An intermediary coordinator between the actors, directors and producers on how to deal with an intimate sceneThe pioneer in creating this work was the British Ita O’Brien, who already in 2014 published a guide explaining how to actIn Spain recently it has begun to be used in the filming series and moviesMaría Schneider was 19 years old when she filmed Último tango en París and, as she later explained, she was a virgin. But no one took it into account. Director Bernardo Bertolucci and actor Marlon Brando agreed to use butter as a lubricant in a famous anal sex scene. And they didn’t tell her looking for her reaction. She told later that since then she was traumatized and that her tears on the scene were real. To prevent something like this from happening today on a shoot a few years ago, the figure of the intimacy coordinator was born. A person who mediates between actors, directors and producers to tackle together how to deal with an uncomfortable scene. The pioneer in creating this work was the British Ita O’Brien, who already in 2014 published a guide entitled Intimacy On Set Guidelines, a sheet of a route that began to be mandatory after the case of Harvey Weinstein in 2017 and the rise of the Me Too movement. And although in the United States there is no shooting without a privacy coordinator, in Spain they have recently begun to be used. A year ago, aware of this need, the actresses Tábata Cerezo and Lucía Delgado (after taking a training course with Netflix) took a step forward and founded IntimAct. Since then they have not stopped working. “We are the first officially certified intimacy coordinators working in Spanish and in Spain,” Lucía Delgado tells NIUS. Question: You are both actresses, what prompted you to assume the role of intimacy coordinator and set up IntimAct? Answer: In 2021 we were selected to participate in Grow & Creative, an international program for Intimacy Coordinators promoted by Netflix with European funds and taught by the specialized company Safe Set. It was a course to train coordinators in Europe, Brazil and India. After finishing it we set up our project.P. Explain us. How is an intimacy coordinator formed? R. It is a course where a single topic is not studied, many different areas are covered, ranging from knowing how a film set works, how choreography can be done, we work on consent, first aid. We touch all areas because an intimacy coordinator has to coordinate with everyone, with costumes, with the director, with production, with the actors. We are neither lawyers nor psychiatrists but we have to have some knowledge of these areas because we need to learn to manage what this type of scene implies and to handle all the documentation that is generated. Q. What exactly does your job consist of? It’s similar to an action coordinator, which is a job that everyone understands. Only that what we deal with is the protection of the actors on a physical, emotional and psychological level.R. Well, for example, on a physical level we try to ensure that there is never direct genital contact during filming. And on an emotional and psychological level we try to avoid uncomfortable situations. We understand that in scenes where actors are put in vulnerable places they need some support. We work on the consent of the work environment by levels of nudity, and the on-screen representation of the colleagues involved in the intimate scene. That is, where they can be touched, in what way. You have to agree on everything so that everything is very clear and that nobody feels uncomfortable. A pact between direction, screenwriter and actors.R. Above all, with the directors, and if it is a series with the showrunnes (script coordinators) and executive direction. At first they thought we were the cops on the set, and not at all, that’s not our intention. Q. It means that at first his figure aroused suspicion. R. At the beginning there is always some suspicion, but due to ignorance. We were aware that this could happen so we first did some outreach work. What we do is talk to whoever wants to listen to us to explain how a scene can be assumed without being uncomfortable. Maribel Verdú has told in a recent interview that a figure like the one you exercise would have been very good for her at the beginning of her career so as not to feel intimidated on the set. R. The figure of the privacy coordinator does a lot for the protection of artists, what cannot be done is to force an actor or actress to do something that she does not want to do, that no one exceeds her limits. Many times not knowing, the uncertainty of how things will happen, interferes with the ability to act. So in addition to talking to them, we plan a choreography for that sequence that makes you uncomfortable, for example. The first thing, therefore, is to study the script thinking about how to make the uncomfortable scenes not so uncomfortable. Proposing choreographies that work on camera but that do not necessarily imply close contact. In addition, they resort to flesh-colored underwear to simulate nudity, they place cushions strategically located between the actors so that there is no genital contact. They distribute mints or mouthwash to prevent halitosis from kissing. Tricks that work on camera and relax the work environment. “I find it very interesting. I would have loved to have had a figure like that in one of my shoots. I have worked with very young actors, such as Mario Casas and Maxi Iglesias in Mentiras y Gordas (2009) and it would have been very good for me to help us face the shooting and take the pressure off us”, comments the film director Alfonso Albacete. Like him, there are many directors who appreciate that you help them plan the sex scenes or that require some emotional nudity. “We managed to avoid conversations that are uncomfortable. The directors are aware of their role over the actors, which they impose on them and they don’t know, to what extent, what they ask of them pressures them. That’s why they relax when they see that someone has had some conversations with them beforehand and the subject has been addressed”, explains Lucía Delgado. Sometimes it is enough to plan the scene beforehand and prepare it to reach an agreement on what movements to do or how to shoot it to reflect the illusion of a sex scene that is not actually happening. On other occasions, you also have to supervise the shooting so that everything goes according to plan. “In Basic Instinct they tricked Sharon Stone. They told her not to wear panties because it reflected the light in the shot, but not to worry that it wouldn’t go away to see anything. In the final pass she found out that in that scene of the interrogation her genitals were clearly seen. That would never have happened with an intimacy coordinator in the film, “clarifies Lucía Delgado. Q. It is said that Kubrick forced Shelley Duvall to shoot the same scene in The Shining 127 times. Is the intimacy coordinator’s job also to see that the actors are not emotionally abused? A. Our job is to anticipate, prevent anything from exploding on set. And maybe that’s why they don’t stop working. So far this year they have collaborated on 15 fiction series. Advising and accompanying the actors before and during filming. “There are so many series with intimate scenes that there was beginning to be a very clear need for someone to be attentive. Someone who had the conversations about it that must be had, who would take care of the security but also on a creative level. We can approach the classic quilt in another way. This is what we have achieved, for example, in Elite, one of the series in which we have worked”, explains Delgado.P. But there are those who say that spontaneity is lost if everything is choreographed.R. They are actors, they act based on a script, there is no spontaneity. In addition to the fact that their job is to act, that is to say, to pretend, and they are very capable of doing it, but they do not have to feel uncomfortable with what they do.