The style and décor of the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® looks optimistically into the future using cherished elements of the theater’s historic vernacular. Miles of polished chain strands hang behind the stage with linear perfection, punctuated by dozens of fully controllable small LED lights, yet they’re carefully designed in waves that echo the shape of cinema’s Golden Age velvet curtains. A giant screen is the center of attention, as expected, but ultra-high-resolution digital technology takes the place of projectors and xenon arc lamps. Adding to the drama, the stage is illuminated in an ever-changing gallery of captured and reflected lighting imagery. Throughout the venue, from the chandeliers to the table settings, the ornate gilt of years gone past is translated into a subtle modern interplay of silver and light.
This sophisticated design sets the tone for this year’s SAG Awards®, an event that embodies culture, style and community for attendees and audiences alike. That welcoming atmosphere makes it easy to forget that everything here is on a larger-than-life scale.
How large a scale? Here are just a few of the numbers and other fun facts that go into transforming the huge empty space that is the Shrine Exposition Center into the dazzling event that is the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Arrivals
Guests walk past international media and fans along 17,100 square feet of red carpet
There are 12,500 lineal feet of hedges used for edging
Three rows of six-foot high bleachers, totaling 180 lineal feet, accommodate 300 fans
Attendees are shielded from the weather by 21,500 square feet of tenting that covers the red carpet
The Actor®
Each solid bronze Actor® statuette is 16 inches tall and weighs a substantial 12 pounds
It takes a team of 10 craftspeople at American Fine Arts Foundry three to four weeks to make The Actors® each year
Since 1995, the 1st Annual SAG Awards, 952 Actor® statuettes have been awarded
Each statuette is individually numbered, with The Actor No. 1 on display at SAG-AFTRA headquarters in Los Angeles
Seven larger-than-life replicas of The Actor® statuette, each nearly ten feet tall and weighing 162 pounds, are strategically positioned as guardians of the red carpet, the Showroom, and the Post-Awards Gala
Each giant Actor is made from steel, shaped using a silicone and fiberglass mold before being refined and painted
The Venue
The iconic Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall was the largest theater in the United States when it was built in 1926
The SAG Awards annually transforms the Shrine’s Expo Hall into an intimate dinner showroom for the televised ceremony and the Auditorium stage into a unique setting for the Post-Awards Gala hosted by People and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
At 194 feet (59 meters) wide and 69 feet (21 meters) deep, the Shrine’s is thought to be the largest proscenium arch stage in the country.
The Shrine was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1975
In 1933, David O. Selznick’s groundbreaking King Kong used the Shrine as the “New York” theater where the giant gorilla gets exhibited, helping to keep the film’s budget down to $672,000 (under $12 million in 2017 dollars)
The Showroom
It takes at least four days to transform the Showroom for the SAG Awards, a feat made possible by months of pre-planning
The Shrine Exposition Center’s 34,000 square foot wooden floor is cloaked in 11,800 square feet of black carpet
About 15,000 square feet of black drapery swathes the previously bare walls
Over 150,000 linear feet of chain (roughly 46,000 meters) – enough to stretch across the 30-Mile Studio Zone – are used to create the curtains and chandeliers
The stage floor is overlaid with 300 sheets, 4 foot by 4 foot each, of black glossy Formica
The People
All SAG-AFTRA members in good standing are eligible to vote in all categories, which means 121,546 peers in the actors’ union choose the honorees this year
247 actors have been nominated for the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards
525 performers (350 for Film, 175 for Television) are nominated in Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble categories
It takes more than 700 staff and crew to make the SAG Awards a reality
The Audience
About 300,000 pedestrians a day walk past the giant Spectacolor HD electric billboard in Times Square that will be showing the live webcast of the official People, EW & TNT’s SAG Awards® Red Carpet Live pre-show
The Spectacolor HD billboard display is 744 pixels x 992 pixels, and it requires video encoded at 10,000 – 25,000 kbits/sec
The programming also will be seen on ten billboards in New York subway’s digital network.
The People, EW & TNT’s SAG Awards® Red Carpet Live pre-show will stream simultaneously on sagawards.tntdrama.com, sagawards.org, the People/Entertainment Weekly Network (People.com/PEN), EW.com, InStyle.com, Essence.com, and Time.com beginning at 5:30 p.m. (ET) / 2:30 p.m. (PT)
Following the pre-show, the 23rd Annual SAG Awards Ceremony will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 8p.m. (ET) / 5 p.m. (PT)
TBS and TNT subscribers on-the-go can watch the 23rd SAG Awards live on their device of choice through the networks’ websites and mobile apps
The telecast is available internationally, including to U.S. military installations through the American Forces Network.
