Meet the Intimacy Coordinators Revolutionizing Hollywood feat. Bel Powley

This week, we take you behind the scenes for a look at what it really takes to capture intimacy scenes for the big and small screen. Spoiler alert: it’s definitely not what you think.

Meet the Intimacy Coordinators Revolutionizing Hollywood featuring Bel Powley

We kick things off with a personal story from co-host Meg McCarthy, who is also an NYU Tisch-trained actor. (She doesn’t like to brag but we do!) Meg gives us a firsthand account of what shooting her first sex scene was like on the set of the indie Save the Date, directed by Michael Mohan, which went to Sundance in 2012. 

Special Deep Dive: What is Intimacy Coordination and Why Does it Matter?

One of the most heartening and innovative phenomena happening in our currently unfolding TimesUp era is the field of intimacy coordination. These coordinators are responsible for making film and television show sets safe for performers when it comes to the intimate work they do to play their characters. Think about it: we don’t expect actors to actually get shot or stabbed in action scenes, which is why there are stunt coordinators and stunt people, but it’s only been in recent years that similar protection and support has been applied to the performance of intimacy. 

We talk with two of the women helping lead the intimacy revolution in Hollywood: 

Alicia Rodis, the intimacy coordinator for HBO, who was first hired by the network to work on the Maggie Gyllenhaal drama The Deuce and now oversees this work for all of HBO’s programming. 

“You have to name that norm that's been there before you can work against it. And it's the same thing with creating better sex scenes. The patriarchal thing--then you’re aware of it, before you can turn it on its head.” - Alicia Rodis, Intimacy Coordinator for HBO Studios

And we chat with Amanda Blumenthal, who coordinated the intimate scenes on the first season of another HBO show, Euphoria, the edgy, teen coming-of-age drama that has been renewed for a second season.

“HBO [is] the only studio that requires intimacy coordinators on all of their projects. And it's actually something they've required for a little over two years now. So they were at the forefront of this whole movement [...] I totally thought more were going to go for it after HBO but it hasn't happened yet. But until they decide to do it I think a lot of this is going to start with performers.” - Amanda Blumenthal, Intimacy Coordinator

Movies & Television

Save the Date (2012)

Meg’s intimate scene debut! You’ll have to watch the movie to see it…

Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

Bel Powley was 21 years old when she played the 15-year-old Minnie, a teenager growing up in 1970s San Francisco who is eager to lose her virginity.

The Morning Show (2019)

Claire (Bel Powley) and Yanko’s (Néstor Carbonell) relationship is an example of what it looks like when consenting adults—who don’t have professional power over one another—find love at work during the #MeToo era. 

The Interview 

“There's something about teenage girls that really scares like the patriarchy. Society wants to pretend they don't exist. And that's why Diary of a Teenage Girl was such a huge moment [...] They are growing little women with all these feelings exploding out of them and we need to talk about it. “ - Bel Powley

This week, we chat with the lovely and talented British actress Bel Powley. She has played a variety of American roles in movies including the Apple+ Drama The Morning Show, King of Staten Island, White Boy Rick, and her breakout film role Diary of a Teenage Girl. She talks about the silence around sexuality she felt as a teenager growing up in London and the role earnest men can play in the #MeToo movement. Powley discusses her character Claire’s sex scene with Yanko (Néstor Carbonell) that got left on the cutting room floor of The Morning Show editing suite. Plus, we all agree on the greatness of Marielle Heller, writer, director, and actor (check her out in The Queen’s Gambit) who directed Powley in Diary of a Teenage Girl.

Credits

CherryPop is presented by CherryPicks.

Our hosts are Beandrea July (Twitter @beandreadotcom) and Meg McCarthy (IG megjomccarthy).

The show is recorded, produced and mixed by Beandrea July.

Our executive producers are Miranda Bailey and Rebecca Odes.

Our music is by Jordan Balagot. (Soundcloud jordanbla)

Special thanks to the whole team at CherryPicks.