Ita O’Brien is a British movement director and intimacy co-ordinator for film, TV and theatre. She has taught at some of Britain's leading drama schools, has published research and devises her own work. In 2017, O'Brien introduced the "Intimacy On Set Guidelines", to protect performers during scenes that involve sex or nudity, which gained significant industry and public interest in the wake of the

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (, ; born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent ...

scandals. She has worked for

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

, and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Early life and education

O'Brien's family is from Clonmel, Ireland. She graduated in 1998 from the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS was an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance a ...

. She also trained as a dancer at the Royal Academy of Dancing. In 2007, she received a master of arts in movement studies from the

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, commonly shortened to Central, is a drama school founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for ...

Career

Ita O'Brien pioneered the role of intimacy coordinator, which is gaining adoption in leading production houses, including HBO, Netflix, and the BBC. O'Brien has been developing practices when working with intimacy, scenes with sexual content and nudity in film, TV and theatre since 2014. In the absence of any industry-wide guidelines or accepted process, she developed draft guidelines for intimacy, simulated sex scenes and nudity. She is the founder of Intimacy on Set, her company set up in 2018, which provides services to TV, film and theatre when dealing with intimacy, sexual content, and nudity. There was brief controversy when, on the BAFTA red carpet in 2018,

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in ''The Lo ...

likened the idea of guidelines to censorship. However, O'Brien says, "These guidelines are not a constraint, but an improvement on current practice. They free the actor to embody the character whilst delivering repeatable and safe scenes that facilitate the Director's vision." The guidelines have received the support of Women in Film and Television (UK) and leading industry figures, including

Gemma Arterton Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is a British actress. After her stage debut in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'' at the Globe Theatre (2007), Arterton made her feature-film debut in the comedy '' St Trinian's'' (2007). She p ...

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and David Farr. Her work has received press coverage, particularly for ''

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'', ''

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'',Berning Sawa, Dale
"'Take care of your actors': the intimacy director keeping Netflix’s sex scenes safe"
Retrieved 25 January 2019. and '' Gentleman Jack''. She has been an advocate for the use of an

intimacy coordinator An intimacy coordinator is an occupation in the film and television industries. They are "an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer in regards to nudity and simulated sex, and other intimate ...

in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, and UK. In 2021, upon receiving a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for Best Actress for ''

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'',

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dedicated her award to O'Brien, saying "Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe, for creating physical, emotional and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power without being exploited or abused in the process". In all, O'Brien worked on six TV productions that were nominated for a

in 2021. In 2022, O'Brien became the first intimacy coordinator to be employed by the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in a

Katie Mitchell Katrina Jane Mitchell (born 23 September 1964) is an English theatre director. Life and career Mitchell was born in Reading, Berkshire, raised in Hermitage, Berkshire, and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham, she went up to Mag ...

production of ''

Theodora Theodora may refer to: * Theodora (given name), a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift" Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodo ...

''.

Film and TV

Her credits include '' The Last Duel'' (2021), ''

It's a Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...

'' (2021), ''

'' (2020), ''

'' (2019), ''

Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams ''Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams'', or simply ''Electric Dreams'', is a science fiction television anthology series based on the works of 20th-century writer Philip K. Dick. Written by British and American writers, the series consists of te ...

'' (2017), '' Derren Brown's Ghost Train'' (2017), series 2 of ''

Humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

'' (2016), ''

The Girl With All The Gifts ''The Girl with All the Gifts'' is a science fiction book by M. R. Carey, published in June 2014 by Orbit Books. It is based on his 2013 Edgar Award-nominated short story ''Iphigenia In Aulis'' and was written concurrently with the screenplay ...

'' (2016) and many theatre productions.

References

External links

Ita O'Brien's official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Ita Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Acting teachers English people of Irish descent Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Intimacy coordinators