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ALICIA RODIS: - I am an
intimacy coordinator.

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- Intimacy expert.

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AIMEE LOU WOOD:
Intimacy director.

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EMILY MEADE: I didn't know that an
intimacy coordinator was even

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a job, which is sad and crazy.

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And I played a role
in bringing one

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on to "The Deuce" season two.

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CLAIRE WARDEN: I'd
explain it, and the most

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common reaction to
that was either,

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"Wait, we don't have that?"

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Or, "Why haven't we had
that up until now?"

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NARRATOR: An
intimacy coordinator

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steps into a scene to help
actors choreograph physical

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and emotional intimacy.

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So that includes having
conversations about boundaries,

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about how their characters
may express love or lust,

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and making sure that there's
both chemistry and consent.

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TENIECE JOHNSON: So if
you're doing stunts,

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you're not just going to go
in there and improv something,

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because safety is involved.

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The same thing is involved
in scenes for intimacy,

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if not more so.

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NARRATOR: And while the
women at Intimacy Directors

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International have been doing
it in theater productions

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for the last 15 years,
Hollywood is just

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getting on board,
thanks to one actress

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who helped change everything.

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- I'm trying to do my job here.

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NARRATOR: That's Emily Meade.

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She stars in HBO's "The
Deuce," a show about sex

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workers in 1970s New York.

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- After this, they're
all gonna want me.

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NARRATOR: After
shooting season one,

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she was ready for some change.

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EMILY MEADE: It just so
happened when we were entering

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season two everything
with #MeToo

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and Time's Up
started to explode.

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CROWD: Time's up!

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EMILY MEADE: It did make me
start to think about what

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ways I have felt
uncomfortable or perpetuated

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these things not changing
or these boundaries

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not being respected.

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NARRATOR: So she
got the ball rolling

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with support from
veteran actress

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and co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal.

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MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL: On "The
Deuce," where there's so much

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sex, we -- a group of us
together -- created this new job

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of an intimacy expert.

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EMILY MEADE: I just went to HBO
and the producers of the show

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and asked for somebody to
be there to sort of, oversee

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and liaise on the communication
and just, the sex scene,

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and be there purely to
protect and oversee that.

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ALICIA RODIS: So, you know,
my first interview, I sat down

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and all the executive
producers were there.

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And they all just look
at -- and legal is there --

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and they look at me
like I'm a fae creature,

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and are like, "So,
how does this work?"

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It was just like
any other interview,

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except they were
interviewing for a position

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that they had
never hired before.

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- What do you
think that need is?

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ALICIA RODIS: That-- oh, that
need is the cultural crisis

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we're in right now.

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That need is realizing that
the way we have done it before

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is not good enough.

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TENIECE JOHNSON: In
our culture of "yes,"

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it's like following
the director's

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voice from off in a distance.

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You hear it and you go.

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- Because if you say no, you're
being difficult, or, "Well,

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someone else will say yes,
and we'll give them the job,"

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or you'll get a reputation
for, you know — or you're being a diva.

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NARRATOR: Take the 1972
film, "Last Tango in Paris."

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It has a rape scene
between Marlon

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Brando and Maria Schneider.

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And director Bernardo Bertolucci
admitted something pretty

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disturbing about that scene.

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BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI:
I've been, in a way,

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horrible to Maria,
because I didn't

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tell her what was going on.

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Because I wanted her reaction
as a girl, not as an actress.

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ALICIA RODIS: When
people are like,

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no, I just want it
to be totally real.

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It's like, it's
not a documentary.

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We're not there to shock
someone into a performance.

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- I got nominated!

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- For what?

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- Best Supporting Actress.

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EMILY MEADE: I had to
simulate giving oral sex.

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I was afraid to
actually do that.

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I was afraid to have those
images of me existing.

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So, just to have
Alicia to begin with,

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to very honestly and
candidly talk to her

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about my fears about that.

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And then on the day, she was
there and watching the monitor,

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making--

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reporting back to me what it
looked like and how it felt.

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It wasn't even
that Alicia changed

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anything about the scene.

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It was just talking about it and
processing it and digesting it.

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ALICIA RODIS: After
#MeToo, people

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are realizing they don't have
to just go along with it,

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that they have a right to
sovereignty of their bodies

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and their experiences.

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ALICIA RODIS: And the
idea that if there

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is a part that's too painful
or hurts, we are creatives.

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ALICIA RODIS: We can find some
other way to tell that story

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if you need to.

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TENIECE JOHNSON: You must.

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So it's those clear boundaries
that gives a performer

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the freedom to act their part.

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NARRATOR: And that
freedom paid off.

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After "The Deuce," HBO
extended its contract 

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so that any and
every HBO production

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with an intimate scene
must have an intimacy

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coordinator present.

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How did that feel when
you found that out?

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EMILY MEADE: It was the most
proud moment of my life.

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And that sounds like I'm
taking on all the credit.

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And obviously there's
so many, you know -- 

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HBO and Alicia and the fact
that there was intimacy

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coordinators to begin with.

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I feel proud and
excited, and also excited

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for --  you know, once I leave
"The Deuce," I'm

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hoping that this can
continue. And I'm

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guessing it's not going
to be my last time ever

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having sexuality on a show.

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NARRATOR: And even
people who might

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not want an intimacy director
say they can see the benefits.

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MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL: I don't
actually, at this point,

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want another voice in my ear.

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But I want that for the
people who are starting out.

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NARRATOR: People like the
young, mostly-newcomer cast

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of the Netflix show,
"Sex Education."

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- Did you just fake it?

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AIMEE LOU WOOD: So
we had a workshop

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with an intimacy director.

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ALICIA RODIS: What's
beautiful about this movement

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and what we're trying
to really put out

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there is that we are bringing
this out there with generosity

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and with openness

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that we can help.

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All of those things
that may have gone

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unsaid --  we have specifically
trained ourselves

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to have those conversations
and to do the work,

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so that if you don't
have the language for it,

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we've got language for you.

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