The Dinner, Catered by Wolfgang Puck
Among the culinary creations for the evening are: Green Tea Marinated Salmon with Bulgur Wheat, Tofu and Sweet Soy; and Spiced Chicken with Moroccan Couscous and Saffron Aioli. The preparations and recipes have an extensive list of the finest quality ingredients including:
200 pounds of Alaskan King Salmon
400 pounds of Jidori Chicken
50 pounds of Couscous
80 pounds of Tofu
2 pounds of Saffron
50 pounds of Bulgur Wheat
2,600 Homemade Lavosh
3,200 Homemade Breadsticks
The Flowers, by CJ Matsumoto & Sons
CJ Matsumoto & Sons is creating floral arrangements representing this year as a year of change, inspired by nature in its ever-evolving textures. Each is a simple garden setting — with a twist, created by tiny lights within the structure of the arrangements that play off the white floral, creating a varied spectrum of color. There are more than 300 individual arrangements, requiring countless bunches of white roses and:
12 craftspeople working countless hours
Over 3,000 blossoms and blooms of cymbidium and dendrobium orchids
More than 2,000 stems of miniature white calla lilies
At least 1,000 stems of Star of Bethlehem
Over 900 stems of aspidistra
Approximately 5,000 stems of equisetum, spotted leaves, galax leaves and various grasses
FIJI Water®
FIJI Water© is the Official Water of the SAG Awards, a role that includes:
Six consecutive years in which FIJI Water© has been the Official Water of the prestigious event
315 of Earth’s Finest™ redesigned signature silver sleeves adorning the tables inside the SAG Awards Showroom
175 of FIJI Water’s new 1-liter bottle making its SAG Awards debut
1,500 custom FIJI Water Straws visible and in use along the entire red carpet
DOVE® Chocolate
DOVE® Chocolate is providing generous quantities of its artisanal milk and dark chocolate DOVE® Promises to the Screen Actors Guild Awards. A lot of detail goes into being the No. 1 pure dark chocolate brand in the U.S., including factoids like:
At least 4 cocoa beans are required for each individual DOVE® Promise
The beans make a 5,000-mile journey from cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire to be made into DOVE® chocolate
Each bean undergoes a 15-step bean-to-bar process – select, roast, mill, refine, smooth, mix and more
It takes 5 years for a cacao tree to bear fruit
Champagne Taittinger
As the Official Champagne of the SAG Awards, Champagne Taittinger is pouring:
One magnum of Champagne Taittinger Brut La Française at the traditional Champagne Taittinger toast that officially opens the SAG Awards Red Carpet
160 magnums of Champagne Taittinger Brut La Française at the official Post-Awards Gala hosted by People and the Entertainment Industry Foundation
Each magnum contains 500 million bubbles!
480 standard 750 ml bottles of Champagne Taittinger Brut La Française inside the Showroom and at the Post-Awards Gala
Champagne Taittinger is also providing Two Methuselah (6 liters, also known as a Balthazar) bottles of Champagne Taittinger Brut La Française to be signed by Actor® recipients and donated to the auction benefiting the SAG-AFTRA Foundation
Sterling Vineyards
Premium vintner Sterling Vineyards is the official provider of wine to the SAG Awards and the Post-Awards Gala, and it has chosen to serve four wine varietals.
5,880 glasses of luxury Sterling Vineyards wines are expected to be served throughout the evening
The Actor award weighs about the same as two bottles of Sterling Vineyards wine
If all of the evening’s wine corks were laid end-to-end, they would run the length of the SAG Awards Red Carpet
372 bottles of Sterling Vineyards Napa Valley Chardonnay 2015 in the Showroom
396 bottles of Sterling Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 in the Showroom
192 bottles of Sterling Vineyards Vintners Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2016 at the Gala
216 bottles of Sterling Vineyards Vintners Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 at the Gala
Chopin Vodka and Clase Azul Tequila
Chopin Vodka and Clase Azul Tequila are offering four specially crafted cocktails at the Showroom bars and at the official Post-Awards Gala. These artisanal recipes require:
60 bottles of Clase Azul Plata Tequila
60 bottles of Chopin Potato Vodka
40 bottles of Clase Azul Reposado Tequila
23 bottles of Chopin Wheat Vodka
65 gallons of Perricone Fresh Lime Juice
22 gallons of Perricone Fresh Lemon Juice
12 bottles of La Pinta Pomegranate Liqueur
15 gallons of agave nectar
25 bottles of aloe water
12 bottles of elderflower liqueur
25 fresh cucumbers
22 fresh lemons and oranges
2 pounds of fresh jalapeños
Thank You to the Following Information Sources:
Pamela Brunson, Marketing and Communications Specialist | Wolfgang Puck Catering
Chris Carr, Production Manager | SAG Awards
Keith Greco, SAG Awards Event Designer | Greco Décor
Cathy James: EIF Consultant–James Group
DOVE® Chocolate
Kobrand Corporation
Chris Matsumoto, SAG Awards Florist | CJ Matsumoto & Sons
Mickey Moscynski, Art Director | SAG Awards
Lauren Murray, Public Relations Manager | FIJI Water
Andrea Wyn Schall, SAG Awards Event Supervisor | A Wynning Event
Sterling Vineyards
Joe Stewart, Production Designer | Shaffner/Stewart Production Design
Turner Media Group
About the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®
The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® presented by SAG-AFTRA with Screen Actors Guild Awards, LLC will be produced by Avalon Harbor Entertainment, Inc. and will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017 at 8 p.m. (ET) / 5 p.m. (PT). TBS and TNT subscribers can also watch the SAG Awards live through the networks’ websites and mobile apps. In addition, TNT will present a primetime encore of the ceremony immediately following the live presentation. The telecast is available internationally, including to U.S. military installations through the American Forces Network.
One of the awards season’s premier events, the SAG Awards® annually celebrates the outstanding motion pictures and television performances from the previous calendar year. Of the top industry honors presented to actors, only the SAG Awards are selected entirely performers’ peers in SAG-AFTRA, which this year number 121,546. The SAG Awards was the first televised awards show to acknowledge the work of union members and the first to present awards to motion picture casts and television ensembles. For more information about the SAG Awards®, SAG-AFTRA, TNT and TBS, visit sagawards.org/about.
