Nudity and simulated sex on stage and screen

Equity Green Room on nudity and simulated sex on stage and screen

Equity held a Green Room event on 31 May 2015 on nudity and simulated sex on stage and screen and how performers could empower themselves. On the panel were actors and Equity members Michael Hurst, Nicole Whippy, Fasitua Amosa, Felicity Josling and Equity vice-president Tandi Wright, with Equity president Jennifer Ward-Lealand in the chair. Their experiences provide a useful guideline for performers on what is acceptable and what is not when asked to do nudity.

The first message was that many American productions are currently filming in New Zealand, and performers are being asked for nudity a lot. It is very important for performers to know their rights and obligations and how to say no and not to be bullied. Performers, together as a group, must effect change and take back our power as people who are integral to the creative process.

Michael Hurst was the producing director on Spartacus and the ‘go-to guy’ for nudity issues. He developed a practice of discussing every nude scene with the relevent performer, writing down the proposed shots and getting the performer’s consent in writing. However this is not standard practice on every production.  Ideally,  directors should describe the detail of every nude shot to the performer before getting the performer’s consent. Any performer who has consented to nudity must make sure that their agent knows the performer wants a discussion about every nude scene and a summary of agreed scenes in writing.

What not to do:

• The Equity standard contract in New Zealand allows performers to choose whether you will/won’t perform nude or semi-nude scenes. It is the performer’s choice. Do not sign up for full frontal nudity and simulated sex if you are only prepared to go semi-nude. Sometimes you may feel comfortable with semi-nude scenes in the script, but the script can change, or you may only be seeing part of it. Some directors may take your agreement to do full frontal nudity and simulated sex to mean that they can ask for nude scenes that you were not expecting. Be aware that even if you have signed an agreement to do a nude scene, a good director will never force you to do it if you are really unhappy.

• Don’t give blanket consent to a body double. Performers must approve all body double scenes. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the body double can do anything he or she wants because everyone will think it is you. Again, have everything written down. Approve each and every doubles scene.
• Never do a nude or simulated sex scene without modesty clothing. Modesty clothing and modesty patches are always available. This includes strapless skin coloured bras and underpants or a modesty patch to cover both male and female genitalia. Before doing a nude scene, have extensive chats with the wardrobe department. Try on modesty clothing before the day to make sure it fits. Don’t wait till the day of the shoot. Actresses can place band aids in an X across their nipples so that if the strapless bra slips, the footage of your nipples is not useable. Feel free to ask the wardrobe people how to put on the modesty patch for genitalia.
• No nudity with genitals touching. There must always be a barrier such as a nudity patch or a g-string. It is important to know that extra underwear can be digitally removed during editing (if you agree). So there is no reason for two performers to shoot simulated sex completely nude with your genitals touching.
• Never use your tongue in kissing scenes on stage. To do so is abusive to the other actor. When rehearsing a steamy stage kiss, start off by giving each other a peck. There is no need to do the whole kiss on the first rehearsal. There is no situation where you ever need to use your tongue in a stage kiss. On screen, you don’t need to use tongue unless both actors and the director want it. If only the director wants it, but not the performers, say no.
• Don’t do low budget, no budget or independent films without a contract – especially if they have nude or simulated sex scenes. If the production is not professional enough to give performers a contract, it won’t be professional enough to treat you with dignity during nude scenes or to allow you to control how much nudity and simulated sex scenes you do.

The Green Room discussed different scenarios, all of which have happened to performers. They give a good guide as to what to be wary of:

