The intimacy coordinator behind the main scenes of kinky sex reveals the secrets

If you’ve seen a star-studded gay sex scene on screen or stage recently, there’s a good chance Robbie Taylor Hunt had something to do with it.

The theater director began working specifically on intimate coordination in 2019 and has assisted in some of the biggest and best queer productions.

Main video Red, white and blueSky Atlantic’s Mary and Georgeand big boys saw on channel 4all had their moments of odd pleasure orchestrated by Hunt, and his latest work can be seen in the groundbreaking BBC drama Mr. Lovermanand also on stage in Matthew Lopez Reverberation.

However, while intimacy coordinators have become more common, their purpose has been blurred by stars such as Toni Collette, Sean Bean and Michael Cainewho questioned their usefulness.

But, as Hunt explains, being an intimate coordinator it is more than just consent and comfort.

“The Intimacy Coordinator works on intimate content, which means simulated sex, nudity, kissing, physical touching, scenes involving physical functions, childbirth, medical topics, family intimacy, etc.,” says Hunt. It’s not all about sex: “intimate” scenes can include urination, defecation and menstruation.

Consent is one element of his job, ensuring people work within their limits, but there is also a “creative element” to the role. It involves “helping the actors, the director, the cinematographer (and) everyone involved to make sure that creatively we’re achieving what we need for the story, the characters and the script,” adds Hunt.

For example, if an intimate scene needs to be more sensual, more offensive, more realistic, or more uncomfortable, it’s Hunt’s job to make sure it comes across on screen. Or, actually, behind the scenes.

Although most entertainment fans think of relationship coordinators as working with filmed sex scenes, their work also extends to theater, and it’s often a much bigger and more complex job. “It’s a completely different process,” says Hunt.

He has been working with the Olivier Award winner for the past few months Lopez on Reverberation. The play tells the story of Jonathan, a man struck by a homophobic tragedy who relies on sex with men he meets online to find himself. His life was changed by Claire, a mysterious woman who moved into the apartment above him, bringing their lonely lives together.

“We have a time before rehearsals where I talk to the actors individually and say, ‘Here’s what’s in the script, what do we think about it?’ What do we want to do and what do we not want to do?” Hunt explains.

He will talk to the director before the intimacy is staged and rehearsed. There are weeks to play when Hunt can continue to hone scenes with technique and dress rehearsals.

“I’m there for previews when we start showing it in front of an audience,” he says, with that live audience and their comfort being another element he has to consider. “Then… you leave them alone, which looks really weird.”

in TV and filmon the other hand, the rehearsal may take place only a few hours before the filming of an intimate scene. Then the intimacy coordinator left.

Enabled Reverberation and his other projects, Hunt has created “a space and a comfort … for people to discuss (intimate relationships) and work through it together,” but he acknowledges some of the actors, such as time star Bean, believes that intimacy coordinators “ruin the spontaneity” of sex scenes.

“Different engagement coordinators have different practices when it feels like they’re coming in and (saying), ‘I’m in charge now,’ which is right for some processes,” he says.

“I was on set a bit more in my early years, doing things that seemed a bit limited, but time went on. As intimacy in general becomes a little bit better and more supportive and people understand that I’m not here to just shut things down, I really want to collaborate, (the director) will use me more.

“Certainly, sometimes intimacy coordinators need to come in (where) there’s a harmful dynamic onset and you need to do a few more time slots or step it up a little bit to make sure the safety baseline is there.”

If one person feels uncomfortable participating in certain scenes, that’s not always shared with the rest of the cast and crew. “People can handle different things,” says Hunt.

Those people who think that intimate coordination is an obstacle may not be seeing the whole picture. “There’s a level of privacy in that… one person doesn’t feel like they need an intimacy coordinator, someone else might.”

Given that until recent years intimate queer sex scenes have been few and far between on TV and film, Hunt’s job is also to ensure that the images don’t fall into tired stereotypes. His “favorites” are shows that are unrealistic in terms of the mechanics of LGBTQ+ sex, from viable positions to length of preparation.

“Even with Red, white and bluethere were some things going around, people saying, ‘I didn’t even know men could have face-to-face sex,’ just because a lot of times the idea of ​​sex between men is sex from behind,” he says. “It’s a little trope that just keeps going. You see (it) on the screen and people just keep doing it because that’s what we saw on the screen.”

There were other cases where queer stereotypes led to “gender ideas” where muscular and masculine men were portrayed as tops and feminine, more emotional men as bottoms. Hunt’s role is to ask, “What really makes sense for these characters?”

Most of all, Hunt is honored to play such an important role in bringing nuanced, candid LGBTQ+ stories to the stage and screen.

“We went through a phase where we were so happy to have queer characters on screen at all, but usually (they were) pretty stereotypical or didn’t have an intimate story because it was perceived as ‘too much,'” he recalls. “Now it feels like we’re getting authentic, true, fully realized queer stories.”

After all, the sexual portrayal of gays is not just a representation of the community. They are an essential tool in providing brilliant entertainment for all.

“(The characters) are usually in a very vulnerable moment where they’re away from a lot of other people. I think that often in a good sex scene you see another side of a person. It’s creatively very juicy for the audience. I’m all for a nice, well done sex scene. They do a lot for history.”

Reverberation is on stage in Bristol Old Vic until November 2.

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