The use of trained professionals who guide performers through intimate scenes is growing in New Zealand in the wake of #MeToo, but there’s concern some arts organisations don’t have enough funding to hire intimacy co-ordinators.
Accredited intimacy co-ordinators – who ensure physical and emotional wellbeing of performers and ensure informed consent is given – are also, by and large, based in Auckland, meaning other regions may be missing out.
Jennifer Ward-Lealand is president of Equity New Zealand and began training as an intimacy co-ordinator in 2018. In 2021 she gained full accreditation, and she’s co-ordinated more than 40 productions across theatre, opera, TV drama, comedy and feature film since.
She teaches workshops on best practice for intimate scenes for a range of theatre companies, arts schools and the Directors and Editors Guild, and has worked to develop Equity’s Intimacy Guidelines for Stage and Screen, which provides a framework for those creating or recording performances of intimate scenes, nudity, simulated sexual activity or sexual violence.