• The male producer asks the young female performer out to dinner. This is unprofessional and really out of line. Just say no.
• You are at an audition for a role and the casting director asks how you would feel about doing some nudity. You agree but later tell your agent you have changed your mind. Your agent says they will make sure you don’t have to do a nude performance. Yet when you arrive on location, the wardrobe staff tell you that you will be nude. You insist that you have arranged not to do a nude performance and are given some clothes to wear. But when you go to the set, the director tells you to take your clothes off and then rearranges your breasts. Firstly, you must see your contract before the shoot. Don’t rely on your agent’s word that they have sorted it. Secondly, crew, including directors, may not touch you when you are nude.
• You agree to play the role of a sex worker in an independent film. You talk with the director about all the different scenes involving simulated sex and nudity, write down how many seconds the camera will focus on you in each scene, and are happy with the arrangements. But when filming starts, the director starts to change the agreement and wants you to do a rape scene with no underpants. Just say no and resist all pressure to change the agreement. Call the union from set if you need to.
• You are in a brothel scene in a movie with about 30 other performers. Some are professional actors, some are models and some are people from a strip club in a small town. You are asked to do more and more extreme nudity, beyond what was agreed. The models and strip club members don’t seem to object. Just say no. In these cases, those who want to do the additional nudity (usually the strip club members) should do it and the actors should have the right to refuse.
•  A simulated sex scene has been agreed between the two actors involved and the director. It involves the actors in bed together covered to the waist by a sheet. During filming, the director asks the actor on top to lower the sheet to expose her buttocks . Just say no. Nudity cannot be introduced during filming. It must be agreed in writing beforehand.
• Older male actors who are fully clothed in scenes in which much younger female actors are completely nude can feel very uncomfortable. One male actor aged 60 was told by the director to “interact” with a female actor aged 21 in a sexually violent scene and wondered if he would be liable for sexual abuse charges later. That kind of instruction from a director is inadequate. Performers should always take some time first to discuss with each other how they want to perform the scene so that both feel comfortable.
• Actors are often too afraid to tell directors that they are being inappropriate. One way to do this is to take the first assistant directors (1^st ADs) aside and tell them that you are being asked to do something you have never agreed to. A good 1^st AD will support actors if directors start pressuring them to do more nudity and can ask for filming to be stopped until an agreement is reached. But it depends on the overall ethic of the production company. It is best to learn to say no yourself.
• Actors working on the 48 Hours film festival often feel very pressured by time to do nude scenes that they are uncomfortable with. If you have just two hours left to complete your film and you are suddenly asked to do a nude scene really quickly, again: just say no.
• If you agree to a totally non-nude TV commercial and then suddenly you are told you will be filmed sitting on the toilet, just say no.  As a last resort, if this scene was not in the pre-casting brief you should tell your agent immediately after it has been filmed so that the agent can get it pulled from the edited commercial.
• Be wary of roles that have been written for you if they also involve nudity. A well known actress was offered a cameo role in a feature film with five pages of dialogue and one short sex scene. But when the film was released, the only performance shown was the sex scene. The actress realised that the producer had never intended for her to appear in anything other than the sex scene. Keep on asking for the full script to make sure this doesn’t happen to you.
• Think ahead before agreeing to any nudity. Even tastefully choreographed nude scenes end up on YouTube in a format that you could never have imagined. You need to decide if you really want that scene popping up as one of the first things people see of you when they Google search your name.
• It is pointless going to an audition for a part with lots of nudity and simulated sex and then telling the casting director that you don’t want to do any of it in the movie. Although you can’t be made to audition nude or perform simulated sex at an audition, if the whole part is about sex and nudity, the production will need an actor who is comfortable with that. If only a small part of your role involves nudity, then you can always indicate at an audition that nudity is to be discussed later.
• If you have agreed to do semi-nude stills for publicity purposes, you don’t have to agree to go completely nude or do simulated sex on the day of the stills shoot. Often, the publicity photographer who asks you for more and more nudity will be from an external company. You will not have had a chance to have the same conversations with him or her about nudity that you have had with the director.
• For brothel scenes, everyone should be covered up in robes until the moment the shoot starts and then again once the camera stops rolling. There is no standing around naked in large groups. When shooting a nude scene, non-actors need to stay out of the way of the actors. They should not position themselves so that nude actors have to brush past them. This is unacceptable. Nor should crew be coming in and out of the room during the nude shoot.
• If you are sexually harassed by the director, tell your agent and Equity, your union. Every production has sexual harassment policies that you must read before you start shooting.