“I’m from the olden days, so I was like, ‘What does that mean?’” Aniston, 54, told Variety. “They said, ‘Where someone asks you if you’re OK,’ and I’m like, ‘Please, this is awkward enough!’”

While the Friends alum might have opted out, intimacy coordinators are changing the way sex scenes are being filmed in Hollywood. Many of our favourite shows like Bridgerton, Euphoria and House of the Dragon have prioritised the involvement of an intimacy coordinator on their sets.

But what exactly is an intimacy coordinator and what do they do?

Why are intimacy coordinators important?

The role of intimacy director has come to prominence in Hollywood in recent years, following the distressing revelations surrounding Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2022. The consequent #MeToo movement also helped several high-profile celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lawrence, Ashley Judd and more shed light on the pervasive culture of sexual abuse within the industry.

The impact of the Weinstein scandal underscored the critical need for a dedicated professional on set, entrusted with the task of safeguarding the security and consent of actors when filming hyper-exposed scenes.

It’s a fairly new profession

According to the Intimacy Directors and Coordinators official website, the role was pioneered in the United States by Alicia Rodis.

Rodis was working behind the scenes of a short film as a stunt coordinator when she noticed the need to create protocols for physically intimate scenes as the industry had for physically violent ones. She was hired to work as the intimacy director on the HBO show The Deuce, and has since been working to craft a better system for intimacy in films and TV shows that is now becoming the industry standard.

What do intimacy coordinators do?

Just as stunt scenes and dance sequences are carefully choreographed in films and TV shows to ensure the safety of actors as well as the creative vision of directors, an intimacy coordinator choreographs scenes that require nudity and sexual intimacy while facilitating an environment in which actors understand what is expected of them in hyper-exposed scenes and ensuring there is informed consent.

While Hollywood has come a long way since 2017, there is still much work to be done, as sexual assault allegations against celebrities are still a constant in the news.

“We are responsible for advocating for all directors, all actors and all producers. It’s imperative that we continue to change what we look like as an industry, specifically meaning more Black and global industry practitioners,” Teniece Divya, an intimacy coordinator told Backstage.

How do you become an intimacy coordinator and how much do they make?

In 2022, Sag-Aftra announced that the union would extend its membership to intimacy coordinators, acknowledging the growing significance of this role.

According to Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, aspiring intimacy coordinators can attain professional certification from institutions that are accredited by Sag-Aftra, which include: Intimacy Coordinators Education Collective, Intimacy Professionals Association and more.