Intimacy coordinators vote to unionize under SAG-AFTRA

LOS ANGELES — Erin Tillman’s job as a certified sex educator involves breaking taboos and tackling sensitive subjects. Leading workshops and classes, Tillman knows the importance of her work and its impact on people’s lives, especially when it comes to relationships and personal identity.

“It is very important,” Tillman said. “It touches every human’s life at some point, whether it’s, you know, figuring out identity things or, you know, just who you might want to date or partner with.”

Tillman is also an intimacy coordinator, a role that’s close to her heart. On Hollywood sets, she steps in to choreograph intimate scenes, making sure actors’ boundaries are respected while helping directors realize their vision.

“We come in when there’s an intimate scene, a hyper-exposed scene, so nudity, sexual simulated scenes,” she said. “We come in to help with choreography. We help to make sure that the actors are respecting each other’s boundaries, that the director is clear on the actor’s boundaries.”

Tillman and other intimacy coordinators came together to push for union representation to secure essential protections and support.

“We need extra support in order to support our performers,” Tillman said. 

In October, SAG-AFTRA filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent intimacy coordinators. In November, SAG-AFTRA announced that intimacy coordinators had unanimously voted to join the union, paving the way for them to negotiate their first contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP for short.

Intimacy coordinators say joining the union would mean standardized protections, fair pay and guidelines for dealing with issues on set.

“To have support of a union with standards that are set for all of us across the board, and there’s like a meeting of the minds in terms of what we’re doing there, what our job is, what we’re going to be paid, what to do if there’s a problem… to have that established is everything,” Tillman said.

For married actors Carolina Espiro and Matthew Jaeger, intimacy coordinators are essential. They know the pressures of working on set, where every moment costs money, and actors are expected to get it right on the first or second take.

For Jaeger, that pressure has sometimes led to uncomfortable situations on set. He recalled one instance when a producer used a private camera. Espiro said she took a step back from certain roles because she couldn’t always trust the process.

“You basically had to cross your fingers and trust that this producer or this director or this set was going to be safe in every other person,” she said. “And eventually I said, ‘No,’ because I couldn’t trust that.”

For both, intimacy coordinators create a safer space for actors, allowing them to focus on their work without fear or discomfort. 

“Having that third party, that third party who is there to both help the director figure out their vision, but also protect the performers, allows the performers to really relax and give the best performance possible,” Jaeger said.

For Tillman, the value of her work shines through in moments of appreciation from the actors.

“One of the biggest compliments I’ve gotten on a show, the performers are like, ‘Erin, this was so much fun,’” she said. “I want my job to be that the actor comes out of it feeling like they did a great job and they were able to do a great job because they felt supported.”