Intimacy coordinators unanimously vote to join SAG-AFTRA

Intimacy coordinators have become a fixture of the film industry in the past decade. In practice, the consultants are there to serve as liaisons between the actors and the filmmakers and to make sure everyone feels comfortable while filming intimate scenes. But while the role has seen some pushback (largely from older male actors) since its introduction, those skeptics are going to have to get used to it. Intimacy coordinators scored a pretty major victory this week, as they voted to join SAG-AFTRA.

The union didn’t share how many coordinators participated, but did report that the vote was unanimous. This all comes from Variety, which wrote that the vote is the latest step in a “five-year effort to professionalize the role of intimacy coordinators.” Currently, there’s no concrete requirement for productions to use intimacy coordinators on set, although the 2023 SAG-AFTRA contract stipulates that productions should use their “best efforts” to hire one when dealing with sex and nudity. (We’ve heard what happens when they don’t, which is that things can be a “frenzied mess.”)

This particular stage of the movement began in September, when the guild filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to recognize the coordinators as part of the union. “We have no protections… And we have no health insurance. We have no pension,” Marci Liroff, one of the coordinators working for inclusion, told the trade at the time. Now, the union will negotiate those things in the coordinator’s first contract with AMPTP. 

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher isn’t pulling any punches in her statement on the vote. “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,” she said. “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.”