On September 11, the DGA LGBTQ+ Committee’s online meeting featured the panel discussion, Sex on Screen. In a conversation moderated by Director Peter Paige, Directors Steven Canals, Lisa Cholodenko and Ira Sachs explored how to tell a great and sexy story with sensitivity and smarts. The discussion covered a variety of topics including the idea of a gendered ‘gaze,’ and navigating filming sex scenes in the modern age with closed sets, modesty garments and intimacy coordinators.
During the conversation, Canals spoke about utilizing his prep period to break down sex scenes beat-by-beat to determine the purpose of those characters being in that moment together, so it’s never just gratuitous sex or nudity for no reason.
Discussing the differences between shooting sex scenes for features vs. television, Cholodenko voiced her opinion that television is much more difficult given the time constraints, whereas features typically allow more time to rehearse and thereby creating a more communal and elegant process with the actors.
Sachs recalled his first feature film with scenes of intimacy which were central to the narrative, and noted that making those scenes happen in a way that feels authentic and safe is a complex mechanical thing to both create and discover.
About the Panelists:
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 Steven Canals
Canals’s directorial credits include episodes of the mini-series Class of ‘09; and episodes of the series Neon and Love, Victor. Canals also served as the Director, Co-Creator, Writer and Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning series Pose. Canals joined the DGA in 2019 and serves on the LGBTQ+ Committee.
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 Lisa Cholodenko
Cholodenko’s directorial credits include the features High Art, Laurel Canyon, Cavedweller, The Kids Are All Right. and episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, Six Feet Under, Hung, The L Word and The Girl from Plainville. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series for her 2014 mini-series Olive Kitteridge. Cholodenko has been a DGA member since 1998 and has served on the Western Directors Council. |
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I ra Sachs
Sachs’s directorial credits include the features Passages, Frankie, Little Men, Love Is Strange, Keep the Lights On, Married Life, Forty Shades of Blue, The Delta, Vaudeville and Boy-Girl, Boy-Girl. Sachs has been a DGA member since 2006 and has served on the Eastern Directors Council. |
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 Peter Paige (moderator)
Paige’s directorial credits include the feature Leaving Barstow; and episodes of Station 19, Grey’s Anatomy, Good Trouble and The Fosters. Paige has been a DGA member since 2014 and serves on the LGBTQ+ Committee. |
About the Committee:
The LGBTQ+ Committee was founded in 2021 as a provisional committee to explore ways to educate, inform, address the concerns of and create opportunities for members who identify in these categories. At the DGA National Board meeting on January 8, 2022, the Board voted make the LGBTQ+ Committee an official standing committee.The Committee is dedicated to empowering and advancing the professional interests of LGBTQ+ and to promoting and working for employment equity throughout the entertainment industry. The Committee’s Co-Chairs are Directors John Krokidas and Kimberly Peirce and 1st AD Mark Hansson.