Like many awards shows and industry guilds, the past 12 months have been rough for the SAG Awards. Much of the Screen Actors Guild’s membership was unable to find work for most of the year either in their chosen profession or in their daily gigs. The awards show itself saw the Recording Academy jump on their original telecast date of Sunday, March 14. And, in a battle between the Grammys and the SAG Awards, the latter was never going to win. That forced the SAGs to move to a less ideal Sunday, April 4 date. Now, after watching the technical mess and ratings disaster the Golden Globes experienced from afar, SAG and its producing team have revealed that this year’s ceremony will not only be just one-hour long, but pre-taped.
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Speaking to Variety, producers Todd Milliner, Sean Hayes, and Kathy Connell have opted for the safer pre-packaged route which includes – wait for it – taped winner reveals. Yes, days before the ceremony is broadcast, nominees from each category will join on a zoom call where the winner will be revealed and be given ample time for an acceptance speech. The SAG Awards and their Turner broadcasting partners are expecting the nominees to keep the actual winner a secret until the broadcast.
Connell remarked, “We hope they respect the show enough and everybody does, and their fellow actors, that they don’t want to disappoint the audience at home by letting any surprises go.”
Good luck with that.
The hour-long special will include the 18 nominated categories, the traditional “I Am An Actor” speeches from prominent members, and the In Memoriam. Sterling K. Brown, Lily Collins, Daveed Diggs, Ted Danson, and Mary Steenburgen have already agreed to participate.
Milliner noted, “It is a jam-packed hour, and we’re still trying to rob from one part to give to another part. When you start parsing out that hour, we didn’t really have time for a stage. Honestly, if none of the rest of the show was going to be live we thought, let’s put the rest of this time into those segments [such as ‘I Am An Actor’ and In Memoriam].”
There will be no official host.
The SAG Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, April 4, at 6 PM PT, 9 PM ET on TNT and TBS.