Laurie Nunn, creator of “Sex Education,” speaks to Brut about the decision to use intimacy coordinators for the show, the storylines chosen in season four, and her own experiences of sex education as a student.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Some days it don't come hard, and some days it don't come easy.
00:06I've heard some horror stories.
00:08Mainly the stories that I think disturbed me the most
00:10were stories about directors just saying to the actors,
00:15oh, like, you guys go off and figure it out.
00:18Like, you go off into the other room and just come up with a sex scene
00:22because the director felt so awkward and uncomfortable.
00:26And that really puts people in such an unsafe position.
00:31The show has been lauded for using intimacy coordinators.
00:35How does that change the way that it's presented to the world?
00:39For me, it just was really essential because of the subject matter of the series.
00:45After our first writer's room, I think it was about six weeks later
00:49that the Me Too movement happened, and I think that just really shifted
00:53a lot of conversations about how film and TV should be approached
01:00and how it should be made.
01:02Because with sex education, it's a teen show,
01:04so we were working with a lot of new actors.
01:08Some of these actors had never even been on a film or TV set before.
01:13It just felt really important that they had that emotional support
01:16and they had that backup and that ability to advocate for themselves.
01:20This season, I feel like so clearly is going to open up a lot of people
01:24to things and experiences that they've never seen before, right?
01:29In particular, trans identity and the trans experience.
01:33What do you hope the audience will walk away knowing
01:37or reflecting on maybe that they hadn't before?
01:41I learned a lot through the writing of it.
01:44We'd introduced the character of Cal in Series 3,
01:48and I knew that I wanted to deepen their story and progress that story.
01:54But it was really important to me that Cal didn't have to shoulder
01:59the whole trans experience, and so I wanted to make sure
02:03that we had multiple trans storylines happening in the show.
02:07And again, worked really closely with our writers and consultants,
02:12and then also with the actors themselves.
02:15I think so often trans people are just not actually included
02:19in the conversations about trans politics or trans issues,
02:23and we really wanted to make sure as a program
02:26we were centering those trans voices.
02:29I think it's really interesting what you said
02:31about having multiple trans characters.
02:34Why now? Why do we need to be having those conversations now?
02:38Why do you think it's important?
02:41You know, trans joy shown on screen as well as pain.
02:45There's some very, very fraught and toxic discourse
02:49that is happening at the moment.
02:50I don't think I'm the right spokesperson to really get into
02:53the ins and outs of that, but I felt like, you know,
02:57I felt like the show is really about community and friendship
03:00and people standing up for each other,
03:02and so it felt important to include those storylines.
03:06I think where it really matters and it's important
03:09and it feels really essential to kind of bring
03:11those specific actors into the conversation,
03:14particularly when they're playing a part
03:16that is also close to their lived experience.
03:19I mean, I think it's just really essential
03:22that people are given the opportunity to play those parts, you know?
03:27What were some of your own recollections
03:29of sex education as a student?
03:31When I was a teenager, it was pretty much non-existent,
03:34so I also felt like this was a show
03:37that I would have got a lot from when I was younger
03:40in terms of, you know, just giving young people
03:44some better language to talk about their bodies and their identity.
03:48You have to believe that you deserve the things you have to love yourself.