{"id":737885,"date":"2026-07-02T00:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/737885\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T00:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:14:18","slug":"prime-video-off-campus-ep-4-team-on-rape-trauma-survivor-storyline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/737885\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Video Off Campus: Ep 4 Team on Rape Trauma Survivor Storyline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some stories refuse to stay on the page.\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s\u00a0Beyond the Book<\/a>\u00a0column explores what happens when\u00a0books<\/a>\u00a0make the leap to screen and beyond \u2014 unpacking what changed, how it was done and why it matters with the creatives who made it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers for Prime Video<\/a>\u2019s Off Campus<\/a> Episode 4, \u201cThe Breakup.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Over a month since its release, the fervor around Off Campus, Prime Video\u2019s sports romance based on Elle Kennedy\u2019s book series of the same name, shows no signs of letting up. Since it debuted on May 13, the eight-episode first season based on The Deal and set within the orbit of the fictional Briar University\u2019s hockey team has become one of the clearest examples of the trending success of Young and New Adult Romance book-to-screen adaptations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the series has also tapped into something distinct from its counterparts, through its explorations of sexual assault trauma and survivorship, as well as masculinity in relationships and sports. \u201cWe\u2019ve been getting DMs and messages from parents that have been like, \u2018I\u2019m going to show my children this is the way that we talk about these issues,\u2019\u201d Off Campus writer Cheech Manohar tells The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cThat\u2019s been fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The season\u2019s fourth episode, entitled \u201cThe Breakup,\u201d has made particular waves. In it, music composition major and rape survivor Hannah Wells (Ella Bright<\/a>) is on the cusp of hooking up with crush Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston), but after being sexually assaulted in high school, she\u2019s been unable to orgasm with a partner. Fearing she\u2019ll become visibly triggered during sex with Justin, she makes a seemingly unconventional request of her friend, fake boyfriend and hockey captain, Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli<\/a>): help her achieve orgasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among a series of more explicit sequences in Kennedy\u2019s 2015 novel, the scene \u2014 during which Hannah and Garrett masturbate together \u2014 is understood by readers as one of the more defining moments of the couple\u2019s relationship. \u201cThe mutual masturbation scene is obviously a cornerstone of the book,\u201d says co-showrunner Gina Fattore. It\u2019s also part of a larger episodic puzzle that allowed Fattore and series creator and co-showrunner Louisa Levy<\/a> to deftly address sexual assault and masculinity. With its survivor-centric approach, \u201cThe Breakup\u201d tackles toxic and other seemingly innocuous behaviors that fuel rape culture while centering an undercovered aspect of life after sexual trauma: reclaiming one\u2019s sexual pleasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alongside being part of the rare season-long effort to explore the psychological and relational impacts of sexual assault trauma outside the (true) crime and drama genres, Off Campus\u2019 fourth episode uses everything from a mutual masturbation scene to a pointed locker room talk to expand TV\u2019s historical approach to rape narratives. That includes an opening card, which highlights support services for survivors \u2014 a meaningful shift from its usual placement after the credits, in a time when \u201cstreaming is invested in skipping to the next episode to keep you watching,\u201d says Jennifer Simmons Kaleba, Vice President, Communications at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a groundbreaking storyline made possible through its diverse team, led by Levy and Fattore. \u201cWhen I was reading the book, I think I was struck by how much of a character with such a different background than me \u2014 a cis[gender] white woman \u2014 I could see myself in,\u201d says Manohar. \u201cWe\u2019ve all been in the position where we think our progress and recovery is going to show up one way, and it shows up in a completely different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is so magical about a lot of things in Off Campus is how universal it is, despite being this very specific romance story,\u201d adds co-music supervisor Anna Romanoff, who worked alongside Amanda Krieg Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With each creative\u2019s own entry points and lenses into the material, they help create a new vision for romance, particularly those of the straight white young adult variety. \u201cI\u2019m a woman of a certain age, and with that came wanting to be a part of a show that has such great representation of boundaries, and shows being open and vulnerable,\u201d says editor Lisa Robison. \u201cI was like, I really would love to be a part of a show that helps people become better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken it as a badge of honor that I help create spaces that are exciting cinematically, but also a safe space for young actors doing things they have never done before,\u201d explains director Sam Bailey. \u201cWhat I will also say is that I\u2019m a survivor of sexual assault, and going in, I was very interested in approaching that topic with care and honesty, with the hope that there is another side of this. That you can show up and be embodied, and you can do it with community, even with white folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, Off Campus\u2019 co-showrunners break down the making of key scenes in \u201cThe Breakup\u201d with the episode\u2019s writer, director, editor and music supervisors, alongside advocates in media representation, crisis intervention counseling, and rape prevention. That includes Simmons Kaleba at RAINN<\/a>; Jillian Furey, a clinical services supervisor at Resilience<\/a> (formerly Rape Victim Advocates); and Sam McCarthy, a prevention manager and educator at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation<\/a> (CAASE).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Breakup\u201d Rewrites the Survivor\u2019s Narrative, Starting With Hannah\u2019s Agency<\/p>\n

