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Jessica Jefferies is a professional casting director, who works mainly in video games and enjoys the medium.<\/p>\n
Prior to that she was a motion capture performer – part of a small group who worked regularly for studios used by game developers.<\/p>\n
Dressed in a skin-tight body suit, covered in markers, motion capture performers act-out the movements of characters in games on a large unfurnished set, where their motions are recorded digitally.<\/p>\n
She said performers were often left in the dark about the nature of the game, or the scene, by developers.<\/p>\n
“We’d get an email or a call from a studio saying we need you on these days for a shoot,” she said. <\/p>\n
“That was all the information we’d get.”<\/p>\n
Ms Jefferies told the BBC she was once asked to act out a scene with a male performer involving a sexual assault with no prior warning.<\/p>\n
“I turned up and was told what I would be filming would be a graphic rape scene,” she said. <\/p>\n
“This act could be watched for as long or as little time as the player wanted through a window, and then a player would be able to shoot this character in the head.<\/p>\n
“It was just purely gratuitous in my opinion.”<\/p>\n
She refused to act out the “disgusting” scene – which was made worse as she was the only female on set.<\/p>\n
“There’s no nudity involved, but its still an act and there’s an intimacy in that act and also a violence in this situation,” she said. <\/p>\n
“So yes there may be a layer of Lycra between us, but you are still there and still having to truly immerse yourself in this scene.”<\/p>\n
In the end her concerns were listened to and the scene was not recorded.<\/p>\n
But it reinforces her belief that performers should know in advance about explicit scenes so they don’t have to “kick up a fuss” on set or feel pressure to do something which makes them feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Jessica was consulted by Equity in the development of their guidance which requires that when recording explicit or intimate scenes:<\/p>\n
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A summary of the story, scene breakdown and scripts should be distributed to all cast members in advance.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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performers should be able to request a closed set where access is kept to a minimum.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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a competent intimacy coordinator should be engaged.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
She argues giving actors more information will help them deliver better performances and argues “there is an appetite for change”.<\/p>\n
Ms Jefferies stresses the guidelines are not trying to put boundaries on storytelling. In the ten years since that incident there have also been major improvements, she says – and “these guidelines are just to bring it even more in line with the best practices in the film and TV industry”.<\/p>\n
She says the studios she now works with are generally very open to being educated on good practices, and agree that treating people well leads to better performances.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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‘Incredibly uncomfortable’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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One voice actor and Equity member who supports the guidelines, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told the BBC of problems she had encountered. <\/p>\n
She “absolutely loves the industry” but argues the limited information shared with actors before a performance needs to change.<\/p>\n
“We have to sign NDAs [non-disclosure agreements], we’re told almost nothing,” she said. <\/p>\n
In one recording for a major game she first learned it was explicit only when she turned up for work. <\/p>\n
“This was actually a full-on sex scene,” she said. <\/p>\n
“I had to [vocally] match the scene and through the glass in the booth was the entire team, all male, watching me.<\/p>\n
“It was excruciating… <\/b>at that stage I had been in the games industry a while, and I had never felt so shaken”.<\/p>\n
She compared the experience to unexpectedly being required to perform for a premium rate phone-sex line. <\/p>\n
“What upset me so much about the situation is I was put on the spot, nobody thought to ask me if I was ok with it, and nobody checked to see if I was ok afterwards,” she said.<\/p>\n
And as a freelancer, she feared being labelled as a troublemaker by refusing. <\/p>\n
“Nobody has to justify why they’re not hiring you,” she said.<\/p>\n
Like Ms Jefferies, she wants games to move closer to standards in film and TV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/picture><\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n