Fun facts leading up to the live simulcast on TNT and TBS, Sunday, Jan. 21
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 19, 2018) – The 24th Annual SAG Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell, will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. It’s the actors’ party in the actors’ house, when many of film and television’s brightest stars get together to mingle with friends and colleagues while recognizing outstanding achievements by their peers.
Each annual SAG Awards® 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 Auditorium & Expo Hall into the dazzling event that is the 24th 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 ten craftspeople at American Fine Arts Foundry three to four weeks to make The Actors® each year
- Since 1995, the 1st Annual SAG Awards, 1,032 individually numbered 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, the stage, and the official Post-Awards Gala
- Each giant Actor is made from steel, shaped using a silicone and fiberglass mold before being refined and painted
The Showroom
This year’s décor was inspired by the sensuous curves of nature, as almost a counterpoint to the regular angles of most architecture, and was realized using the most modern materials available to production designers John Shaffner and Joe Stewart.
- There are seven sculptural shapes on stage, each of which is 27 feet tall
- Each giant curvaceous shape was first modeled using a 3-D printer, then constructed using three steel primary “ribs” with cross-supports forming triangles; Taut skins of white and black jersey provide diaphanous surfaces for the interplay of lights
- Each shape contains three circuits of controllable LEDs, creating an effect the designers described as “fireflies in a cage”
- There are 20 stardrop drapes behind the stage, each containing at least 150 twinkling “stars”
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, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and Turner Entertainment’s TNT & TBS
- 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 Auditorium 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’s Expo Hall’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 121,544 peers in the actors’ union choose the honorees this year
- 239 actors have been nominated for the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards
- 478 performers (289 for Film, 189 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
- The 24th Annual SAG Awards Ceremony will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. (ET) / 5 p.m. (PT)
- TBS and TNT subscribers on-the-go can watch the 24th Annual SAG Awards live on their device of choice through the networks’ websites and mobile apps. 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 Official SAG Awards® Red Carpet Live Show 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
- PEOPLE, EW & TNT’s Official SAG Awards® Red Carpet Live Show pre-show will stream for two and a half hours beginning 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT on PeopleTV, Twitter, Facebook Live, tntdrama.com/sagawards, sagawards.org, People.com, EW.com, InStyle.com, and Time.com beginning at 5:30 p.m. (ET) / 2:30 p.m. (PT)
- TNT will air a special encore of the 24th Annual SAG Awards following a special sneak peek of The Alienist
The Flowers, by CJ Matsumoto & Sons
There are more than 350 individual arrangements, requiring:
- A staff of 20 floral engineers logging countless hours of preparation, creating, producing, and delivering the final presentation for each of the tables
- Over 350 individual metallic-inspired toned containers
- Over 5,500 stems of miniature white calla lilies
- Over 1,500 stems of green dianthus
- Over 200 bunches of various grass elements
- Over 450 succulent plants
Repeat Roses
- Repeat Roses, working with CJ Matsumoto & Sons, will repurpose the event flowers to deliver over 100 petite arrangements to victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse at local women's shelters and emergency treatment centers
FIJI Water®
FIJI Water© is the Official Water of the SAG Awards, a role that includes:
- Seven consecutive years in which FIJI Water© has been the Official Water of the prestigious event
- 315 of Earth’s Finest™ signature silver sleeves adorning the tables inside the SAG Awards Showroom
- 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 signature dark and milk chocolate PROMISES®. Each DOVE® PROMISE® is crafted by a team of experts passionate about creating the world’s best tasting, silky smooth chocolate. Did you know:
- 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa where DOVE® has partnered with CARE on programs to empower female cocoa farmers
- DOVE® and Mars Wrigley Confectionary have pledged to use 100% certified cocoa by 2020
- There are 15 steps in cocoa production, and each is done by hand from planting and harvesting to roasting and packaging
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, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and TNT & TBS
- 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
Cooper’s Hawk Vineyard and Restaurants
Cooper’s Hawk Vineyard and Restaurants is serving the Official Wine of the SAG Awards. Some fun facts about its role are:
- More than 576,000 grapes were pressed to make the wines being served at the 24th Annual SAG Awards
- There are roughly 375 grapes per bottle.
- A total of 4 barrels of wine will be poured overall
- It takes 30 vines to make one barrel of wine
- In total, that means it required at least 120 vines for all of the wines being served
- Cooper’s Hawk’s somalier is actually named Emily Wines; she is one of only 149 individuals in the Americas to earn the designation of Master Sommelier, and is one of just 15 professionals worldwide to be awarded the Remi Krug Cup
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 Plate Tequila
- 60 bottles of Clase Azul Reposado Tequila
- 84 Bottles of Chopin Potato Vodka
- 20 bottles of Dorda Salt Carmel
- 36 bottles of Portobello Road Gin
- 36 bottles of Adirondack Bourbon
- 12 bottles of La Pinta Pomegranate Tequila
- 15 bottles of orange liqueur
- 25 gallons of fresh pomegranate juice
- 23 gallons of fresh lime juice
- 15 gallons of fresh lemon juice
- 15 lbs. of organic sugar
- 45 fresh limes
- 5 lbs. of fresh mint
- 25 bottles of apple liqueur
- 35 gallons of fresh apple juice
- 25 gallons of fresh blueberry juice
- 25 diced apples
- 5 boxes of blueberries
- 10 bottles of Grenadine
- 25 bottles of Fever Tree Tonic
- 25 shaved grapefruits
The Dinner, Catered by Wolfgang Puck
Middle Eastern foods and African spices combine to yield this year’s culinary creations, which also require the use of:
- 500 pears
- 300 pounds of salmon
- 350 pounds of chicken
- Lemons that have been preserved for 2 months