Intimacy coordinators have voted to join SAG-AFTRA as members of the actors’ union, a major step in a years-long campaign to make the presence of trained experts to oversee intimate scenes on productions an industry standard.
“Since 2019, SAG-AFTRA has been working with intimacy coordinators on a number of key initiatives to grow and safely standardize the profession,” SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a Tuesday statement. “Now, five years later, they’ve taken the important step of empowering themselves with union representation! All of us at SAG-AFTRA look forward to working together with them to negotiate a first contract with the AMPTP.”
SAG-AFTRA has made intimacy coordinators a core priority dating back to the start of the #MeToo movement in 2017, creating a standardized process for training and certifying coordinators and creating a database for productions to find approved coordinators for nude and simulated sex scenes.
This successful unionization effort was part of that campaign, as SAG-AFTRA’s national board approved a resolution in 2022 to establish a pathway for intimacy coordinators to be official members of the union.
“In these sobering times with looming threats to environmental protections and women’s equality, it is refreshing to see the entertainment industry’s recognition of intimacy coordinators and their important contribution to productions and to performers in intimate scenes,” guild president Fran Drescher shared. “We at SAG-AFTRA are proud to include this esteemed group of trained professionals as the newest to join our member body. May this continue to carve the path of elevated consideration for the feelings of safety for people and planet.”
With 100% of votes received in favor of unionizing with SAG-AFTRA, intimacy coordinators can now work with the union to negotiate their first labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in labor talks.
TheWrap has reached out to the AMPTP for comment.
