Over the weekend, SAG-AFTRA made a huge announcement in connection with providing standardised rules for Intimacy Coordinators, so as to provide a healthy and safe sex scene environment for actors who play such parts in film.
Reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the guideline will seek to establish new policies for nudity and simulated sex, as well as define the duties and standards for intimacy coordinators on productions and specify training, vetting and qualifications of intimacy coordinators. The developing standard policies will be a collaboration between SAG-AFTRA and Alicia Rodis, the associate director and co-founder of Intimacy Directors International (IDI).
SAG-AFTRA’s president Gabrielle Carteris said in a published statement, “Our goal is to normalise and promote the use of intimacy coordinators within our industry. Intimacy coordinators provide an important safety net for our members doing hyper-exposed work. At a time when the industry still needs to make great changes, our initiative will ensure the safety and security of SAG-AFTRA members while they work and respects the boundaries of actors.”
The establishment of the standardised codes forms part of SAG-AFTRA’s effort in lessening sexual harassment cases and also enhance their efforts which focuses on such cases which it calls the Four Pillars of Change initiative including, Code of Conduct and Guideline No.1, a prohibition on business meetings in hotel rooms.
Other IDI intimacy coordinators and trained providers are said to join in the efforts soon.