Off Campus offers an infrequent portrayal of what it can look like to disclose your own assault years after it happens \u2014 and what it means to seek help with your ongoing healing. In a sequence that centers on Hannah\u2019s emotions and desires over Garrett\u2019s or the audience\u2019s, the episode provides one version of how young people can respond to others\u2019 experiences that emphasize respecting and believing what survivors tell us \u2014 even when you feel inexperienced or underprepared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LOUISA LEVY (CO-SHOWRUNNER) We have the ability in the book to drop inside Hannah\u2019s head and know what\u2019s going on. As a result, it\u2019s a very emotional scene in a beautiful way. We knew that there was a version of the show that does it in that same way, but it\u2019s also the beginning of an episode, and we wanted to build to the emotion of the mutual masturbation scene. We really thought about that as the centerpiece of episode four. Rhythmically, to front-load [the story] with a scene that is just as emotional made it difficult in the pacing, which is different from the pacing of a novel. So when we start the episode, we were dipping the toe in as opposed to jumping in the deep end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CHEECH MANOHAR (WRITER) We talked about the character perspective in the book, and in the book, Hannah is at this stage of her recovery where she has done the work, she\u2019s gone to therapy, but there are still some things that trigger her. We really wanted to depict that time in a survivor\u2019s recovery, and it\u2019s a time that is not often portrayed in the media. I think sometimes we focus on the more sensationalized version of it, but instead, we wanted to go with the more human emotional response. And we knew that if it was done correctly, it could mean so much to so many people. So we had a number of conversations with sexual health experts and therapists who specifically deal with sexual trauma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY We talked a lot in the writers\u2019 room about how you tell somebody this thing in a way that feels psychologically true and real and how we honor how Hannah tells Garrett in the book. The way we do it in the show, it feels like Hannah is ripping the band-aid off. In my experience, in the experience of other writers in the room, it was very much about, \u201cI\u2019m telling you a thing, and I know how you\u2019re going to react to it, because people have reacted this way over and over and over again, and I don\u2019t want to manage your feelings. That\u2019s not what this moment is about.\u201d I\u2019ve been on both sides of it, telling the information, also receiving the information, and I think there\u2019s no perfect way to do it. So we wanted it to feel a little imperfect and a little messy, but also real.<\/p>\n

\"AElla Bright in Off Campus.<\/p>\n

LISA ROBISON (EDITOR) When Hannah says she was raped, we don\u2019t see Garrett, and it has nothing to do with Bel\u2019s acting. I wanted it all to flow so that we really feel what Hannah\u2019s feeling. We want to be on her, so there are moments where I just let Ella say her lines, let her draw you in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY Going into the mix for this episode, it was really important this first scene be quiet, but not vacuum quiet. At one point in the mix, we had natural cars go by and natural dog barking, and I\u2019m like, no, we can\u2019t. Even though that\u2019s real, it doesn\u2019t feel emotional. Our fabulous mixers, Kelly [Cole] and Bill [Mellow], found a really lovely balance for the scene. There\u2019s still room tone, but it should feel a little bit like the ground dropped out from underneath Garrett. It\u2019s not at all what he expected Hannah to say, so he is playing catch-up and trying to do the right thing without any guide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SAM BAILEY (DIRECTOR) There\u2019s a lot of growth in episode four for [Garrett]. [Belmont and I] talked a lot about this being a level up for him because he\u2019s being asked to do something that he hasn\u2019t been before. A lot of times in heterosexual relationships, we talk around what we want instead of saying what we want. Hannah very clearly and vulnerably asked for something specific, and he knows why she\u2019s asking for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once he understands the context of it, even if he doesn\u2019t have all the maturity in the world, he has been around abused women and has been abused by men. So he\u2019s going to offer a level of care that he is also figuring out in the moment. This is based on a romantic erotic book, so he has to be the sexy hero, but I never wanted to lose the fact that he\u2019s also a very young man who is going through these things.<\/p>\n

LEVY Garrett is someone we meet in the pilot who doesn\u2019t do girlfriends. That\u2019s really important and crucial for the love story that we unfold and the fake dating trope. But the other reason it\u2019s important on a deeper level is that he doesn\u2019t have a roadmap. He hasn\u2019t really done this before. He\u2019s never really fallen in love. And talking to Belmont in shooting this episode, it was really important to him that he wasn\u2019t doing it perfectly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on the page, but Bel I think took it even further as far as how Garrett reacts to Hannah. And I think he ultimately reacts in the correct way, so we\u2019re setting a good model for men. I love that Bel came to me and Cheech on set that day and said, \u201cI shouldn\u2019t know what to say right away.\u201d We were like, \u201cNo, you shouldn\u2019t. You don\u2019t.\u201d This is both in that first scene when Hannah tells him about her assault, and also ultimately in the really beautiful Dean (Stephen Kalyn) advice scene.<\/p>\n

BAILEY I wanted to make sure that it felt intimate, but also that he\u2019s trying to figure out how to take care of this person that he has feelings for. I remember telling Bel I, too, have asked a friend to do a version of that, because how else do you get embodied again? You have to, at some point, try it out in real life. What better way than with someone that you trust and feel safe with? So I was very pleasantly surprised that it was in the book like that and was already on the [script] page to a certain extent, but then we were able to create a space that was both safe for the actors and also felt cinematically interesting and textured.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts Weigh In<\/p>\n

