What is an intimacy co-ordinator? From simulating raunchy acts with a deflated netball, to serious conversations about consent, here's how these professionals make sex scenes work

US actress Jenna Ortega, 21, recently sparked discussion about intimacy scenes  READ MORE: Jenna Ortega, 21, was totally 'comfortable and sure' about filming X-rated sex scene, film's intimacy coordinator insists

As raunchy scene become more and more commonplace in films and TV shows, intimacy co-ordinators (ICs) become a much more familiar presence on sets.

These are professionals who help cast and crew through choreographing and coaching talent through shooting sex sequences, including discussions on boundaries and comfort.

Many actors – including Emma Mackey of Sex Education, Emma Stone of Poor Things and Rachel Zegler West Side Story – have in recent years expressed their gratitude for ICs they worked with, insisting they’re an important cog in the machine of the modern movie-making process, especially in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Most recently the role of ICs was brought into the spotlight after viewers were left uncomfortable when 21-year-old Jenna Ortega’s character – an 18-year-old student called Cairo Sweet – slept with her teacher, played by 52-year-old Martin Freeman, in the movie Miller’s Girl.

Viewers were quick to express their unease at watching the young star – most known for playing school student Wednesday Adams – engaging in ‘uncomfortable’ sexual scenes with the Sherlock actor who is 31 years her senior.

Most recently the role of ICs was brought into the spotlight after viewers were left uncomfortable when 21-year-old Jenna Ortega ‘s character – an 18-year-old student called Cairo Sweet – slept with her teacher, played by 52-year-old Martin Freeman , in the movie Miller’s Girl

However Jenna insisted she was ‘sure of what she wanted to do’ – and was completely supported during filming, according to the movie’s intimacy coordinator Kristina Arjona, who has clapped back at claims the raunchy on-screen moment was ‘gross.’

‘There was many, many people throughout this process, engaging with [Jenna] to make sure that it was consistent with what she was comfortable with, and she was very determined and very sure of what she wanted to do,’ she told Dailymail.com.

But what does it take to make a sex scene work? Everything from technicalities – including the simulation of intimate acts – to emotional comfort and the actors’ performance has to come together perfectly.

Here’s how ICs make it work…

THE ‘TOOLKIT’

The toolkit of a film intimacy coach – put on set to ensure actors are comfortable and scenes look realistic – is a diverse one, as Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, shared in 2022.

Speaking to the Radio Times, the actor who plays Viscount Anthony Bridgerton, revealed that he’d been instructed to use a half-deflated netball when acting out lustful scenes with the character of Kate Sharma, played by Simone Ashley, in season two of the show.

The semi-flattened sporting equipment, he said, enables actors to move against each other in a realistic manner, without intimate parts of the body touching.

The toolkit of a film intimacy coach – put on set to ensure actors are comfortable and scenes look realistic – is a diverse one, as Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, shared in 2022

Jonathan explained: ‘It’s amazing how that whole industry has just come on, even in a year. There are new tricks to the trade – little cushions – and it’s amazing what you can do with a half-inflated netball.

‘If there are two people doing a sex scene, the rule is they must have three barriers separating them and there are certain acts where a half-inflated netball can allow for movement without having to connect physically.’

Jonathan has also praised IC Lizzy Talbot’s work on set, saying: ‘It’s pretty silly really and we have some hilarious moments, but it makes it less awkward.’

It’s not the first time the actor has lifted the lid on some of the show’s intimacy co-ordinators’ secrets.

Appearing on Lorraine to promote the first series last year, he had also told the daytime TV host how his underwear-covered derriere had been painted with flesh-coloured make-up for an al fresco love scene against a tree.

Other tricks commonly used to make raunchy scenes sing include aloe vera to prevent chafing – particularly if actors spend hours re-filming, breath mints to ensure kissing tastes palatable to both parties and nipple daisies to allow intimate scenes to take place with some modesty preserved.

REHEARSAL

This week Sophie Rundle has said that actresses still want to film sex scenes, but that intimacy coordinators are ‘vital’.

The actress, 35, is most known for her roles as Ada Thorne in Peaky Blinders and Ann Walker in Gentleman Jack, where she had lots of intimate sequences.

Speaking to The Radio Times Podcast, she explained that intimacy coordinators are ‘really important’ for safeguarding actors and crewmembers.

Sophie insisted that women are very willing to film steamy scenes, but that they can be made more ‘interesting’ for the camera with the help of trained coordinators.

She said: ‘Putting in intimacy coordinators as an element of safeguarding is really important.

‘Having someone assigned to oversee the process is vital because it allows for a neutral third party and anonymity if you feel uncomfortable.’

Sophie has previously opened up about filming sex scenes, gushing about the impact of having intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien on set for her raunchy scenes with co-star Suranne Jones in Gentleman Jack (both pictured)

She continued: ‘Women are allowed to be sexual. We’re not saying no more sex scenes!

‘Can we do them in a way that isn’t just titillating for someone else to watch? There are more interesting ways of exploring that narrative than just boobs.’

Sophie has previously opened up about filming sex scenes, gushing about the impact of having intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien on set for her raunchy scenes with co-star Suranne Jones in Gentleman Jack.

Speaking to You Magazine in 2019, she said: ‘It was amazing, because usually when there’s a sex scene you turn up knowing there are some flesh-coloured pants waiting for you in your trailer and you just have to get on with it.

‘And so often you hear terrible stories about it all going wrong and people feeling exploited.

‘But with Gentleman Jack, we were determined to make things different, so we all sat with Ita and talked about our past experiences [of sex scenes].

