"Sex Education" intimacy coordinator explains her role

Brut America

She's made it her mission to make sex scenes safer for actors. Meet Ita O'Brien, the intimacy coordinator on Netflix's "Sex Education."

Transcript

00:00We sort of look up and you know finding the body mark of a hip bone and then down onto the thigh

00:04will it get the actor to go you can touch me there and this air is out of bounds really important.

00:21You have discovered the wonders of your own penis my friend it's normal. It's not normal

00:27Last night I looked at some cheese and I got an erection. What's what's so fantastic about sex

00:31education is it's telling the reality that sex isn't always beautiful and run smoothly.

00:37Most of the time it's awkward and especially for young teenagers who are finding their way it's

00:41awkward. Everybody does sex so we don't there's not a specialist that we need but of course we

00:54know if there's a physical choreography of a dance you're going to need someone to choreograph it.

00:58There's a physical choreography of a fight you know you need to take care there's a risk

01:02and so you're going to choreograph it and of course the risk is with the intimate content

01:07it's your personal and private intimate body is at play and there's a risk if that's handled or

01:11dealt with in a way that's not suitable for you. So yeah so I was able to go actually we need a

01:17skill you know you have all the talking going on and then it releases into the physical content

01:20it's a physical dance and that needs choreographing and taking care and giving a clear structure.

01:38Part of what we do as the intimacy coordinators is inviting that open communication and transparency

01:44and that has to start from the get-go. Having everybody understanding what's wanted from that

01:48scene happens way before we even get to set. We'll check in with the director check out what

01:53their vision is then we'll check in with the actors find out what their vulnerabilities are

01:57what they're concerned about then we'll go to wardrobe we'll sort of make sure that the

02:01different genitalia patches and modesty clothing is prepared. If I haven't worked with that first AD

02:06before I'll speak to the first AD to make sure that we're going to work really together holding

02:10a really safe and respectful closed set. What do you mean like having casual sex? Otis. So there's the

02:17masturbation scene where the characters of Otis and Ola and so character of Otis has learned

02:25the technique that he feels and so he's trying to put that in practice. What I always do

02:31is break down the scene into beats so this you know so this section is one beat then the next

02:36section is the second beat and you know because there's very there's the journey the storytelling

02:41you know from somebody being excited and then someone being nervous and into the action of it

02:45and then disappointment and not knowing how to handle it and you know then saying okay we'll

02:49stop so all that journey we're charting so there's a really clear journey and then we're checking out

02:55touch I'm checking out with both actors where's happy for you to be touched where's out of bounds

02:59particularly with the idea of wanting to tell we want the physicality to tell the storytelling

03:05but we want to make sure the actors aren't compromised and where they're touched so we

03:09look at how how can we cheat it so we're looking at sort of the you know running a little finger

03:13down we sort of look up and you know finding the body mark of a hip bone and then down onto the

03:18thigh will it get the actor to go you can touch me there and this air is out of bounds really

03:24important and then with that then we'll choreograph it clearly so I look into your eyes you know we

03:28have a kiss I bring my hand down under your under your trousers carrying on down and then into the

03:35choreography and then sort of so into that moment of masturbation. Animal rhythms is another tool

03:43that we can use it as an actor many actors in their training do animal studies and so that's

03:48what you're using and it's so useful because if you look up so I get the actors to explore

03:54different animal rhythms mating and it helps you feel oh you know perhaps a dog breathy and quick

04:00there's quite a young person you know perhaps someone who's a bit more older and embodied

04:04the gorilla type feeling and it just helps you to just stretch the the actor's tool bag of

04:12possibilities so with that masturbation scene with Amy Liu in series one it's even more important

04:20when you have someone doing you know self-masturbation to help them not feel that

04:25they're exposing themselves so we pretty much went through all the different animals and it

04:30helped Amy Liu to really have something to anchor her to have a really embodied quality as as this

04:36character explored you know what the different you know kinds of masturbation can give her

04:42right the way through to orgasm and I've been you know we knew that that scene was going to

04:46be really important you know that it was a really liberating you know piece of art to be out in the

04:53world and and it has been I've met with Amy Liu last year and she was saying that she gets like

04:58hundreds of texts every day saying thank you for that scene.

05:10I do feel so proud of um of you know this work coming into the industry and the ripple effects

05:16that it has um and what's important is that it's it's just empowering for everyone and it allows

05:23everyone to work professionally so nobody would dream of just just grabbing someone and doing a

05:28kiss you know you check out touch and again once you get used to it once it becomes inherent and

05:33ingrained and just part of the industry it takes a moment it doesn't have to slow things up but

05:37it's just a shift and it's just about um you know agreement and consent and working with respect

05:44and helping us all be professional to make the best work so that's what I want.

05:47I think I just had a very small orgasm.

05:53you

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