JENNIFER SIMMONS KALEBA (RAINN) You see in episode four Hannah disclosing to Garrett and her saying, \u201cDo not make a thing of this. I\u2019m going to tell you what I need,\u201d and he goes, \u201cOK, tell me what you need.\u201d What Off Campus so delicately and truthfully illustrates is that a healing journey is not linear, and that the way people respond to you when you disclose sexual violence is profoundly path-making for how your journey will go. And it does not mean that every single moment of a disclosure, every single new person that you disclose to, does not also change some aspect of the path. It is an incredibly survivor-centered arc of storytelling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JILLIAN FUREY (RESILIENCE) Reclaiming your desires is not something that is encouraged for anyone, let alone for a survivor, so expressing that can be particularly scary. Many survivors are also not met with the medical, social and mental health attention that they need after sexual violence. Hannah\u2019s story is that of someone who has been empowered in some sense. She is a person who received some level of comprehensive care and help when she was exposed to sexual assault. A huge portion of people never disclose it. A huge number of people go with untreated trauma. But from her behaviors, it\u2019s completely healthy and wonderful to want to take back your power, to want to advocate for yourself, and to fully recognize that you deserve to have positive sexual experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lot of times, people may respond poorly because they are survivors themselves and have not received the help that they need. There\u2019s another portion of people who may have stigmatizing ideologies around survivors of sexual violence. [Garrett\u2019s] reaction is the perfect scenario, where she approached someone who is not only a good person, a more informed person, but a person who\u2019s not operating out of a lens of their own trauma.<\/p>\n

SAM MCCARTHY (CAASE) It\u2019s not our role to play the judge, jury or detective, to know more information than the survivor is willing to share with us. The best approach to survivors is to not assume what we can expect. It\u2019s really such a broad spectrum of how trauma impacts survivors. But being able to understand how we can show up and support people in the world is combating rape culture.<\/p>\n

\u2018Off Campus\u2019 Uses Garrett to Illustrate a Supportive Survivor Network \u2014 and Challenge Ideas About Masculinity and Consent\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helping Hannah with her request is new territory for Garrett, but in \u201cThe Breakup,\u201d he doesn\u2019t have to figure it out alone. In a playful but powerful scene that centers communication and vulnerability among young male athletes, the Prime Video series turns the \u201clocker room talk\u201d concept on its head as Dean (Kalyn) offers Garrett advice for how to show up for Hannah. In a show where its male leads are all distinct \u2014 and their approaches to romance and sex will vary \u2014 the moment also upends stereotypes about men\u2019s relationship to sex, consent and respect for their partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY There\u2019s a version of [the weight room scene] in the book, where it\u2019s Birdie (Josh Chambers) giving the advice. We shifted it to Dean in the show because Dean is not just one of our main characters, but has a particular way in. This is actually fully Cheech. I give him so much credit for this. We love that Dean, as the womanizer of the group, is all about consent. We think that there\u2019s something both unexpected in an annoying way \u2014 like it shouldn\u2019t be unexpected \u2014 but also in an entertaining way, as it\u2019s very fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR When we talk about the men in our show, it always comes from this place of what Dean says to Garrett in that weight room scene: trust. We always wanted our hockey players to be men that people could trust, that women could trust. So in every conversation that we had, whether it was the scene where Hannah tells Garrett about her rape, the mutual masturbation scene, or the Dean and Garrett weight room scene, we kept coming back to this touchstone of trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROBISON There is the desire of wanting to not be in profile too much [and] really be on their closeups and see how they\u2019re feeling. That was something that Louisa mentioned. She really wanted to see the guys connect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR I wrote so many iterations of that scene, really trying to get it. I didn\u2019t want it to feel perfect. I didn\u2019t want it to feel like a PSA. At the same time, I knew that it was an important conversation that we needed to have. So I kept going through with this fine-tooth comb, asking, \u201cIs this moment the right moment to make a joke?\u201d If yes, let him make a joke. If not, let him push forward earnestly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY This was going to be one of the first times that we really got to see Dean as not just a player party boy. We don\u2019t ever see the lead-up to him hooking up with anybody. So to have this conversation where he\u2019s just like, \u201cYou have to have trust. You\u2019re good if she asks you; that\u2019s important,\u201d shows me that Dean listens and that Dean is very keen on what his partner wants and doesn\u2019t want.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stephen and I also talked a lot about how we don\u2019t want to lose the comedy of the moment, and how can this feel like you\u2019re not a different character? This is just something else in your toolbox, and it\u2019s probably the foundation of your toolbox so you can do all the things with the girl with the door open because she\u2019s ok with it, too. I think for Garett, this is affirming to see in another guy that is of the same ilk. We talked about that a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR It\u2019s not the fantasy that they have to say the absolute perfect thing every single time. They have the ability to be college boys and crack a joke, or feel insecure, or say the wrong thing at the wrong time. But at the end of the day, they are a safe space for the women in their lives, so they\u2019ll always lean towards trust, patience, and understanding.<\/p>\n

ROBISON That line [from Dean] about consent is key. During [filming], there was this whole trial going on about a woman who was assaulted by five hockey players in Canada. It was a big deal, and consent was the thing. She did not. So I was really proud to be working on something where you have these two good-looking men say consent is key, to really allow the audience across the board this understanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY This is maybe the last person you expect to get the advice from, but if you think about it, probably the first person you should get this advice from. We love that Garrett isn\u2019t really seeking it out because he\u2019s not the kind of person who asks for advice openly, but he\u2019s interested in receiving it, and that\u2019s growth that we get to see from Garrett.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY I would love for Off Campus, especially this moment, to be what changed the idea of what locker room talk is. We don\u2019t have to keep the bar in hell for straight men. None of the young men [on set] had any issues with that scene. They understood it. When we were doing intimate scenes, they were the ones that were also like, \u201cCan we do rehearsal? Ella, are you good?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a false narrative that we just have to accept that boys will be boys and they\u2019re never going to want to be better than that. Never going to want to be caring partners. You don\u2019t have to accept that narrative. There\u2019s this hold on how we should show up, and our tight hold on that doesn\u2019t just harm us. It harms our partners as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Expert Weighs In<\/p>\n

