One of the many conversations #MeToo and Time’s Up have inspired has to do with the nature of creative arts professions. If you work in film, television, theater, or a related field, chances are some of your specific duties — i.e. conducting a screen chemistry test or shooting an intimate scene — would be unacceptable in any other career. But just because the entertainment industry comes with some unusual responsibilities, that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be standards or best practices to ensure everyone’s comfortable and treated with dignity.

That’s Ita O’Brien’s stance. The intimacy coordinator and movement director has put together guidelines for film/TV/theater scenes that feature intimate situations, simulated sex, and/or nudity. She hopes her guidelines will be adopted across the industry and eventually become the universal standard for all productions depicting intimate scenes in their stories. Historically — shockingly — there hasn’t been an industry best practice: sex scenes are usually handled at the discretion of the person in charge. (Although this could be slowly changing: HBO recently announced it would employ intimacy coordinators to oversee its shows’ sex scenes from now on.)

In addition to the specific Intimacy On Set Guidelines, O’Brien has also penned recommendations for performers getting ready for intimate scenes. As she says, actors are required to be emotionally open to do their job, but that openness can become vulnerability very quickly. “The shift can happen in a moment,” she writes. “This work demands vigilance, presence, and mindfulness in order to stay on the right side of doing what is right for you. Often actors are willing to say yes, such that they overstep their own boundaries of what is actually acceptable to them, only to have feelings surface after the event,” she explains.

In order to prevent situations like that, and to do the job in a way that makes everyone feel safe and at ease, O’Brien advises actors to find out early if a role requires sexual content and, if so, prepare for it. In the audition, “if you are asked to work with a partner on an intimate scene, go through the guidelines, agreeing the physicality of how you will interpret the scene, agree areas of touch, gaining consent, and then sculpt the physical scene ready to show to your director,” she recommends. “You should not be asked to be nude or to go through sexual content on a first audition.”

It’s also vital that performers and directors — and anyone else involved in the intimate scene — maintain an honest dialogue throughout the job. O’Brien encourages actors to warm up and stay open — “clear, present, and grounded” — and, when needed, agree to a “time out” with their director and crew. This allows the performer to be more comfortable in exploring or acting out challenging material, knowing they have the autonomy to halt the action at any time and take a break.

When blocking the scene, discuss the storytelling, the characters, the power play, and the beats of the scene. Once the basic shape of the physicality is agreed, then follow the guidelines, blocking the scene so that there are no surprises on the actual day. Blocking includes:

• Always having a third-party present: Keeping the work professional, not private.
• Agreeing areas of physical touch: This is the most important step of the guidelines, giving space and time for agreement and consent for all performers.
• Sculpting the physical actions using plain words: This anchors the physical blocking, like choreographing a dance.
• Charting the characters’ emotional journey.
• Integrating all of the above into the final scene. By this stage, when all is embodied and clear, the performer can get on with the job of acting, and can be free and liberated.

Since sex scenes often feature nudity, or at least the suggestion of it, O’Brien recommends actors’ determine the degree of nudity they are comfortable with and specify it in their contracts. Her guidelines on the subject: “There should be a closed set whenever intimate scenes are involved, taking into consideration the gender balance of the crew in a closed set — e.g. female vulnerability within a predominantly male crew can feel intimidating. Bare genitals should never touch.” She adds, “The wardrobe department will provide you with modesty patches and pouches. Nudity is from action to cut, and at all other times wardrobe will provide you with a dressing gown or suitable covering.”

One of the most common situations actors will face is the “just,” O’Brien says. This is when the director isn’t exactly being abusive, but still crossing a line. They’ll say “Just kiss,” or “Just go for it,” or even, “Just improvise that.” “When a director asks for you to ‘just…,’ offer to go through the guidelines first, before embarking on the physicality,” she urges. “Or another option for improvisation is with no touch, exploring the emotional and physical dynamic, being ultra-present with no actual touch. The director can then pick out the physicality that they like and go from there, using the Intimacy On Set Guidelines to anchor the scene.”

Finally, O’Brien reminds actors to move on from the intimate scene once it’s complete. “When you have finished your rehearsal or filming on set, it is most important to bring yourself back to center, letting go of wherever you may have gone,” she advises. “Find exercise techniques that allow you to release and come back to self, so you can go home, having done a good day’s work, stepping back into the personal from the professional body.”

Hopefully O’Brien’s guidelines will become standard operating procedure throughout show business. As she says, there’s no reason for performers to “feel personally vulnerable or compromised” while on the job, even if the job includes intimate scenes. As more and more people question the toxic aspects of the entertainment industry, and more and more sets adopt O’Brien’s methods, it’s possible the days of fraught and humiliating sex scenes will be in the past.

You can find out more about O’Brien and her work over on her website and in the video below. The Intimacy On Set Guidelines can be found here.