Intimacy Coordination Degree Run by Trailblazer Ita O’Brien Canceled Due to ‘Various Logistical Challenges’ (EXCLUSIVE)
An intimacy practice degree overseen by prestigious intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien was canceled days before a planned workshop, Variety has confirmed.
Mountview’s Intimacy Practice Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program launched earlier this year as the world’s first university-accredited master’s course in intimacy coordination. Intimacy choreography, which makes sets safer and more regulated for performers, has been an important focus for the film and TV industry in the wake of the #MeToo movement. O’Brien’s work on shows such as “Normal People” and “I May Destroy You” has made her one of the leading directors working in the field.
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“Since I have been working as an intimacy practitioner and the role has gained greater prominence, each day we have had enquiries from people asking to be trained,” O’Brien told the U.K.’s Metro in March, when the course was announced. “The rigor of working in partnership with Mountview to deliver an MFA together with the validation by [University of East Anglia] is exceptional expertise in action. It has been a joy to be able to create this world-first course in this way and we are really excited to get going.”
However, the degree has been canceled before even accepting its first intake of students.
Some prospective students were informed on July 14 — days before a planned recall workshop in London — that the course was scrapped due to “various logistical challenges” that meant organizers “cannot offer the course as planned.” No further explanation was provided.
The program, which received extensive media attention due to O’Brien’s profile, was set up through London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and advertised from March, though it has always been subject to validation from the University of East Anglia. Its inaugural class was expected to start in September and run through 2024. Year 1 fees cost £15,295 ($19,749) for domestic students and £18,765 ($24,229) for international pupils. (Year 2 is priced at £10,545 for domestic students, while the international fee remains “TBD” on the course website.)
In a statement to Variety, Mountview confirmed the program’s cancellation, again citing “various logistical challenges,” and noting that no one had officially been offered a place on the course, despite its scheduled start in two months’ time.
“No one has been offered a place on the planned MFA Intimacy Practice course and the workshop you mention was an in-person recall as part of the application process,” Mountview’s director of advancement Charlotte Castle told Variety in an email. “However, the recall was canceled once the logistical issues became apparent. Mountview informed everyone who was due to attend at the earliest possible opportunity, and we regret any inconvenience caused.”
One North American student who had planned to travel to the U.K. for the July 18 recall workshop says organizers have “broken a lot of trust.” She was told the course had been called off mere days before getting on a plane to London .
The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, applied for the MFA in May, and received an interview — conducted virtually over Zoom — in late June. Ahead of the interview, she was given six days to provide a 1,000-word personal statement, reference letter and completed questionnaire.
While Year 1 of the course promised to teach theory and technique, the second year focused on more practical study in professional settings. The program’s lecturers were described as experts in “awareness of sexual and intimate storytelling; open communication and transparency; power dynamics on set, in educational institutions, and in live performance; movement coaching and masking techniques; understanding of guild and union contracts that affect nudity and simulated sex; and health and safety training in the professional space.”
“It’s such a great program conceptually; there isn’t any one like it,” the student told Variety. “It’s in-person and you get to develop all these relationships with [top instructors]. And the pedagogy element is not common for any masters program.”
Following the interview stage, the student was invited to come to London in July for the workshop, where more details about the course — such as housing — could be discussed. However, the student noticed a note on the course website making clear that the MFA was still “subject to validation by University of East Anglia,” and reached out to ensure the program was still happening. After receiving email confirmation on June 28 that organizers are “certain there will be no issue” with the course’s validation, she booked her U.K. travel.
On July 14 — four days before the recall workshop — she casually checked her email for an update, only to discover that the course had been canceled outright. Overall, the student spent $1,200 from a travel bank for her flight and booked accommodation — all of which is refundable — but also spent an additional $300 that is non-refundable. (Variety asked Mountview whether the school will reimburse these costs, but did not receive a response by press time.)
“They shouldn’t have rushed this,” said the student. “No one would have faulted them if they started next year instead of this year.”
Variety has not been able to ascertain what specific logistical challenges led to the cancellation of the program.
O’Brien declined to comment on the course’s cancellation.
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