MCCARTHY When we have these really strict ideas of gender, it ultimately leads to this rape culture. If the world is telling men that all sex is good sex, they should be having sex with as many partners as possible, be celebrated for having that sex by other men and that they should also not demonstrate any level of vulnerability in the world, it sets men up to have more sex without consent. It also sets up a world where people don\u2019t believe that men can be victims of sexual harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AFrom left: Stephen Kalyn and Cameli. <\/p>\n

The Masturbation Sequence Explores Burgeoning Love, and the Unknowns That Come With It<\/p>\n

In what Levy and Fattore affirm is the first time Hannah and Garrett have sex, Off Campus explores the discrepancies between what survivors expect versus reality as they re-engage in intimacy after sexual trauma. The extended scene also serves as a subtle look into Garrett\u2019s growth \u2014 both in his understanding of himself as a man and in his feelings for Hannah \u2014 as he navigates trying to lead by following her through the experience. The sequence offers one vision for how survivors and the people around them can navigate trauma and intimacy with sensitivity, self-awareness and respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR Our scripts are maybe 50 to 52 pages, and this entire sequence is like 10 to 12. It is a large part of the script, and I worked harder on this sequence than I think I\u2019ve worked on anything in my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY The sequence starts from the minute she chooses to wear Allie (Mika Abdalla)\u2019s outfit and walks up to the door \u2014 or even before that, the minute she asks him to perform this for her. So it was important to me to make sure that I was tracking from Hannah\u2019s decision to ask Garrett, which is really vulnerable, to them eating pasta in the kitchen afterwards, and he\u2019s opening up, being more vulnerable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY I told Bel that this is a big moment. For me, this is when Garrett wins over the audience. It\u2019s not expected for guys who sit in the bodies that he does to act in the way that he does.<\/p>\n

FATTORE Love is attention, love is care. We wanted to show that in Garrett at every step.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR What\u2019s interesting about the survivor journey that people don\u2019t necessarily talk about, and that is really the heartbeat of the scene in the book and also what we adapted to the screen, is that progress is not linear, and it doesn\u2019t always happen in the way that you expect it to. We really wanted to show that Hannah has come into this situation thinking that her recovery is going to go a certain way. She\u2019s in a dress that she\u2019s uncomfortable in because she thinks that\u2019s what she\u2019s supposed to be doing. Then, instantly, because Garrett is the person who truly sees her, he realizes she\u2019s uncomfortable and that she may be more comfortable in an oversized T-shirt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ANNA ROMANOFF (CO-MUSIC SUPERVISOR) She\u2019s out of her element, and Griff\u2019s [song] \u201cVertigo\u201d was always intentionally wanting to be in Hannah\u2019s head, so we played with that a little bit. But it went to this space that is much more earnest. It immediately sets up this sequence where we\u2019re exploring trust, safety, hope and excitement. What Griff does really well is that anticipatory nervousness \u2014 the butterflies, not fear. I think that\u2019s an important tone to set from the beginning, especially because of Hannah\u2019s trauma. This whole section does a really good job of, in a world where Hannah does not really know where this will go, saying we\u2019re not going to play with the tension of whether this could go bad.<\/p>\n

MANOHAR We\u2019ve built out this idea that when Hannah is triggered, she turns to music. So Garrett asks her to pick a song to put her at ease, and the two of them dance together. At every step in this scene, there was a push and pull of what Hannah expected to happen, and then how her progress and her recovery actually show up. Every moment was carefully scripted so we would understand from beat to beat exactly what Hannah is thinking.<\/p>\n

BAILEY The dancing between the two of them, there was a real freeing of the characters, both in the blocking and the acting, but also the writing that Cheech did. Me and [cinematographer] Nick [Thomas], chose to \u2014 the minute she selects that song \u2014 be on handheld. We just wanted to feel freer through that. I was telling the camera operator to let Ella go out of frame, let Bel go out of frame, let them come together, and then you really get to build that. It was very fun in the editing room.<\/p>\n

AMANDA KRIEG THOMAS (CO-MUSIC SUPERVISOR) When we signed on, we were able to get early drafts of all of the scripts. \u201cBaby Now That I Found You\u201d was one that was in the script, and the idea is that the song plays in the bedroom, then she\u2019s humming it a little later, and then she sings it. We needed to follow all of those beats. Cheech being behind how this song came to be makes it infinitely more special than if it were our creative idea. Getting the rights to the song, working with Alana [Da Fonseca], the executive music producer, and recording Ella bringing that to life was also so satisfying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR \u201cBaby Now That I Found You\u201d is a really important song to my family. I grew up listening to the Alison Krauss version<\/a>, and it feels connected to our unit of four. It feels like home. We also knew we needed really specific parameters for this song. It needed to be a song that Garrett\u2019s mom would have introduced him to, and we wanted Hannah to sing it to Garrett at some point, and that was going to change his feelings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY The hours we spent fine-tuning how the song fades out and into the score because it needed to feel like a seamless handoff. An emotional shift is happening as they kiss and as he picks her up. If you notice, we are in one shot, and it\u2019s a long take. We needed to keep the audience leaning in, not bored, but also have it feel real and organic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

