead

• A named contact who is not directing. Production management, first assistant director or the agency handler. What matters is the name, not the title.
• A pre-talk about the scene in which the process is walked through before the camera is up.
• A closed set: only the people in the room who are needed for the take.
• Agreed stop signals that everyone in the room knows.

These four points do not replace the role completely, but they cover its most important functions. On our placements they are part of the agreement with the production; see safety.