There are many titles for those who create the choreography, direct the movement, and facilitate the physical and psychological safety for screen and stage ‘intimate scenes’ – that is, those vulnerable story-telling moments which may involve nudity, medical, toilet, bathing, kissing, simulated sex or simulated sexual abuse or assault. Their titles have included “intimacy choreographers, intimacy coaches, intimacy consultants, intimacy professionals, intimacy directors” and increasingly popularly, “intimacy coordinators.” These roles have been more in demand in Australia since MEAA established Australia’s Stage and Screen Intimacy Guidelines in 2020, and SPA added these to their Screen Safety protocols in 2021. Sometimes these roles have been combined with other on-set roles, such as “fight coordinators, on-set welfare coordinators, covid-safe coordinators” and even “standby wardrobe” – all of which has made it tricky up until now to decipher which expertise or services these different titles comprise.
Adeeb Razzouk, courtesy of Key Intimate Scenes
The Australasian Intimacy Coordination Network (AICN) is a new organisation that exists to bring together those who self-identify as intimacy professionals for stage and screen in the Australasian region. Co-founded by Stephanie Power of Intimacy Coordinators Australia in Melbourne and Michela Carattini of Key Intimate Scenes in Sydney, “the network was a simple way of getting us working together, and sharing the expertise within Australia, rather than always looking overseas.” says Carattini. “We don’t all have the same expertise,” she adds, “each artist has their own strengths and niche areas, which makes them better suited for some projects and less so for others, so we now have a body that can point clients in the best direction for their specific needs.”
Michela Carattini, courtesy of Key Intimate Scenes.
With 33 members in the network and growing, the inaugural meeting was attended online from all over Australia, including from Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Power, who hosted the meeting, explained “[Michela and I] both had a mutually shared vision to create for our region of the world a more inclusive practice space, one that recognised existing knowledge, training, industry skills, and informed cultural diversities. As the first network of Intimacy Professionals in our region, our mission is to provide culturally appropriate platforms that foster support, associations, shared knowledge, and professional development across the Australasian region, [as well as] to firmly establish an Australian identity in Intimacy Coordination that has a globally recognised professional standing.”
Michela Carattini, courtesy of Key Intimate Scenes
The meeting addressed region-specific conversations on the practical implications of the work, including titles, insurance, rates, and qualifications. Asabi Goodman, based in Brisbane, stated she was “so glad to know that there are so many of us in Australia working together to safeguard and empower actors to tell bold, intimate stories,” while Adeeb Razzouk, based in Sydney, hopes to broaden the accessibility of the work to Arabic-speaking artists. Topics the network plans to continue to develop include collaborations, professional development, in-person training opportunities, academic research, and local suppliers for modesty garments, barriers, and other “intimacy kit” necessities. For more on the AICN, search FB groups or contact helloAICN@gmail.com.
Steph Power, courtesy of Steph Power
Asabi E. Goodman in The Revolutionists. Photo credit: Naz Mulla
