What is An Intimacy Coordinator - And How Do You Become One?

Refinery 29

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"Filmmaking is a very fast process. And first and foremost, the responsibility of an intimacy coordinator is to make sure that levels of safety are high. Which means you have to prioritise safety over creativity. Sometimes you only have 15 minutes to plot the scene, and it is what it is right now. At least they're safe."

Let’s Talk About Simulated Sex: Intimacy Coordinators Two Years On

The Hollywood Reporter

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"I love those moments when you start shooting and the director says, 'OK, I think we got it,' and then everyone, including the actors, starts laughing," says intimacy coordinator Yarit Dor (Carnival Row), who worked in fight and movement direction before training in intimacy. "We're obviously very serious and professional, but there's also a need for that moment of realization that we're playing pretend sex, we're wearing these weird garments on our bits and it's funny. And when you see actors having a bit of a laugh, it just relieves this tension around a very sensitive scene."

Adult Material lead reveals how real life porn star and stuntwoman brought ‘extreme’ sex scenes to life

The Sun

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"I never had worked with an intimacy co-ordinator before - these are the most detailed or intimate sex scenes I’ve ever done on screen, and it was brilliant to have Yarit [Dor, intimacy co-ordinator] around," she continued. 

"She does stunt work as well, and I liken it to working with a choreographer... her presence in the rehearsals that we did with her before shooting, going into a room together and blocking out each moment.

"And how we were going to shoot them, and the placement of our bodies and even down to the placement of our hands or our foot or our leg… It just allowed a real safety around it."

Actor Joe Dempsie on Adult Material 

The Version

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“I’ve had sex scenes on almost every job I’ve had recently, and the advent of intimacy coordination has been brilliant. You get time to talk about the scene, the story we’re telling and what we’re comfortable with. But it also provides that buffer between the actors and the director and producer. I’ve had other jobs where you’ve agreed everything, then on set there’s a polite suggestion to show a little more, and in that scenario there’s an entire crew standing around waiting to work....”

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Adult Material’s intimacy coordinator: ‘A fantastic actor can make us feel anything’

iNews

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"That’s largely changed now, says Dor. Adult Material was “an extremely collaborative process in which the actors could give ideas about changing actions … three or four days of brainstorming where they could offer ideas about the scene and try things. At no point did they feel they weren’t part of the process.”

Hayley Squires on Adult Material: ‘Some women enjoy the performance of sex’

The Guardian

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"An intimacy coordinator, Yarit Dor, choreographed the sex scenes."

The Women helping Hollywood shoot safer sex scenes

BBC World

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"You are a support system but also part of the creative process, to explore how intimacy as a storytelling tool fits in the story," says Yarit Dor, credited as the first intimacy director in London's West End.

"In theatre, it is a four-week process. In TV and film it has to be much quicker, so you work intensively with the actors before getting to the set," compares Dor.

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Yarit Dor: ‘I don’t like to be boxed in – I don’t want to be just a fight director’

The Stage

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"Dor is both fight and intimacy director, marking the first time a creative has been dual-credited as such for a West End show. The dual crediting is important, she says. “I think it’s a big step for intimacy in the UK. So it’s not inherently: ‘Oh that’s just what a movement director does’ or ‘I’ll just have my fight director have a quick look at this simulated sex non-consensual action".

Interview: Christina Newland talks to intimacy coordinator Yarit Dor, Glasgow Film Festival 

Sight & Sound, British Film Institute

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"The nature of the job is how the actor wishes to utilise it...it's a bit of a Tennis game between emotional and physical support".

Intimacy Direction In The Time Of Physical Distance 

HowlRound

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"Dor spoke about this, saying she believes intimacy professionals need to credit directors, stage managers, crew, and other movement practitioners who found strategies of consent and safety before intimacy professionals were created. “It is important to appreciate those who were and still are the support system for so many performers,” ".

Intimacy For Stage: Workshop For Choreographers & Directors in Brussels, Belgium  

Podiumkunsten Centre

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Led by Yarit Dor and Amanda Cutting for IDI-UK. 

2019 

Why demand for intimacy coordinators is growing on film and TV shoots 

ScreenDaily

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"The role itself “is a new thing, and it takes time for the production to decide, ‘How do we want the intimacy director to be part of this?’” she (Yarit Dor) continued. 

Dor underlined the need to include every production department in the conversation, particularly the costume department, where “fittings for modesty garments are often forgotten”.

Rules for screen sex scenes issued to British directors 

The Guardian

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"Yarit Dor, co-founder of IDI UK (and contributor to the guidelines), said the new guidelines should act as an initial resource for the film and TV industry. “It will help clarify from the beginning what to expect. It’s an initial checklist for directors to look at who will know what they need to take into consideration."

Intimacy coordinators are revolutionising the way sex scenes are made

The F Word

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"I discovered my own interest in the coordination of intimacy when directing fight scenes in kitchen sink drama plays. Because the fights often happened between couples, there was a component of attraction. At the end of the day, violence and eroticism both require actors to get into heightened emotional states. My job is to ensure they feel comfortable."

Co-ordinating intimacy: making sex scenes safe 

BFI Sight & Sound - 2019 London Film Festival Panel

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"An intimacy coordinator is not a therapist. We’re a first port of call… if an actor doesn’t say anything we can’t act on their behalf, it’s about creating that safe space for communication."

#MeToo in de cultuursector: maak een einde aan de zwijgcultuur

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Yarit as a founding member of IDI-UK gave a lecture introducing the role of the intimacy director in Antwerp in 2018 as part of a conference on sexual harassment in the performing arts sector. 

Intimacy Coordinator - a new role

(Time Out Israel)

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"יש פה בעיות של הטרדה מינית, אז חלק מהתפקיד שלנו קשור בלראות איך דברים נעשים בצורה שאיברי המין לא נוגעים אחד בשני, וכמה שפחות מתחככים אחד בשני. זה חלק מהעבודה שאני לא אדבר עליה. יש טכניקות כוריאוגרפיות ויש כל מיני אביזרים שאנחנו משתמשים בהם. זה התפתח הרבה מעבר לגרב על איבר המין, זה כבר לא ממש מה שקורה על הסט".

ימות המשגיח

(Israel Hayom Newspaper)

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יערית דור (35) החלה את דרכה כרקדנית בקבוצת המחול הלונדונית של הכוריאוגרפית הישראלית חגית יקירה. בהמשך עברה לשמש במאית קרבות ותנועה בתיאטרון - עד שלאחרונה הפכה לבמאית האינטימיות הראשונה בווסט אנד, כשייעצה לעיבוד של המחזה "מותו של סוכן", שבו כיכב השחקן וונדל פירס ("הסמויה"). לצד עבודתה בתיאטרון היא משמשת מתאמת אינטימיות בהפקות טלוויזיה בריטיות שמצטלמות ברחבי אירופה.