The intimacy coordinator sector of the Nollywood industry is responsible for ensuring the well-being of actors and actresses who participate in sex intimate scenes in theater, film and television productions.
Yeside Olayinka-Agbola is Nollywood’s first intimacy coordinator, and has just completed work on the 5th season of MTV Shuga Naija- her first time working as an intimacy coordinator on a production set.
Her job is to protect the interest of the actors, ease the workload of the directors, and make intimate scenes as believable as possible.
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In an interview with THE WHISTLER, She spoke about her work in Nollywood and how the film industry in the country is catching up with the world in terms of intimacy coordination on the set of movie or TV show production.
Excerpts of the interview;
Can You Explain What The Role Of An Intimacy Coordinator Entails?
So, I am a liaison between the crew and the actors in any intimate scenes or scenes with hyper exposure. Scenes with hyper-exposure just mean scenes where one or more actors are naked. Also, if there is a rape or domestic violence scene, I’ll be there.
My role is to make sure that the actor is protected. An actor might not be comfortable with certain things that a script says or that the director wants, but they don’t want to be the person who will get in the way of production. For example, if there is a kissing scene in the script and the director says they want it to be very passionate, and the actor is not comfortable with that but they don’t want to hinder production or seem difficult, that is where I come in to be the go-between and say ‘Hey, the actor isn’t comfortable with that, can we do it another way’.
I’m also a movement coach of sorts. For example, in a scene where two actors are meant to walk into a room kissing and then maybe end the scene lying down, it’s my duty to guide the actors and work with the director of photography on how we would move to make the whole thing realistic before we even start rolling.
In summary, I just make sure that the actors are comfortable, I am their liaison and also their advocate on set.
What Was Your Experience Like As A First-Time Intimacy Coordinator?
Since I had never been on a production set before I didn’t know what to expect besides what I had imagined but it was quite an amazing experience for me, the cast and crew were warm and professional, even with my role being the first of its kind that they had experienced in Nollywood, everyone was open to it and excited to have me on board so it made the whole process very smooth.
The cast was happy to have me and the crew was also relieved to not have to worry about handling the intimate scenes because regardless of whether an intimacy coordinator is brought on set, the producers and directors usually have to add that to their own duties. So having someone whose job it was solely to make the cast and crew comfortable during intimate scenes takes that off their plate and they were happy about it. We all worked well together, it was a very conducive environment.
For this season of Shuga Naija, there was an emphasis on female empowerment so the showrunners were women and a big portion of the crew were also women. It was quite a nice experience all around.
Do You Think The Mostly Female Crew Contributed To Their Decision To Hire An Intimacy Coordinator This Season?
I don’t think so because using intimacy coordinators is becoming the standard across the world. And with Shuga being a show run by MTV, they would want to adopt world standards. Obviously, with more women running production this season, there would’ve been more of a push for it but regardless I believe they would have hired one anyway. While interviewing for the role I didn’t speak to only the Nigerian team, I also had to speak to the South African team.
What Are Some Specific Advantages Of Hiring An Intimacy Coordinator For A Movie Or TV Show Production?
This is something that the directors shared with me, I worked with three different directors on this project. The running theme was basically relief, because they would’ve had to coordinate these scenes on top of all their other responsibilities, so they wouldn’t have been able to handle it in an in-depth way. Like they might not have taken to time to make sure the actors were comfortable with certain actions in the script, especially because they could be so caught up in getting the vision they have across on the screen.
So, I took something off the director’s plate, and I took something off the assistant director’s plate. They could just focus on the scene knowing that I would take care of the actors and make sure that they are comfortable and ready to put in their best.
Also, the actors felt more confident going into their scenes, they felt more protected because they knew there was someone in the crew looking out solely for their interests. I could actually tell the director that we need to stop and we would stop if an actor was uncomfortable, for example.
Why Do You Think We Have More Sex Scenes In Nigerian Movies?
I think it’s a mix of the fact that sex sells, and the fact that Nigerians are more receptive to sex scenes.
Nigerians are becoming more global and globally, sex sells. Remember that the message of Shuga is HIV prevention but it’s also targeted at young adults and while we’re not trying to encourage early sex, we’re also trying to showcase the reality of what is happening and the reality is that young people are having sex. And there are also ways of showing that sex happened without necessarily showing the sex.
Another thing is that Nollywood is being more explicit because we are able to show more, and we don’t have to leave it to the imagination. Also, people are asking why not especially since they’re showing it in Western movies and TV shows and we’re trying to keep up with the West. However, if we’re going to do that, we have to make sure that actors are safeguarded, not just from the directors but also from other actors, and even also from themselves. This is because for example, if an actor has said from the onset that they are unwilling to show certain body parts, but then they get carried away, as an actor, trying to give their best to the scene without even realizing that they’ve crossed their boundary, they need an advocate in the room who knows what those boundaries are and is looking out for them, to call them back to themselves so they don’t end up regretting the work they have done.
Did You Experience Any Disagreements Or Conflict Among Actors While Filming An Intimate Scene?
I’ve never had any experience of disagreement or conflict between actors while filming an intimate scene because I had done the prep work with them prior.
Did You Have To Use A Body Double For Any Of The Actors During Intimate Scenes?
We didn’t use a body double during this production and there was really no need because the intimate scenes were very PG.
(PG is an acronym for Parental Guidance. PG-rated content refers to content that is not suitable for viewing by people below the age of 15 without adult supervision).