New Directors & Intimate Scenes: Avoiding Common Pitfalls?

Hey everyone,

I'm Megan Foster, a script supervisor currently working on a few smaller independent projects. Something I've been thinking about a lot lately, especially with the growing importance of consent on set, is how new directors navigate intimate scenes. I've seen a couple of instances where the intention was good, but the execution of consent workflows felt a bit clunky, or sometimes the scene's emotional integrity started to suffer because of it.

I’ve tried to gently guide where I can, making sure everyone's on the same page with blocking and keeping detailed notes, but I'm not the director. I'm genuinely curious, from your experience, what are some of the most common pitfalls or mistakes new directors make when trying to implement consent workflows and simultaneously maintain scene integrity during intimate scenes? What advice would you give to help them avoid these issues, especially for someone early in their career?