‘Everyone was like, “God, this horrible thing once happened to me on set”, so everything was out in the open and that really calmed the nerves.’

Ita also insisted all sex scenes were carefully rehearsed, with the women enacting specific moves selected from manuals such as The Lesbian Kama Sutra – rather than improvising, as is often the case on TV and film sets.

Sophie explained: ‘It meant that we felt so much more empowered than we would normally, and that was important because we also wanted to tell these women’s story in a way that represented them and wasn’t simply for titillation.’

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT BOUNDARIES

This week, intimacy coordinator Kristina Arjona – who worked on Miller’s Girl with Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman – has exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com that Jenna was involved in decisions about the curation of the racy moments, as she insisted that at no point were any ‘boundaries surpassed.’

‘I’m hyper aware of both of my talent and making sure that we’re consistently checking in and that at no point are any of their boundaries being surpassed,’ she stressed.

‘And again, making sure – especially with someone who’s significantly younger – that they are giving continuous consent.’

The film sees Cairo and Jonathan become entangled in a very complex and inappropriate relationship, with Cairo choosing to pen a sex story after being given a creative writing assignment by her tutor-turned-love interest.

Kristina discussed the ‘level of nudity’ with Jenna and Martin, as well as which ‘simulated sex scenes’ were required, before talking them through modesty garments and the ‘additional barriers’ they could use to ensure an ‘appropriate distance’ was maintained.

Kristina Arjona told DailyMail.com that ‘informed consent’ was ‘consistent’ throughout filming with both Martin and Jenna

This information was also given to the actors in a written format 48 hours before the scenes were filmed, but Kristina stressed that they ‘also have the option on the day to change their mind if they don’t want to do any of the elements that we’ve discussed.’

She revealed there were ample discussions between cast and crew before the scenes were shot and that test audiences were used to give bosses an idea of what was ‘too much.’

‘For this film, in particular, because of the sensitivity of the content, they had some different variations of how they wanted to shoot these scenes so that audiences could watch them at test screenings to see what was too much.’

However, viewers were quick to voice their disdain for the intimate scenes that ultimately ended up in the movie, with one simply writing: ‘I’m uncomfortable.’

Another wrote: ‘I think I am finally done watching these age gap movies. They are all gross and I am tired of it. No amount of Jenna Ortega or Martin Freeman could save this one for me [sic].’

Others defended the film – which was directed and written by Hollywood newcomer Jade Halley Bartlett, with one writing: ‘An erotic thriller starring Martin Freeman and Jenna Ortega lol like what were people expecting.’

Another wrote: ‘Apparently people are freaking out because Jenna Ortega kisses a girl in once scene, and assumes the doggy style position with Martin Freeman in another. Like guys, it’s a movie, she’s acting. Chill.’

A source also told DailyMail.com: ‘People need to get over the fact that Jenna is not Wednesday Adams and that she is a grown woman who is exploring serious roles as a talented actress.

‘The fact that this stirred the pot and is being labelled as gross is incredibly misogynistic.’

EDUCATING YOUNGER, NEWER SET MEMBERS

ICs can also be useful when working with a cast which has varied experiences when it comes to sex scenes.

In 2022, West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler, shared: ‘I was extremely grateful for the one we had on [West Side Story] – they showed grace to a newcomer like myself and educated those around me who’ve had years of experience. Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe.’

In 2022, West Side Story ‘s Rachel Zegler, shared that she was ‘extremely grateful’ for the IC they had on set

Dame Emma Thompson has also hailed coordinators as ‘absolutely essential’ saying on LBC: ‘It’s all very well, if you’re a bloke it’s a different kind of thing.

‘I think if you’re a young woman on a set, which is largely peopled by men, the crew will be 90 per cent men and the women won’t be on the set with you, because generally speaking we do not have parity on any level on film sets, it’s all men.

‘And that’s a very uncomfortable position for a young woman who’s starting in the industry, but it is absolutely essential that there is someone there to protect them. Absolutely essential.’

EASING ANXIETIES

Emma Stone recently revealed how having an IC on Poor Things helped her take moments away from the scene to help ease anxieties.

In the movie, the star plays lead character Bella Baxter, who is resurrected by an eccentric scientist in Victorian London.

One controversial sex scene in the film involves two young boys watching Bella (Emma) work as a prostitute after their father hired her to teach them how to have sex.

Defending Poor Things, Emma told BBC Radio 4: ‘Bella is completely free and without shame about her body.’

However, she also NPR how working with a coordinator for such scene comforted her.

‘I remember reading something once, that an actor on stage doing a very dramatic scene, and having meltdowns and doing monologues for 90 minutes a night just in theater, your body feels like it’s the equivalent of going through something like a car crash, because your heart is racing, you’re having these big physical reactions to these emotions that you’re kind of asking yourself to go through,’ she explained.

Emma Stone recently revealed how having an IC on Poor Things helped her take moments away from the scene to help ease anxieties

‘And I think even when you know you’re acting, when you know none of this is real, there’s no real sex happening, this is all choreographed …you sometimes underestimate what your body is going through separately.’

The film is currently certified 18 in the UK, however only after the controversial sex scene was modified to meet the criteria.

A statement by the British Board of Film Classification read: ‘We originally saw this film for advice. We informed the distributor we would be likely to classify the film 18 on condition that changes be made to one short sequence depicting sexual activity in the presence of children.’

They added: ‘This is in accordance with the Protection of Children Act 1978. When the distributor submitted the film for formal classification, the scene had been re-edited, and we were able to classify the film 18.’

The picture contains over a dozen explicit sex scenes and a huge amount of foul language.