21st Annual SAG Awards Announces Distinguished Creative Team

Executive Producer Kathy Connell announced the team that will create and implement this year’s 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. (ET) / 5:00 p.m. (PT) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

“Every one of these people are the highest caliber talent in their respective areas of expertise. Working so closely, we have developed a short-hand to find new avenues to make the SAG Awards bigger and better every year,” said Connell, who has served as executive producer of the SAG Awards since its inception in 1994.

Comprising the Awards Committee for Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) that oversees all stages of the production are Chair JoBeth Williams, Vice Chair Daryl Anderson and Committee members Scott Bakula, Shelley Fabares and Woody Schultz.

Producers are Gloria Fujita O’Brien and Benn Fleishman. In addition to serving as a producer since the 5th Annual SAG Awards, Fujita O’Brien has produced many television specials, including several Miss America Pageants, “CBS: 50 Years from Television City,” “Motown 45” and “Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies” for ABC as well as "A Gala for the President at Ford's Theater" and "The First Family's Holiday Gift to America: A Tour of the White House," among others.

Fleishman received his fourth Emmy® nomination this year as Supervising Producer of “Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays” for HBO.  Previous nominations were as Supervising Producer of “Bill Maher Live in D.C.” (2010), “Ricky Gervais: Out of England” (2008) and “Bill Maher: The Decider” (2007) – all for HBO.  He has line-produced the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and the Radio Disney Music Awards as well as served as Supervising Producer on the Young Hollywood Awards.

Consulting Producer Mick McCullough has been a mainstay with the SAG Awards since the 2nd annual telecast.  He’s served as a producer on numerous variety specials including several Miss America Pageants, “Comic Relief” (in 2006) and “Motown 45” (in 2004), among many others.

Director Alan Carter returns to the helm after directing the 11th and 12th SAG Awards.  Carter has directed myriad entertainment industry live honors including the Critics Choice Awards, The CMT Music Awards, The People’s Choice Awards and the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants as well as numerous series including most recently "The Voice," "The Biggest Loser" and "Shark Tank." A four-time Emmy nominee he was honored in 1994 for editing on "David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic."

Returning for the third consecutive year is two-time Emmy winning and six-time nominated scribe Dave Boone, who has written for such major entertainment industry events as the Tony Awards®, the Golden Globes®, and the Academy Awards®.  This year, he serves as Head Writer for Oscars® host Neil Patrick Harris.

Production designers John Shaffner & Joe Stewart have been honored with 34 Emmy nominations, an Art Directors Guild Award for the 2006 Emmy Awards, plus four Art Directors Guild nominations and five Emmys. Shaffner was the chair of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Board of Governors, while Stewart has designed the American Music Awards, the People Magazine Awards and NFL Honors, among others.

Lighting designer Jeffrey Engel is an Emmy-winner and 24-time Emmy nominee for such projects as the 63rd and 64th Academy Awards. He has also led the lighting design for eight Miss America Pageants.

Musical Director Thomas Caffey joins the 21st Annual SAG Awards this year with numerous projects to his credit, including composing several pieces of music for the NASA documentary about the space shuttle Endeavor and its historic trip to the California Science Center (2013), the feature documentary "Champs" on Starz (coming in 2015), the 2012 Academy Awards, the 2008 Alma Awards and many of UFC’s live events.

Nine-year SAG Awards veteran Paul Fagen will produce this year's In Memoriam homage.  Fagen produces content for live events specializing in tributes and award shows. With his company P. Fagen Productions, he also produces/directs trailers, industrials and documentaries.

Quinn Monahan will produce this year's film tribute saluting the accomplishments of SAG Life Achievement Award honoree Debbie Reynolds in addition to the SAG Awards’ annual salute to union members. A nine-year veteran of the SAG Awards, he has also created film packages for the Oscar telecast, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Costume Designers Guild Awards.  He is currently directly and co-producing "50/50 Hollywood," a series dedicated to the careers of actors and artists who are still active after 50 years in the industry.

Talent producer Maggie Barrett-Caulfield returns for her 15th year at the SAG Awards. Over her career she has booked talent for many of the top awards programs including the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards, People's Choice Awards, the American Comedy Awards and events such as the Opening Ceremonies for Presidential Inaugurations and the Special Olympics.

Rosalind Jarrett Sepulveda, Executive in Charge of Publicity, was a 2013 recipient of a WIN (Women’s Image Network) Award and in 2011 received of the ICG Publicists Bob Yeager Award for community service. She was previously honored with the Publicists Guild’s 1986 and 1991 Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship Awards.

SAG Awards Supervising Producer Jon Brockett began his career at SAG in 1996 at the New York office in production development and later served as interim co-director of SAG Indie. He joined the SAG Awards in 1998.

Coordinating Producer Cynthia Kistler served as the SAG Awards' associate producer from 2002 to 2014 and was the Awards’ production manager from 1999 to 2001. Recently, she was associate producer on "Bill Maher Live from D.C.," the Creative Arts Emmy Awards and the Radio Disney Music Awards (2014).  Other associate producer credits include the “Do Something Awards” (2011-2013) for VH1, the “NewNowNext Awards” for Logo, and the syndicated “A Hollywood Christmas Celebration at the Grove.”

Keith Greco will design the SAG Awards’ grand entrance and showroom décor. Among many recent entertainment and corporate projects, Greco Décor most recently designed the event for the City of Hope -- Spirit of Life Awards and the premiere of the film "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1."  He continues to work as a creative director for Cirque du Soleil and as a contributing artist at the Coachella Music Festival.

SAG Awards event supervisor Andrea Wyn Schall, a two-time Special Events Gala award nominee and author of “Budget Bash – Simply Fabulous Events on a Budget,” coordinates the Awards’ event design and logistics for the 16th year.  She and Greco create the Champagne Taittinger toast that opens the SAG Awards Red Carpet.

For the second consecutive year, guests will dine on innovative seasonal cuisine prepared by Chef Wolfgang Puck’s award winning team, including Grilled Salmon with Truffle Tomato Vinaigrette, Arugula and Shaven Fennel, Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Lentils and Chickpeas and Kale Salad with Dried Pecans, Goat Cheese and Vinaigrette.

Punctuating the dinner table design will be the classic Hollywood-inspired floral arrangements by Christopher Matsumoto of C.J. Matsumoto & Sons. C.J. Matsumoto & Sons was co-named Best Florist by Southern California Meetings and Events Magazine in their 2010 Best of Industry Awards.

While the showroom is being transformed, rising in the Shrine’s east parking lot is the tent housing the Post-awards Gala hosted by People, the world’s most successful and popular magazine, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a philanthropic leader in the entertainment industry for 70 years. For 19 years EIF and People have not only thrown the fabulous SAG Awards after-party to honor actors’ charitable endeavors but made an annual generous donation to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Last year's $1 million, multi-year gift supports three SAG Foundation programs over the course of 2014-2016: Storyline Online (www.storylineonline.net), a video-based children’s literacy website; the Catastrophic Healthcare Fund; and the Dales Scholarship Program. In 2014, the donation also helped to build and open the SAG Foundation’s new state-of-the-art Voiceover lab in the Foundation's Actors Center in New York.