SAG-AFTRA Launches Proposal to Unionize Affinity Coordinators

Two years later SAG-AFTRA stated He wanted to bring proximity coordinators to the union, Workforce group took the first step to make this goal a reality.

On Wednesday, the artists’ union said it had filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to bargain on behalf of intimacy coordinators employed by member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers or the entertainment industry’s top studios and broadcasters.

The move comes after years of effort by the union to try to regulate the growing professional field. Ascended In the wake of the #MeToo movement, intimacy coordinators are responsible for choreographing intimate scenes and scenes involving nudity on set and facilitating a dialogue between performers and creators about this work.

“Working on scenes that involve nudity or physical intimacy is one of the most vulnerable jobs an actor can do. Intimacy coordinators not only help navigate these scenes, they also create a safety net for performers that ensures consent and protection throughout the entire process,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a statement. “Intimacy coordinators are behind us on set, and now it’s their turn.”

Hollywood Reporter AMPTP has been reached out for comment.

Over the past few years, SAG-AFTRA has rolled out several initiatives aimed at professionalizing the field, after HBO became the first brand to mandate these professionals in scenes involving intimacy. In 2020, the labor organization released the following: requirements and protocols for intimacy coordinators, then accreditation for various educational programs In 2022.

SAG-AFTRA’s organizing committee for intimacy coordinators said in a statement that the group is calling for standard protections afforded to other unionized crafts in the entertainment industry. “Becoming part of SAG-AFTRA will ensure the sustainability of our profession,” the committee said. “Currently, intimacy coordinators work without any protections and without standardized wages or benefits. We do this job because we love it, but it takes more than that to have a strong career path that is sustainable.”

More coming soon.