TNT & TBS Join as First Time Gala Co-Sponsor
LOS ANGELES (December 12, 2017) – Time Inc.’s PEOPLE and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) will partner once again to co-host the official SAG Awards® Post-Show Gala, held immediately following the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday, January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles on a transformed Shrine Auditorium stage. This is the 22nd year that PEOPLE and EIF have united on the Gala, which honors the charitable efforts of actors in their communities and make an annual donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
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. For the first time, TNT & TBS will join PEOPLE and EIF as an official co-sponsor of the SAG Awards Post-Awards Gala. Tony Schubert of Event Eleven, a world-class, end-to-end production company will design and produce the Gala for the 10th consecutive year.
PEOPLE and EIF have collaborated on a variety of causes for more than a decade. Through their combined contributions, PEOPLE and EIF support three SAG-AFTRA Foundation programs over the course of 2014-2019: Storyline Online, a free, streaming digital library of children’s literacy videos, the Catastrophic Health Fund, financial grants for eligible SAG-AFTRA members and their dependents who suffer from catastrophic illness or injury, and the Scholarship Program for SAG-AFTRA artists in need of real support.
“We are honored to once again partner with EIF in support of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s important initiatives in the entertainment community and are thrilled to welcome the additional collaboration of TNT and TBS to the Gala,” said Jess Cagle, editor in chief, PEOPLE. “PEOPLE has a long history of celebrating the philanthropic efforts of Hollywood and supporting those charitable initiatives on all our platforms."
“Over our 75-year history, the Entertainment Industry Foundation has been privileged to work with a powerful community of actors who help us raise awareness and maximize our impact,” said Chris Silbermann, EIF board chair. “EIF is honored to work with PEOPLE and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation to show our heartfelt appreciation to these actors who are tireless advocates for charitable giving and committed supporters of EIF’s initiatives, including Stand Up To Cancer.”
“This year’s SAG Awards and Gala will be unlike any other year and we felt that it was important to extend TNT & TBS’ support of storytellers in their creative and philanthropic endeavors,” said Michael Bloom, senior vice president of unscripted series and specials for TBS & TNT. “We look forward to joining PEOPLE and EIF in toasting all of the talent in-front of and behind the screen on this special night to honor the advocacy and charitable contributions of this community.”
As a nonprofit, all SAG-AFTRA Foundation programs and resources are made possible through gifts, grants and sponsorships from generous supporters like PEOPLE and EIF.
“PEOPLE and EIF have been such incredible supporters of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation programming for performing artists. Their support has aided our scholarship program as well as our catastrophic health fund for artists which are two significant assistance programs of the Foundation that have helped so many families in need,” said Cyd Wilson, SAG-AFTRA Foundation Executive Director. “And, our children’s literacy program, Storyline Online, reaches millions of children every month due in great part to the support we have received from People and EIF over the years. This year, we launched a redesigned site with a brand new, free app for all mobile devices. We also released several new videos featuring incredible actors like Viola Davis, Lily Tomlin, Chris Pine, Justin Theroux all reading children’s books aloud. Storyline Online impacts children all over the world, and we couldn’t have built this incredible, free resource without the support of EIF and People.”
For more than 32 years, the Foundation has granted more than $19 million in financial and medical assistance to SAG-AFTRA members and families. Additionally, the nonprofit has offered over 7,600 free educational workshops, panels and classes to SAG-AFTRA artists nationwide.
Storyline Online is an award-winning children’s literacy resource featuring beloved actors reading children’s literature alongside creatively produced and enhanced original illustrations. Storyline Online currently receives nearly 12 million views a month in 228 countries and territories, having read to more than 300 million children worldwide.
The Catastrophic Health Fund provides financial grants to eligible SAG-AFTRA members who suffer from catastrophic illness or injury and, no longer able to work, need assistance with insurance premiums and/or significant medical costs.
The Foundation’s Scholarship Program awards $400,000 in scholarships annually to eligible SAG-AFTRA members and their dependents to pursue higher education. In addition, PEOPLE and EIF are donors to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s state-of-the-art voiceover lab in New York, named the EIF Voiceover Lab, which provides free voiceover workshops and recording time in professionally equipped sound booths to thousands of union voice actors.
About PEOPLE
Time Inc.’s PEOPLE revolutionized personality journalism when it launched as a weekly in 1974 with a mission to celebrate extraordinary people doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Ubiquitous and still at the center of pop culture more than 40 years later, the PEOPLE brand is accessible across all media and platforms (print, digital, video, OTT, mobile, social), bringing millions of consumers a unique mix of breaking entertainment news, exclusive photos, video, unparalleled access to the red carpet, celebrities, and in-depth reporting on the most compelling newsmakers of our time. An essential component of PEOPLE’s editorial vision remains human interest stories, which touch and often mirror the lives of our passionate audience. ComScore ranks the PEOPLE/Entertainment Weekly Digital Network No. 1 in the entertainment news category. And now, the PEOPLE TV app offers a free, advertiser-supported, OTT, streaming video service. PEOPLE is an award-winning, 24/7 news organization headquartered in NYC with reporters worldwide. For more information visit, PEOPLE and Timeinc.com. Follow @people on Twitter and Instagram, @peoplemag on Facebook, and the PEOPLE channel on YouTube and on Snapchat’s Discover.
About The Entertainment Industry Foundation
Founded in 1942, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) is a multifaceted organization that occupies a unique place in the world of philanthropy. By mobilizing and leveraging the powerful voice and creative talents of the entertainment industry, as well as cultivating the support of organizations (public and private) and philanthropists committed to social responsibility, EIF builds awareness and raises funds, developing and enhancing programs on the local, national and global level that facilitate positive social change. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a division of EIF and its largest program, raises funds to accelerate the pace of research to get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. For more information, visit www.eifoundation.org.