In a series of film takes for the 2024 blockbuster “It Ends With Us,” one of which would make the final cut, three stories unfolded in 10 minutes.

One that was portrayed: Blond and flirtatious Lily Bloom falling in love with hunky and handsy neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, dancing in a dimly lit bar, surrounded by patrons to whom the main characters pay no mind. “Completely in their own world,” the script called for.

A second, which became a bullet point in a sexual harassment complaint filed by actress Blake Lively, who played Lily. Ms. Lively sued the production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, alleging that her co-star Justin Baldoni — who owns the company — and she “were filming a slow dance scene for a montage in which no sound was recorded. Mr. Baldoni chose to let the camera roll and have them perform the scene, but did not act in character as Ryle; instead, he spoke to Ms. Lively out of character as himself.

“At one point, he leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good.’ None of this was remotely in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, the script called for ‘no sound,’” the complaint said. A court date has been set for 2026.

And the third was Mr. Baldoni’s version, which he released to the public in 10 minutes of videos of the disputed scene that he said showed he had not crossed any lines. The videos were released days after he countersued the actress for $400 million.

“Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr. Baldoni was behaving inappropriately. The following videos … clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism,” the countersuit said.

In the days after the videos were released, Ms. Lively’s legal team went public with statements asserting that the videos vindicated her 80-page complaint alleging more than a dozen instances during filming in which Mr. Baldoni and others on the set acted inappropriately.

Referring to the widely viewed videos, an intimacy coordinator — an emerging profession in the entertainment industry (see related story below) — pointed out that the script didn’t mention kissing or touching, which Ms. Lively later protested about in her complaint but Mr. Baldoni argued was part of the portrayal of two people falling in love.

“Nowhere in the script does it say he has to kiss her or touch her like that,” said Mia Schachter, a Los Angeles-based educator and CEO of Share the Load Inc., which offers training on sexual consent, and an intimacy coordinator who works in television and film. Ms. Schachter did not work on “It Ends With Us,” which gave film credits to two intimacy coordinators, neither of whom could be reached to comment for this story.

The videos released by Mr. Baldoni marked the latest volley in a widely publicized legal dispute that shows why filming intimate scenes is so complex and why the insurance industry has struggled to provide coverage for sexual harassment exposures in the years following #MeToo.

The history of #MeToo in Hollywood is rooted in the “casting couch,” the entertainment industry notion that sexual favors were expected during auditions in exchange for career advancement, and grew into a movement in 2017 when actors, mostly women, encouraged people to use the hashtag in social media to indicate that they, too, had been victims of sexual harassment and violence.

Considered pervasive at the time in the entertainment industry, stories unfolded about sexual harassment and sexual assault, and lawsuits were filed, the most famous being the dozens against The Weinstein Co. LLC, co-owned by Harvey Weinstein. In 2020, Mr. Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault, but his conviction was overturned last year on procedural errors. He is expected to face a new trial this year.

The publicity surrounding allegations in the lucrative entertainment sector, along with higher settlements and jury verdicts — the “social inflation” that is said to be affecting corporations in many industries — puts the risk in the millions of dollars.

“Social inflation is certainly one of the reasons we’re seeing these settlements for higher dollar amounts … and that there are so many high profile lawsuits being played out in the press and social media,” said Marie-France Gelot, Los Angeles-based senior vice president and insurance claims counsel of the claims advisory group at Lockton Cos. LLC.

Among the most well-known cases, in 2020 Mr. Weinstein’s studio, which went bankrupt amid the allegations, reached an $18 million settlement agreement with dozens of his alleged sexual harassment and assault victims. And in 2022, the California Civil Rights Department reached a $3 million settlement with the producers of the television series “Criminal Minds” to resolve allegations that crew members on the set of the show were sexually harassed.

Insurers serving the entertainment industry have responded, tightening an employment practices liability marketplace that was already complex in relation to Hollywood, where actors and directors are expected to portray affection and sexual relations without crossing lines.

In the immediate aftermath of #MeToo, “it became virtually impossible to place EPL insurance,” said Brian Kingman, Los Angeles-based managing director of Gallagher Entertainment with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. “We were literally down to one” EPL insurer catering to the entertainment industry immediately following the surge in #MeToo lawsuits, he said.

The #MeToo movement “was a watershed moment for both the entertainment industry and, to some degree, the insurance industry,” said Alex Maza, New York-based senior national director of the management liability practice group at Risk Strategies Co. Inc.

Since then, new players have entered the market, which many still consider complex.

“The market has kind of settled with safeguards put into place,” Mr. Kingman said.

“Underwriting is tougher; a lot of questions are asked surrounding the safeguards and protocols,” he said. Among them are zero tolerance rules, employee handbooks, mandatory education and a slew of “the do’s and don’ts,” he said.

“Many of the productions have these obligatory speeches by a lawyer or a human resources professional that say that there’s zero tolerance for any kind of sexual harassment or harassment of any sort,” Mr. Kingman said.

Beyond the entertainment industry, sexual harassment lawsuits are hardening the EPL market in many sectors, experts say (see related story below).

The Screen Actors Guild “has put up a lot of guardrails,” Mr. Kingman said. “A lot of the actresses were uncomfortable with certain intimacy scenes. And they’ve raised objections, and they put rules and guidelines in place for those reasons.”

