Meet HBO's sex scene coach

Alicia Rodis is HBO's "lead intimacy coordinator." This means that she choreographs and coaches actors in sex scenes. In The Atlantic, Kate Julian profiles Rodis and shares the, er, intimate details of the work. Here's a description from the set of The Deuce:

Ahead of the shoot, the episodes director, Steph Green, explained her vision of the scene to Rodis, who called the actors to run through a proposed plan. Afterward, Rodis made sure that each actors contract had a rider stipulating that (Ryan) Farrell would touch (Emily) Meades clothed breasts, and Meade would grab Farrells crotch through his pants, under which hed be wearing a prosthetic penis. The day of filming, Green, Rodis, and both actors met in private to prepare. (Green has long run trust- and chemistry-building exercises before intimacy scenes.) Before rehearsing the scene, she and Rodis asked the actors to hold each others gaze for a long interval. The actors also took turns inviting each other to touch agreed-upon body parts: hand, knee, thigh, and so on.

When it was time to shoot, the aforementioned prosthetic was produced. It was an actual fake penis that they use in some of the scenes, Farrell said. I was like, Thats pretty extreme! He put it in his pants. Emily got to actually feel it when it was on top of me, he said, and when things like that start happening, its an icebreaker, and everybody loosens up a bit.

Farrell and Meade got in the back of the limo, together with a cameraperson, while Rodis and Green watched the scene via monitor.