THOMAS It\u2019s Garrett\u2019s taste, but it\u2019s different. Up until now, he\u2019s been a classic rock guy, and this is very much like soul Motown. It\u2019s a distinctly different feel, and that was very intentional by the writers. In the intimacy scene, it also really changes the tenor of the room, and Belmont and Ella\u2019s acting and chemistry in that moment when they\u2019re dancing clicks that into place. It\u2019s the spark of making that such a sweet moment. When they start, and he does a little dance, and she starts laughing, it wouldn\u2019t work necessarily without that. They bring the sweetness out of the song in such a beautiful way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR I sat down in the writers\u2019 room one day, and I played The Foundation\u2019s version<\/a> for everyone. Everyone was like, \u201cThis is such a fun song.\u201d When I played the Allison Krauss version for all of them, you could feel the entire episode kind of click into place. A couple of us started crying because we just knew that it was going to be this moment for the two of them. So now to see Ella Bright\u2019s version of \u201cBaby Now That I Found You\u201d start to chart, and a whole new generation discover this song that means so much to my family \u2014 it makes my heart want to explode.<\/p>\n

Experts Weigh In<\/p>\n

FUREY A common challenge is just the notion that sex is for you and your own enjoyment, and the shared enjoyment of your partner. Younger folks are in a world that has not been clear about their bodies, what their choices are, or that they matter and are solely theirs. The younger that you are, the more male-centered sex can be, too, and that can lead to re-traumatization. From my experience working with survivors, from my experience as a survivor myself, everybody is different, but there may be people who have never, even before their sexual assault and post-sexual assault, viewed their body or sexuality as being of any importance other than to make a man orgasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MCCARTHY When Garrett goes to [Dean] to talk about how to give Hannah an orgasm, Garrett doesn\u2019t share anything that Hannah shared with him. That\u2019s so important. Hannah discloses to Garrett, and is very clearly not disclosing to everyone. He\u2019s handling this with a lot of care. It\u2019s great that he is able to look for support without breaking that boundary or that trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACameli in Off Campus.<\/p>\n

The Sequence Upends the \u201cRules\u201d of Romantic Intimacy to Deliver a Model for Safe, Consensual Intimacy<\/p>\n

Leaning into its romantic source material, \u201cThe Breakup\u201d delicately balances depicting a love scene while navigating the natural realities of physical intimacy for a rape survivor. While people can have varying responses as they engage in partnered intimacy, the sequence\u2019s \u201cfalse start\u201d challenges culture\u2019s stigma around trauma responses and models the delicate but essential nature of consent during partnered sex.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY We were very quiet on set. We shot that whole sequence across two days, but it was the only thing we were doing. We did it in order so that they had that buildup. We couldn\u2019t rush through her being surprised that he turned his face so she could change her shirt. We didn\u2019t rush through them getting loose and dancing or the kiss, and we definitely didn\u2019t rush that part where she does come out of her body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY [In the book] they watched Breaking Bad before the mutual masturbation takes place. That is such a relatable experience to sit down with someone and get comfortable. I love that in the book, but it\u2019s so boring to watch two people on TV watching another TV show. We needed to adapt for a visual medium but still capture the essence of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the things that we actually talked about with Elle Kennedy is the line \u201cYou\u2019re not broken, Wellsy.\u201d It comes a little bit differently than in the book, based on the context, but it was really important to Elle that it be in there, and it was important to us as well because that is the core of the message that Hannah has to receive this season. She\u2019s not really able to just yet, in episode four, though she tries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY It starts with the music choices, and her putting on his shirt and being able to be comfortable. But there\u2019s a difference between excitement and joy. I know the difference between being in a room with a guy and not feeling safe, just wanting to do what I have to do to get through it. So there\u2019s an excitement and hurry-up feeling that Hannah has after they\u2019re dancing together, and she\u2019s like, \u201cCool, pick me up. Let\u2019s go.\u201d She\u2019s trying to push through it, and her body is saying, \u201cNo, we\u2019re not ready. It\u2019s not going to happen today.\u201d Sometimes your feelings don\u2019t connect to what your body\u2019s doing, and it was really allowing her to have that moment and have that beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY We use heartbeat in a lot of different ways in the show, and it is a way to tap into what\u2019s happening emotionally, whether it\u2019s good or bad. So [Composer] Keegan [DeWitt] baked the heartbeat into that score. Our mixers layered in the breath, and the sound work, and the heartbeat is a musical heartbeat. The thing that I told [Keegan] was important is that it starts out slow. Hannah\u2019s feeling herself, feeling good, and then there\u2019s a moment when her hand reaches out and grabs the sheet, and it starts to pick up. It\u2019s her anxiety, and in this case, it\u2019s showing us that something\u2019s not right. Garrett picks up on that, and he pulls back. All of that timing is so crucial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY As a survivor myself, I know what it feels like to disassociate when this happens. The air gets taken out of the room, and you just want to get through it. I think initially it was written that the scene was going to take place on the bed with the two of them, but as we were talking about blocking and what that scene needed, it would make sense that he would give her as much space as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So immediately, once he picks up that she\u2019s uncomfortable, the choice that [Belmont] and I both talked about was that he had to create the space between the two of them. To me, it was really revealing about Garrett and how he\u2019s growing as a man, but also giving space for Hannah to have autonomy and not have to speed-roll through something.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROBISON There was a time in the \u201890s and in the early 2000s, when I did cop shows, and there was always a rape scene. It is not my favorite thing, and I didn\u2019t want this to feel like that. It was trying to be very sensitive in the wide shot. When Garrett\u2019s on top of her, and she\u2019s clutching, we need to see that. But just enough because [assault is] not what\u2019s happening. We want to see her uncomfortableness. We want to go to the close-up of her hand, but then we want to go to him going, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d We don\u2019t belabor that moment at all. It happens. She\u2019s uncomfortable; she breaks; he lets her break. I wanted it to flow so that we really feel what Hannah is feeling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY It is an unusual thing to do in a sex scene filmed so romantically to say that something\u2019s not right, but we needed that because we needed Garrett to pick up on this thing that\u2019s nonverbal. And we needed to experience it with Hannah, so that when he picks up on it, we know he\u2019s picking up on it. That\u2019s part of the romance piece, this non-verbal communication. So much of consent is verbal and non-verbal, and in that moment, even though she\u2019s saying yes and she\u2019s trying to keep going, he\u2019s picking up on the fact that something\u2019s not right. That\u2019s all from sound-mixing, from score, and that was really crucial, because consent is key, to quote Dean.<\/p>\n

