Katherine O’Keefe: “Staging intimacy, it’s not censor: it’s to create safe”

Katherine O’Keefe is today one of the most active intimacy coordinators in Hollywood. For her, it is not a control tool, but a creative framework where consent becomes an artistic engine. Meet on the sidelines of the last Deauville festival

First: How did you become intimacy coordinator? You came at the origin of the production …

Katherine O’Keefe: Yes. I had moved to Los Angeles and I was already working on TV. And from my beginnings, I was confronted with disconcerting situations: on the second series where I worked, a producer that I did not know came to massage me, without a word, in front of the whole team. No one reacted, and I realized how trivialized these behaviors were. Seeing other women to live the same thing, I understood that it was not a series of bad luck, but a real systemic problem in the environment. When #MeToo arrived, I wanted to think about concrete solutions: how to make the sets safer, more respectful, without slowing down creation.

And this is where the profession of intimacy coordinator enters your life …

Ko: In 2018, when I was not engaged in a series, I met the very first intimacy coordinator hired in Los Angeles. The job came from the theater – it was structured around 2014-2015 – and HBO wanted to make it compulsory, but there were not enough pros formed on the west coast. She was riding a training program; I helped her for six months to build it, then I started. I never looked back.

Concretely, what is your work?

Ko: The simplest is to say that I am a bit like a waterfall coordinator, but for sex or nudity scenes. My role is to make sure that everything is safe, professional and artistic. I read the scene, I break it down, then I speak with the director to understand his vision. Then, I meet each actor and actress individually: this is the moment when they give me their limits, their experiences, sometimes simply physical details to take into account. Then, I make the link with the legal departments, the agents, the costumes. Before, for example, costumers did not even have access to nudity clauses, while they are the ones who dress and protect the actors. Today, everything is clear, written, shared.

Legal seems central to the United States …

Ko: Yes. Before any scene of simulated sex (everything that exceeds a passionate kiss) or nudity, we establish an amendment to the contract which details what is accepted and what is not. Since 2020, the law requires that this document be communicated 48 hours before the shooting, to avoid any last minute pressure. He goes through the legal service, the agents, then the actor signs. And even signed, nothing obliges to turn if the environment becomes inappropriate. On the other hand, production cannot ask more than what has been granted in writing. It’s a huge advance.

Have you ever changed a scene after discussion with the actors?

Ko: Yes, very often. Most of the time, the problem comes from the scenario. Many authors are embarrassed to write sex scenes and leave them blurred. I had a series where the script simply said: “They get back in the air. The director thought of a naked and explicit sex scene, the actress with a passionate, dressed kiss. Without conversation, it would have been disastrous. Sometimes too, these are the actors who have great ideas: on a series, a couple was tired of always redoing the same “sensual” scene. We changed energy, added movement, spontaneity – and it has become more alive, more true.

Has this new job changed the representation of intimacy on the screen?

Ko: Yes, I think. For a long time, sex scenes have been seen as free or decorative. I think that intimacy is part of the human condition, and that it deserves to be shown with as much attention as violence or comedy. What we do is not suppress these scenes, but make them more aware, more just. We want the actors to feel proud of their work, not that they “survive” a scene.

You have worked on very different series: Vida, Pam & Tommy, The L Word: Generation Q…

Ko: Yes, and also Mythic Quest for Apple TV+, Rutherford Falls for Peacock, Daisy Jones & The Six on Prime Video, and even Grey’s Anatomy, where the intimacy coordination has imposed itself in recent years. Vida remains a very strong memory: it was a series of Starz on two sisters, one hetero, the other lesbian, who come back after the death of their mother. The love scenes were magnificent, full of emotion and respect.

How do you see the evolution of this profession on the French side?

Ko: By working with professionals from France, I felt a cultural difference. The Americans come from a very puritan culture, the French of a culture that claims to be sensual. Here, posing a limit can sometimes be perceived as a lack of maturity or professionalism. But my job is not to censor – on the contrary, it allows artists to express themselves more freely. When everything is clear, the shooting becomes more creative, no less.

And what do you answer to those who see your role as a form of censorship?

Ko: It’s a misunderstanding. If I have to interrupt a catch, it is something serious, or that the preparation was sloppy. My goal is that everything is anticipated, that everyone knows what they do and why. On filming day, I should hardly have to intervene: the scene can then take place naturally, in confidence.