Intimacy coordinators now have union contracts.
The SAG-AFTRA national board of directors on Thursday unanimously approved the deal with major studios and streamers reached in early December.
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The staff, who are responsible for choreographing and coordinating scenes of intimacy and nudity in entertainment, will begin their first agreement on February 22, 2026. The contract applies to new scripted movies and TV series starting production after that time.
The contract sets minimum wages for daily and weekly work and places intimacy coordinators on union health and pension plans. The agreement aligns intimacy coordinators’ salary increases and benefit contributions with the union’s “Basic Agreement” that applies to film and television performers.
The agreement sets out overtime rules, meal breaks, travel regulations and liquidated damages for late payment of wages. Under the agreement, the Intimacy Coordinator also has access to materials for their work, including nude/simulated sex riders of the performers and studio rules for such scenes. Intimacy Coordinators can also ensure viewing of performances of intimate scenes.
Alicia Rodis, chair of the Intimacy Coordinators Bargaining Committee, called the development “a transformative step for our profession.” Rodis added: “We love this work and believe deeply in its importance, and this agreement helps ensure those who do it can build long-term careers in a safe and supportive environment.”
The approval comes more than a year after the Intimacy Coordinator voted unanimously to join SAG-AFTRA in the National Labor Relations Board election. Organizational intimacy coordinators expressed a desire to work toward standardizing their pay and benefits.
“The first contract recognized [intimacy coordinators’] “Professionalism, expertise and the integral role they play in creating respectful and safe work environments is a meaningful recognition of work that is often invisible and now takes its rightful place on the stage,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator, said in a statement.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiated the deal on behalf of studios and streamers, praised the union for being a “true partner” in the negotiation process. The group said the agreement “supports the long-term career sustainability of both parties” [the union’s] Members and Industry. “
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