IDC Professional Ethics & Dual Relationships 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In intimacy coordination professional ethics, what does 'scope creep' refer to?
- A coordinator's responsibilities expanding beyond agreed professional boundaries without renegotiation (Correct answer)
- A coordinator gradually increasing physical contact with performers during rehearsal sessions
- The tendency for intimate scenes to become more explicit over the course of production
- A coordinator accepting more productions than their bandwidth allows
Correct answer: A coordinator's responsibilities expanding beyond agreed professional boundaries without renegotiation
Scope creep occurs when a coordinator's role expands beyond the originally agreed scope without formal renegotiation, which can blur professional boundaries and compromise effectiveness.
Question 2: How should an intimacy coordinator handle unwanted romantic attention from a performer?
- Address it only if it begins to affect scene work directly
- Reciprocate professionally to preserve rapport and trust with the performer
- Clearly and professionally communicate that such attention falls outside their professional relationship (Correct answer)
- Report it immediately to production without first speaking with the performer
Correct answer: Clearly and professionally communicate that such attention falls outside their professional relationship
Directly and professionally addressing unwanted attention maintains clear role boundaries and models the very boundary-setting behavior that is central to intimacy coordination practice.
Question 3: Which behavior constitutes a professional ethical violation for an intimacy coordinator?
- Advocating for a performer's stated limits even when they conflict with the director's creative vision
- Requesting a pre-production meeting with the director and lead actors
- Accepting supplemental payment directly from a performer in exchange for additional advocacy (Correct answer)
- Documenting scene parameters in a written intimacy agreement
Correct answer: Accepting supplemental payment directly from a performer in exchange for additional advocacy
Accepting payment directly from a performer creates a financial dual relationship that compromises the coordinator's impartiality and independence from all parties.
Question 4: Which ethical principle most directly governs an intimacy coordinator's obligation to remain within their professional competence?
- Beneficence — always seeking to provide the maximum possible benefit to the production
- Fidelity — maintaining loyalty to the production company at all costs
- Autonomy — allowing performers to judge whether the coordinator is sufficiently qualified
- Non-maleficence — avoiding services they are not trained or qualified to provide in order to prevent harm (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Non-maleficence — avoiding services they are not trained or qualified to provide in order to prevent harm
Non-maleficence requires professionals to avoid causing harm, which includes not practicing beyond the scope of their training, experience, and competencies.
Question 5: When an intimacy coordinator disagrees with a director's creative choice that does not compromise safety, what is the appropriate response?
- Refuse to participate in the scene until the director revises the approach
- Escalate the disagreement to the producer without first speaking with the director
- Express their perspective professionally, then defer to the director's creative authority (Correct answer)
- Instruct the performers directly to follow the coordinator's preferred approach
Correct answer: Express their perspective professionally, then defer to the director's creative authority
Coordinators hold authority over safety and consent protocols, but creative differences outside of safety should be communicated respectfully while ultimately deferring to directorial authority.
Question 6: What is the ethical responsibility of an intimacy coordinator regarding their own emotional and physical capacity to work?
- To accept all offered projects as a professional obligation to the growing field
- To recognize signs of vicarious trauma or burnout and step back from projects when necessary (Correct answer)
- To disclose capacity concerns only to close professional colleagues, not to productions
- To prioritize professional commitments over personal wellbeing to serve the industry
Correct answer: To recognize signs of vicarious trauma or burnout and step back from projects when necessary
Ethical practice requires self-awareness about one's capacity; working through significant burnout or secondary trauma risks compromising the quality and safety of care provided to performers.
Question 7: What does professional 'accountability' require of an intimacy coordinator?
- Documenting every moment of every rehearsal session for potential legal protection
- Taking responsibility for professional decisions and their outcomes, including acknowledging errors (Correct answer)
- Holding performers accountable for upholding every term of their negotiated agreements
- Reporting all on-set concerns directly to union representatives regardless of context or severity
Correct answer: Taking responsibility for professional decisions and their outcomes, including acknowledging errors
Professional accountability means owning one's decisions and their consequences — including mistakes — which builds the trust and integrity essential to effective intimacy coordination.
IDC Professional Ethics & Dual Relationships 2
In intimacy coordination professional ethics, what does 'scope creep' refer to?