BAILEY I think it\u2019s very vulnerable to say that I feel broken, and I think anyone who\u2019s a survivor has been in that place and understands what that means. Am I ever going to be able to have intimacy again? Especially at such a young age, when you\u2019re just figuring out what it feels like to feel good. I would say that this moment is the first time Hannah\u2019s truly able to have that. She may have been able to perform it for other people, but this really was about her and her satisfaction. And in doing that, it was also able to give something to him, too. It is just as important, maybe even more than if they had penetrative sex.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts Weigh In<\/p>\n

SIMMONS KALEBA It\u2019s not just that a survivor will have questions about trusting anyone around them as they are on their journey to heal, but the sense of shame and guilt, self-blame \u2014 all these PTSD connections that make a survivor feel as though they are responsible. Trusting themselves, their judgment, their own body, their body\u2019s response, [and] how someone else is going to respond to their body\u2019s response \u2014 all of those things are wrapped up in the conversation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MCCARTHY [The series] shows how we can demonstrate a culture of compassion rather than a victim-blaming rape culture. How can we say we can stop, we don\u2019t have to do that. Let\u2019s think of something different. Because sex is so celebrated in masculine circles, there\u2019s this idea of just try what you want to try until someone says no, or until someone stops you, and that is not consent. We can connect this to these really broad misconceptions about sexual assault and sexual harm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consent is a practice; it\u2019s not [only] a yes or a no or a one-time agreement. It\u2019s freely agreeing because we really want to do something, not because we feel like we should do something, or because someone makes us feel like there\u2019s something wrong if we don\u2019t. It\u2019s having a full understanding of what we\u2019re going to do, and a partner can really help make that abundantly clear from the beginning, along with continuous checking in throughout.<\/p>\n

\"AFrom left: Bright and Cameli. <\/p>\n

This Mutual Masturbation Scene Challenges Stereotypes About Sex While Offering a Vision of Bodily Autonomy and Joy for Survivors\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While TV has a history of positively or realistically depicting a variety of sex scenes among LGBTQ+ characters, penetrative sex among straight characters is often treated as the only \u201cvalid\u201d form of physical intimacy. Masturbation, in particular, has been treated as sinful, a joke, or a sign of a failing or unhealthy relationship. In episode four, Off Campus rewrites that narrative, legitimizing a broader and survivor-inclusive definition of physical intimacy, allowing Hannah to reclaim her pleasure and her body on her own terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR There were aspects of this moment that I wanted to focus on and display. Everything from their hands to their eyes to Hannah reaching for the bed sheet. This moment for me has always been about a young woman reclaiming a part of herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY Ella and Bel both seemed to really get it. There is nothing \u2014 and we talked about it later on at the end of the episode \u2014 your characters will do together that is more vulnerable than what they do in that bedroom. I think everyone felt the weight of that. This is the sex scene. And it was very different than what she was fantasizing with Justin. I think even that was performative in a way. Like, \u201cI\u2019m going to do it, so this is what it has to look like.\u201d What we found and what I hope came across on the screen was the messiness of finding their way to what could be a just as, if not more pleasurable, experience for Hannah and Garrett.<\/p>\n

ROBISON This is a very important thing to see for anybody who\u2019s been assaulted. You\u2019ve had a horrible, horrible thing happen, but you still need to be able to have pleasure for yourself. It\u2019s an incredible hurdle, so [in the edit] it\u2019s not throwing that out, but really allowing us to show that Hannah wants this and is not feeling pressured at all. It\u2019s staying in those close-ups with her and not being gratuitous, allowing the eyes to connect. Louisa was all for that. Same with Sam.<\/p>\n