Risk management, training and notification protocols — in many cases, anonymous reporting of adverse events and behaviors — are relatively new approaches in the entertainment industry, Mr. Maza said.

“With the entertainment industry leading on this, you can’t bury your head in the sand and pretend that this stuff may not be happening,” he said.

Background checks when hiring actors is another good practice, Mr. Maza said. “It’s just knowing who your employees are,” he said.

It can be challenging to implement risk management practices with actors, experts said.

“Certainly, there’s uniqueness there,” Mr. Maza said.

“Physically, they are in very close contact with (co-stars), and so the industry has to make sure that what it’s doing is all above board, that it’s open, that they give the actors the ability to weigh in on whether they’re comfortable doing what they’re doing, that it’s clearly outlined, that this is a requirement in terms of the performance, that there are no surprises.”

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Intimacy coordinators take on crucial role in post #MeToo era

The entertainment industry has used stunt and fight coordinators for decades to ensure that no one really catches fire or gets punched in the face, but until recently the same care was not directed at scenes that might inflict emotional damage.

It wasn’t until actors on the 2017 set of HBO Max’s “The Deuce,” a fictionalized series that chronicled the wild intersection of New York’s red-light district and the pornographic film industry in the 1970s, asked that more direction and attention be paid to scenes depicting sexual interactions that an “intimacy coordinator” was put on the payroll.

Widely accepted as the first person to take on the role, Alicia Rodis, New York-based creative director at IDC Professionals and in-house intimacy coordinator at HBO Max, said #MeToo helped bring about what she saw as a much-needed change. Her background in stunt coordination was her segue.

“If someone gets punched in the face, they have a bruise or a broken tooth,” Ms. Rodis said. “If someone gets sexually harassed, you can’t see it. … It took a long time to get here because no one was feeling empowered until the #MeToo movement happened, and there was this collective opening and shift for people.”

“Mostly, women came out and said, ‘There is an issue. No, we are not empowered, and so much has just always been accepted,’” Ms. Rodis said.

As CEO of Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Chicago-based Jessica Steinrock helps train intimacy coordinators and works on sets. She described the work as beginning with reading the script, highlighting scenes where intimacy coordination may be necessary, meeting with the parties involved — director, actors and even costume personnel — and sketching the boundaries and potential pitfalls.

From there, an intimacy coordinator stays on set to help manage scenes.

“The intimacy coordinator is using all sorts of camera angle tricks, movement tricks to make sure that both actors are safe, but the story itself is getting told so similarly in the way that a fist doesn’t need to come in contact with someone else’s face,” she said, drawing parallels to stunt coordination.

“There are lots of ways for us to mask lips coming into contact, genitals coming into contact, hips coming into contact,” she said. “And we utilize those same structures of camera work, choreography and movement to tell the story in a way that’s within actor boundaries and facilitates the vision of the creative team.”

Among the questions asked is whether intimacy coordination will affect art and the improvisation allotted to professional actors, according to several coordinators interviewed.

Mia Schachter, a Los Angeles-based educator and CEO of Share the Load Inc., which offers training on sexual consent, and an intimacy coordinator working in television and film, said there’s room for improvisation in filming. However, boundaries need to be addressed, she said.

“We should be present to navigate, not just physical touch but anything related to consent, boundaries and communication,” she said.

Ms. Rodis said, “There is a lot of magical thinking around acting and performing, and I think it’s why there’s also a lot of unsafe practices that have been accepted.”

“People were not empowered to speak up about unsafe situations when it came to harassment or just unsafe situations with sexual content. And you know, there’s a lot of power dynamics at play,” she said.

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Employment practices risks face scrutiny as insurers dig in

The surge in sexual harassment claims filed in courts and with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that followed the explosion of the #MeToo movement made insurers cautious when underwriting employment practices liability risks, but the market has improved in recent years, experts say.

“Carriers saw both the high frequency of claims and a high severity of losses linked to sexual harassment post #MeToo,” said Marie-France Gelot, Los Angeles-based senior vice president and insurance claims counsel of the claims advisory group at Lockton Cos. LLC.

Claims frequency has been “very much in line” with EEOC data (see chart), she said.

Historically, policy applications and renewals had routine questions about antiharassment and antiretaliation programs, but now EPL insurers do a deep dive on the issue, said Kelly Thoerig, Richmond, Virginia-based employment practices liability product leader for Marsh LLC.

“Largely fueled by the public awareness of sexual harassment and the impact that the #MeToo movement had on the EPL market, underwriters have gotten much more sophisticated around this issue,” she said.

“It’s not just ‘Do you have a program? There’s a request to provide the training materials and information on who’s conducting the training and who is obligated to take the training.”

Ms. Thoerig said the training also must pass muster.

“Making the training relevant to the organization and the workplace is key — ensuring the tenor and the content that is provided to a traditional white-collar corporate environment is not necessarily going to work on a factory floor,” she said.

The market is in recovery with those stringent underwriting practices in place, Ms. Thoerig said.

Rates increased significantly in 2018 and 2019 after the #MeToo movement took off and claims and settlements increased, she said.

The movement has had a lasting impact, “but given the passage of time and other risk issues coming into play, the market has been able to absorb those larger losses and has accordingly leveled out,” Ms. Thoerig said.