intimacy coordinator

noun

plural intimacy coordinators

: a person on a film or television set whose job is to ensure the safety and well-being of actors participating in scenes that involve sex or nudity

… brought in intimacy coordinators to help choreograph and navigate sex scenes …

—Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

But what exactly do intimacy coordinators do? They serve a ton of different roles, but their main function is to make sure that actors feel safe and protected when they are shooting intimate scenes.

—Abeni Tinubu

Hiring intimacy coordinators has become an increasingly common and standard practice within Hollywood. Most productions, however, still leave it up to their actors to decide whether or not they want to work with them.

—Alex Welch

… the intimacy coordinator is just there to be that extra person who'll come to you before you start filming a scene. They'll walk you through everything that is going to happen and even if you've signed a contract saying, "Yes, I'm going to do this or show this," you can still change your mind. You can tell that person, "I don't feel comfortable doing that," and they will be the ones who communicate that so you won't feel as bad.

—Sydney Sweeney, quoted at RogerEbert.com

Word History

First Known Use

2018, in the meaning defined above