MANOHAR When writing the episode, I focused on the emotional connection between Hannah and Garrett. I wanted to show these two people in love building this layer of trust and connection between them. When Louisa was telling me her vision for the show, she said that she wanted it to be sex positive. I knew at that moment that we have to positively display all of these different kinds of sex and we have to show all sex as valid, as joyful, and as emotionally and physically satisfying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY [The actors] were really there for each other. Even though they weren\u2019t in each other\u2019s frames, Bel was on the other side of the camera for Ella and vice versa, so they could make eye contact and we could really feel that intimacy between the two of them. It was about really taking our time. We really just couldn\u2019t rush through any of those beats. [The characters] really force each other to be present in a way that I haven\u2019t seen on TV before. Once Garrett crosses over to the other side, she doesn\u2019t have the pressure to perform or to go quicker than what she wants. She doesn\u2019t have the pressure to respond to the way he moves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROBISON Hannah\u2019s vulnerability is what made it so important for me. Especially with intimate scenes or sex scenes, I always think, \u201cProtect the actor, protect the character, protect what the scene is about, and protect the show.\u201d As an older woman, I was all about protecting Ella and how she\u2019s going to come across. Belmont\u2019s Garrett is also so sweet, so it\u2019s how to have him lead, then allowing her as the character \u2014 and as somebody who\u2019s been sexually assaulted and still wanting to have a sexual relationship \u2014 to.<\/p>\n

BAILEY She is the artist and creator of her own orgasm. The only thing that ties them, which is the strongest thing, is that eye contact. So when we were talking about what we were going to see, it\u2019s what they see \u2014 the eyes, the hand, the feet, the collarbone, the chest. These are the things that she\u2019s taking in. But mostly he\u2019s telling her, \u201cEyes on me.\u201d That is such an intimate thing for a young man to do, and I don\u2019t think he pulled it out of anywhere. I think he was trying things while his focus was on her, and because his focus was on her and not his pleasure, he\u2019s able to tell when she\u2019s drifting or not drifting. What he gives her in terms of space, intention and intimacy, she gives him in allowing him to be vulnerable, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

THOMAS This scene really could have gone in a lot of different directions. It could have been scored because in the book it\u2019s very long and explicit, and when you\u2019re working on book adaptations, there\u2019s a very vocal audience, and everybody wants it to be what they read in the book, especially key scenes. So the scene being what it is could have meant something way sexier. But the directive was it should feel more romantic versus sexy, and it was really Louisa and Lisa being like, \u201cThis is the shade.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY Sound was so crucial, and not all of it was captured on set. We go in with ADR after the fact to make sure that it\u2019s right because our priorities on set were safety more than anything else. Sometimes you capture that sound on set organically, and sometimes you need to do it in a booth after the fact with a mic right up in your face, where you don\u2019t have to worry about whether you\u2019re fully clothed.<\/p>\n

ROBISON My first edit of it was a little longer because there was beautiful footage, and I felt Hannah needed to maybe have a bit of a struggle, then there\u2019s the release. Sam was like, \u201cThis is feeling a little too long,\u201d so Sam shortened it. Then Louisa came in and was like, \u201cLet me see the versions.\u201d We talked about how long it goes while making it believable and making it feel respectful. That Garrett is just saying, \u201cEyes stay with me. I am here, and I\u2019m going to help you over this,\u201d because this is about the bond for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAILEY They create the sexual tension that was happening, only this time, they\u2019re closer than when their bodies were up against each other. In doing that, he gives her all the space she needs to make the choice herself. I would say that that moment is the first time she\u2019s truly been able to have that. She may have been able to perform it for other people, but this really was about her and her satisfaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROMANOFF Louisa really gravitated toward [Maggie Rogers\u2019 \u201cBack In My Body\u201d] very strongly, very quickly. The only real discussions I remember having internally between Amanda and me were that we wanted the show to feel fresh, we wanted it to feel current, and this is an older Maggie song. I think we both just felt strongly that it\u2019s so good for the scene, we can\u2019t possibly hold it back over that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY We didn\u2019t have this song in the cut originally. Something wasn\u2019t working about this scene, and we couldn\u2019t figure out why because it was shot beautifully, it was acted beautifully and it was edited beautifully. Then we got \u201cBack In My Body.\u201d I\u2019m a big Maggie Rogers fan, and I love that song. Something just clicked, and it was so perfect, I honestly couldn\u2019t believe that I hadn\u2019t thought of it before. Our fabulous editor, Lisa Robison, and her assistant, Noah [Christensen] dropped it in, and I asked to strip back the vocals. The vocals at the beginning were stepping on the moment, and also she wasn\u2019t back in her body yet, so it felt wrong to get to the lyrics before the moment. There was one that had no vocals at all, and that wasn\u2019t right either, because we\u2019re missing the magic of the song. Then Noah put together a very rudimentary edit where all I asked was like no vocals at the beginning, and then when the backing vocals come in, that\u2019s the next layer, and then ultimately Maddie\u2019s vocal comes in. I gave him that rough instruction, really wasn\u2019t that detailed, and he did this very rough edit very quickly. We sat, we watched it, were all just like, \u201cOh, well, that worked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROBISON I knew when I was cutting it, I wanted music. I did reach out, and we were talking about source or score. I think at that point during my assembly, it was going to be a composer track, but I needed to find temp for that. Then Sam and I played with a track Sam found, but something wasn\u2019t clicking. It\u2019s really hard to find source music that works for that. With Louisa, we tried tracks and tracks, and then we were given a couple of options from our music department, and it was like, \u201cBoom! \u2018Back In My Body.\u2019\u201d It was a perfect track.<\/p>\n

