...To Make Sex Scenes Compelling And Consensual with Intimacy Director Ita O’Brien

Show Me The Way

It's safe to say that watching people be intimate on screen can either be electrifying or extremely cringe-making and if we feel that as the audience, imagine how it feels as an actor.

That's where the intimacy co-ordinator comes in. This relatively new role in film, TV and theatre facilitates conversations first between the actors about what they're comfortable with doing and then acts as liaison between them and producers, directors and crew. It not only helps to set boundaries but also enables deeper conversations about why the scene is there and how to make it the best representation of that moment between two consenting adults.

Ita O'Brien is the leading light in this field, pioneering an intimacy playbook on how to do this work with the highest possible standards. She started out as an actor and then became a movement director and is now the go-to for this type of work.

Some of the most compelling scenes of 2020 (lockdown) TV have been as a result of her input. Remember the unhurried sex between Marianne and Connell in Normal People; when Arabella doesn't give her consent to sex without a condom in I May Destroy You and the exploration of sex in all its guises in Sex Education....she's the magic sauce behind all these.

Hear how she got to where she is today and how she creates the beautiful, consensual, compelling scenes that she does.