The Life of a Queer Filmmaker— Robbie Taylor Hunt
By Robbie Taylor Hunter
Questions from Christine Kinori
Your intimacy-directing journey started four years ago after you studied at Intimacy for Stage and Screen. What motivated you to study intimacy directing?
I was making a lot of queer theatre and ended up often having to tackle a) stories that included a level of romantic and/or sexual content and b) stories that required some sensitivity due to their closeness to performers’ intimate lives. I was able to handle it, but I certainly felt that there must be a better way to deal with these processes. I have some movement training and stage combat training, and I was volunteering with Beyond Equality, facilitating workshops about consent with boys and young men. So it was all a good melting pot of things that led well into intimacy! I wanted to be able to support actors with these challenging scenes and be a part of making the creative industries slightly better places to work.
According to your bio, you mainly focus on LGBTQIA+ intimacy. What are your thoughts on queer intimacy as portrayed by the media?
Buckle in; I could give a TED Talk but will try to resist. Representations of queer intimacy have gotten much better in the past years, but they still have space to improve. Typically, representations of sex between men have been rough, loveless, and conflicted. In stories of male queer love where the characters do find a loving connection, we often then don’t see the sex scene (because how does loving, sweet sex between men work, right?!). For sex scenes between women, we’re much more likely to get swoony, violins-playing, titillating, vague, delicate sex scenes. That’s fine to a degree, but also bring on the messy, playful, high-energy sex scenes between women! And then sex scenes between trans and/or gender-non-conforming characters barely exist — we just need more attention on these stories over all. I think we see the queer intimate scenes on screen that someone has decided a hetero-patriarchy can comprehend, which is actually a very narrow depiction of sexuality. TED, I am available for the full version.
For a long time, there has been a disconnect with how the public views queer intimacy. Can we bridge the gap with the help of intimacy directors?
Hmm, it’s tricky. If you’re fully bringing an Intimacy Director or Coordinator into a creative process, we can have a dramaturgical eye on how the intimacy is being presented and therefore help to iron out some tropes and present queer intimacy in a more realistic, dynamic, engaging way. However, often we do not get that big-picture creative oversight. When we do get more creative input and that impacts the representation of the queer intimacy, it can make a more rich, complex, full, detailed moment of storytelling. This helps cis-heterosexual audiences get drawn into the characters, and connect with them, and avoids what has happened in the past: these viewers finding the queer intimacy shocking or incomprehensible which makes the queer characters feel even more ‘other’.
As the Chair of the Committee of the Intimacy Coordinator Branch of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU). What are some of the issues you are currently advocating for?
There are so many hardworking Intimacy Coordinators making real change happen, particularly our committee members (past and present). Importantly, we’re close to launching our Intimacy Coordinators Registry, which will allow us to have a process by which we can guarantee that an IC has a certain level of experience and training to help to ensure that there are prepared ICs working on set. We have always advocated for a) productions hiring properly trained ICs and b) individuals self-reflecting on how ready they are for this sensitive work before declaring themselves fully qualified ICs.
You recently worked on the hit show Mary & George. How was it coming into the project, especially since it is a period drama?
I was so thrilled to be brought onto Mary & George. The scripts were exciting, pacey, and full of brilliantly dynamic, intimate moments, so I was keen to be involved. I have never come onto a project with such a busy list of things to do, and I was totally game for the challenge. The Jacobean setting was part of that fun challenge in a way, but the show also feels very modern and relatable so it wasn’t a huge stretch. In M&G, people are having sex due to love, lust, hunger for power, escapism, and revenge… that was happening before the Jacobean period and is still happening now! The main difference is working with the fantastic costumes, e.g. how can we not make this undressing scene not take thirty minutes.
According to Julianne Moore, most of the show’s characters embraced sexual fluidity. Did you take this into account while choreographing the intimacy scene for the show?
We knew we weren’t going to be doing any “conflicted-queer-person-has-sex-while-also-kind-of-miserable” scenes, which I think have happened a lot in cinematic history, so that was nice! Beyond that, the sexual fluidity was an important context, but we were otherwise focusing on the characters, the relationships, and what we wanted to achieve for these moments in the story.