THOMAS It feels really protective of the assault space that the show falls in. It\u2019s not having that scene be in service of the sexiness, but the sexiness being in service of that. That was the North Star, so the sentiment of \u201cBack In My Body\u201d works so incredibly well in terms of wanting to be in Hannah\u2019s POV and focusing on what is giving her strength, trust and comfort right now. It was wanting the music to be one of many things in this sequence, adding to that effect alongside the writing, Ella\u2019s performance [and] the directing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts Weigh In<\/p>\n

SIMMONS KALEBA In the world of romance and the female gaze, often the act of sexual violence is used as some sort of plot catalyst, but then not addressed. It is a shorthand, potentially, for someone to come in and save the person. But it is a jumping off point, and very rarely, in my experience, do we see the role of sexual violence as something that is a complex through line of a story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MCCARTHY So much agency is taken away when someone is sexually assaulted. Giving someone options where they can reclaim that agency and control, and feel present in their body \u2014 allowing someone to choose to be sexual in whatever way makes them feel pleasure or is the goal of sex for them \u2014 means they\u2019re much more likely to find a way to feel sexual that feels safe to engage in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Episode 4 Brings Its Leads Closer by Rewriting the College Romance<\/p>\n

Off Campus\u2019 depictions of sexual trauma, consent, intimacy and masculinity are all set within the world of a college campus and hockey team, creating the opportunity for the Prime Video series to mirror, with some creative license, aspects of young people\u2019s realities and experiences. The result is a series of sequences \u2014 from \u201cDrunk Shakespeare\u201d to a hockey practice \u2014 that play with and eventually challenge gender stereotypes and the conditions that make campuses centers of sexual assault. In the process, leading Hannah and Garrett to their respective romantic realizations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACameli\u2019s Garrett talks to Josh Chambers\u2019 Birdie. <\/p>\n

LEVY I don\u2019t think Garrett in the pilot is seeking out or receiving advice, and the Garrett we see in this episode receives it from Dean. Then, in the Bernardo bench scene, he\u2019s actively seeking it out from his boys. It\u2019s like \u201cWhat do I do? I\u2019m starting to have feelings for this girl,\u201d and puts himself out there.<\/p>\n

MANOHAR From a writing perspective, that bench scene is so planned out. We take our hockey pretty seriously in our show, and do try to make it as true to life as possible. So if there\u2019s a character that comes off the bench that\u2019s playing one position, that same position has to leave the bench. I created a grid with the different positions and the different spots, and basically wrote out line-by-line who was on the bench and who was popping off, just so all of the hockey would track, all of the lines would track, and all of the emotional realities would track.<\/p>\n

ROBISON I had great options; the raking, looking down both ways of the bench, people coming in and out. The shots were really great about zoning in on Garrett and Brydie, and Garrett coming to the realization and letting it land, that \u201cI guess I do like her.\u201d But also the funniness of the background, the farcicalness of it. It\u2019s great writing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR While we were planning this scene out, I became so fascinated with the idea of swapping these gender roles. Typically, after a sexual experience, the woman goes, \u201cIs he thinking about me? What do we mean to each other?\u201d And the man would go, \u201cIt was fine. It was fun.\u201d The idea of swapping those two realities was so exciting and so unexpected to me \u2014 to not only see a man feel vulnerable and emotionally honest while realizing that the sexual experience meant more to him, but also to have a woman come out of the sexual experience and go, \u201cThat was fun. I did it, and I don\u2019t feel bad about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY I think there\u2019s an opportunity in such a hyper-masculine space \u2014\u00a0sports generally, but in our case it\u2019s hockey \u2014 to show that men can be masculine and also vulnerable. Men can be masculine and also safe. They can be masculine and have conversations and talk about their feelings. That\u2019s not something that has been modeled as often as women talking with their friends, and I think being able to do it in the context of a traditional hyper-masculine space is important.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MANOHAR With A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, the four young lovers map so perfectly onto our characters and the emotional machinations between them. But really, the characters all go into this magical forest where their true desires are revealed. That happening, especially after Hannah and Garrett had this emotional, vulnerable moment together, was exciting to me. Every single moment was really crafted towards how we can bring to the surface what this character is really feeling \u2014 their true desires, their true emotional honesty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how you kind of circumvent these ideas of jokes being dismissive or the alcohol creating an unsafe space. You always make them feel emotionally honest. That\u2019s why at the end, you see Hannah and Garrett come to this realization that what they really want is each other, leading us to the swoony scene on the ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LEVY As TV writers, we have an opportunity to challenge culture and to set standards to live up to. Being able to juxtapose the traditionally feminine \u2014 and I\u2019m putting very strong quotes around traditionally feminine \u2014 genre of romance and the traditionally masculine genre of sports, and mash those two things together gave us the opportunity to unpack some expectations and set new standards.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Off Campus is available to stream now on Prime Video. <\/p>\n

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. RAINN\u2019s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24\/7 support in English and en Espa\u00f1ol. Call 800.656.HOPE (4673), chat at\u00a0RAINN.org\/hotline, or text \u201cHOPE\u201d to 64673.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some stories refuse to stay on the page.\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s\u00a0Beyond the Book\u00a0column explores what happens when\u00a0books\u00a0make the leap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[277430,307814,223,277431,88,300489,262000,7048],"class_list":["post-737885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-belmont-cameli","tag-beyond-the-book","tag-books","tag-ella-bright","tag-entertainment","tag-louisa-levy","tag-off-campus","tag-prime-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}