SAG-AFTRA Moves To Officially Organize Intimacy Coordinators

deadline.com:

SAG-AFTRA is taking the next step toward organizing intimacy coordinators. The guild has filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent the group in any dealings with the major studios, it revealed on Wednesday, in what it calls a “natural evolution of the union’s commitment to help build a stable and safe future for our members.” In 2022, SAG-AFTRA passed a resolution to create a path toward offering membership to intimacy coordinators, and this appears to be that plan in action. “Working in scenes involving nudity or physical intimacy is some of the most vulnerable work an actor can do.

Intimacy coordinators not only provide assistance in navigating these scenes but they also create a safety net for performers ensuring consent and protection throughout the entire process,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement. “Shifting the power imbalance that has been ingrained over a century is challenging but important work.

Work that can be done even more effectively with the backing of a union. Intimacy coordinators have our backs on set and now it’s our turn to have theirs.”  SAG-AFTRA has been working to more clearly define and regulate the role of intimacy coordinators for several years, even prior to passing that resolution two years ago.

Intimacy coordinators choreograph scenes containing intimate content and/or nudity and help facilitate any dialogue between performers and executives about such scenes.