Intimacy coordinators need actors’ consent for sex scene discussions: SAG-AFTRA

Things are getting pretty intimate.

A new SAG-AFTRA rule now requires intimacy coordinators to get consent from actors before publicly speaking about their sex scenes.

“Intimacy coordinators are a crucial resource on any set to ensure the protection of our members working in intimate scenes,” a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson told Deadline. “Intimacy coordinators should maintain the confidentiality of an actor’s work and experience in performing highly sensitive scenes unless they have the actor’s permission to publicly share this information.”

“The public release of details about an actor’s scene work or confidences entrusted to the intimacy coordinator without the performer’s consent is unacceptable,” the statement continued. “Members have to feel safe, comfortable and confident in engaging with intimacy coordinators.”

If an intimacy coordinator fails to do so, they can be removed from the SAG-AFTRA registry of certified intimacy coordinators following an investigation.

SAG-AFTRA’s amendment to the Standards and Protocols for the use of Intimacy Coordinators comes mere days after Kristina Arjona spoke with the Daily Mail at length about a highly controversial sex scene between Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman in the film “Miller’s Girl.”

“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,” Arjona told the outlet.

The scene, which has been branded as “gross” by many viewers, depicts Ortega, 21, as an 18-year-old student engaging in sexual acts with Freeman, 52, who portrays her much older teacher and mentor.

Arjona said part of her job was adapting to the “comfort level of my actors, especially on a production like this where there is a large age gap between the actors.”

The coordinator claimed that she always checked in on the actors and made sure their “boundaries [weren’t] being surpassed.”

Hollywood’s recent use of intimacy coordinators has been a divisive subject.

“This helps protect our members,” David White, then-SAG-AFTRA national executive director, said in 2020 after the union put out its initial guide for the role.

“We wanted to keep it simple and keep it easy for the industry to embrace.”

Sean Bean, known for his role as Ned Stark in the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” slammed the use of ICs, saying that they “spoil the spontaneity” of sex scenes.

“I should imagine it slows down the thrust of it. Ha, not the thrust, that’s the wrong word,” Bean, 64, told the Times UK in 2022.

“Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing …’ ” the actor added. “I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise.”

Acting legend Michael Caine also slammed the use of coordinators, telling the Daily Mail: “We never had that in my day. Thank God I’m 90 and don’t play lovers anymore is all I can say. In my day you just did the love scene and got on with it without anyone interfering,” he went on. “It’s all changed.”