While we are on this, how was it working with Nicholas Galitzine again?
Imagine if I was like: he’s horrible. The Internet would explode. No, he’s a lovely guy, and it was great getting to work with him again off the back of Red, White and Royal Blue because we already had an established working relationship. It’s always nice working with actors who are on board with the process of Intimacy Coordination and understand how it is just another part of making the filming process happen effectively. It was pretty smooth sailing on M&G because he already knew the process and how I work. And I didn’t have to explain how all the modesty garments are attached.
You also choreographed the deeply emotional love scene in Royal Red, White and Royal Blue. That scene had a significant impact in changing the narrative of what queer intimacy can look like. Did you expect it to be such a conversation starter?
Thank you, I’m glad to hear it had an impact! When Matthew López and I talked about that scene in the early stages, I was aware that it felt like a scene we hadn’t really had on screen before. I also knew how much I — as a queer person — would have absolutely loved to have viewed a scene like that, particularly as I was growing up and coming out, and I figured I couldn’t be the only one who felt that way. So, I hoped it would be meaningful for people, but I didn’t expect it to have quite the response it did. I’ve been so moved by people reaching out to say how much the Paris scene emotionally affected them. It’s a rare treat as an Intimacy Coordinator (and creative person generally) to have that impact, so I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to bring that to life alongside Matthew, Taylor, Nick and the entire crew.
As an intimacy director that focuses on queer intimacy, what would you say is the most challenging part of the job?
I find it challenging sometimes to balance my advocacy hat, which wants to show more meaningful representations of queer intimacy, with my practical hat of being an IC, which is constrained by time, resources, and navigating working relationships. I think it’s also important to remember that — while I’ve worked on some lovely projects recently that have more fully integrated me — my colleagues and I are still sometimes working on shows where they don’t bring us aboard properly or don’t care about our input, so we aren’t able to be a part of the conversations or choreography as much as we’d like. We are one small cog of big machines, and our priority is always the well-being of the actors and crew, so you can’t do everything.
Let’s talk about your love for theatre. You are currently the director at Airlock Theatre. How do you juggle everything?
Why do you think I juggle everything?! I could pretend to be very zen, but I certainly don’t feel able to give a Masterclass in juggling the chaos of life. Let’s be real: making a living as a freelancer is hard work. You have to take on multiple projects at a time and try your best to balance them. I’ve gotten better at realizing that I need proper moments of relaxation, too, when I’m on busy periods of work. I can’t bring my best to intimacy practice or rehearsals for a theatre project if I’m a zombie from not allowing myself downtime. It is also slightly easier to juggle everything when you’re working on creatively fulfilling projects with people you enjoy collaborating with.
Speaking of fulfilling projects, What upcoming project are you currently working on?
I’ve co-created a very silly comedy called Pansexual Pregnant Piracy, which is coming to Soho Theatre from March 26th to April 13th. It’s based on the true story of 18th Century queer icon Anne Bonny who dressed as a man to join a pirate ship, had a romance with the captain and another pirate-who-turned-out-to-be-a-woman-in-disguise, got pregnant, fled authorities, and lived a badass life. It’s very rowdy and ridiculous and has been so fun to develop. Come along if you want to watch a heavily pregnant person in a swordfight with their ex.
About the Author
Christine Siamanta Kinori grew up in a little village in Kenya known as Loitoktok near the border of Kenya and Tanzania. All she wanted to do when she grew up was to explore the world. Her curiosity led her to join Nairobi University to pursue a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She later got a job with an amazing travel magazine Nomad Africa which gave her the opportunity to explore Africa. She also writes for numerous travel websites about Africa and tries to create a new narrative in the media about our aesthetic continent.
Christine claims to have somewhat unhealthy addiction to TV and reading, as it is a fun way to keep herself occupied during the long journeys for her travel writing. She is also a believer of letting people be their beautiful selves. To her, love is love and it is the greatest gift we have as humans.
