Two years after SAG-AFTRA indicated that it wanted to bring intimacy coordinators into the union, the labor group has taken a first step towards making that goal a reality.
On Wednesday the performers’ union said it had filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to bargain on behalf of intimacy coordinators employed by Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member companies, or the entertainment industry’s top studios and streamers.
The move arrives after the union has spent years attempting to regulate the burgeoning professional space, which ascended in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Intimacy coordinators are responsible for choreographing intimate scenes, and those involving nudity, on sets, as well as facilitating a dialogue between performers and creatives relating to this work.
“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. “Intimacy coordinators have our backs on set and now it’s our turn to have theirs.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the AMPTP for comment.
Over the course of the last few years, after HBO became the first brand to require these professionals on scenes involving intimacy, SAG-AFTRA has rolled out various initiatives seemingly aimed at professionalizing the space. In 2020 the labor organization published requirements and protocols for intimacy coordinators, followed by accreditation for several training programs in 2022.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA’s organizing committee for intimacy coordinators stated that the group is seeking standard protections provided to other unionized crafts in entertainment. “Being part of SAG-AFTRA will ensure the sustainability of our profession,” the committee said. “Right now, intimacy coordinators work without any protections and without standardized wages or benefits. We do this work because we love it, but a strong career path needs more than that to sustain it.”
More to come.