The 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards are almost here -- and ET's got your inside look!
The 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards are almost here -- and ET's got your inside look!
ET headed over to the Shrine Auditorium on Thursday, where days before the Kristen Bell-hosted awards show, things are already in motion. Menus have been planned, bars are being constructed and tables set up all in honor of this year's best performances by actors.
Read on for details on everything inside this year's SAG Awards.
SEATING
According to SAG Awards executive producer Kathy Connell, actors don't get to choose where they sit -- but that doesn't mean they'll be seated with strangers.
"We select where they're going to sit, and it's based on the size of the cast, primarily. You have a lot of large casts and a few smaller ones. Our tables are different sizes, and so we just do our best to seat everybody where appropriate, so they can get to the stage when they win," she explains.
Actors who are part of two casts, like Timothee Chalamet of Lady Bird and Call Me by Your Name, will be seated in close proximity to both. "We put the two tables as close as we could together, so he could jump from one to another," Connell says, adding that nominated actors and casts are usually seated close to the stage, making it easier for them to accept their awards.
SAG AUCTION
Casts nominated for SAG Awards go all out in donating items from set for the yearly auction -- and this year is no different. This year, items include a Ouija board signed by the cast of Stranger Things, an ice skate signed by I, Tonya's Margot Robbie and Allison Janney, and the first script of This Is Us, signed by the series' cast.
Executive director of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Cyd Wilson, tells ET that anyone can bid on the items for auction -- including a big bottle of champagne signed by actors coming through the door. The auction is open now through Jan. 28, with funds going to the SAG-AFTRA foundation, which provides services for actors in need.
FOOD MENU
"The SAG Awards are very fortunate because we have the incredible Wolfgang Puck catering, who designs their menu for us," SAG Awards Committee Member Elizabeth McLaughlin shares. "Executive chef Eric Klein created this incredible menu for us and the stars, come Sunday."
So what's on the menu? That would be an heirloom baby lettuce salad with candied pears and parmesan, A cedar spice organic chicken breast, a grain of paradise spiced salmon with a cauliflower couscous and a vegetarian option.
"They'll be starting way early in the morning on Sunday, getting everything ready, because of course we want it fresh... I think the stars will probably start to smell the delicious food as they walk in the door," McLaughlin says. "We're looking at, like, 1,500 [meals], so it's a lot."
DRINKS
To go along with all that mouth-watering food is plenty of drinks!
"We go through about 80 bottles of tequila, and between 70 and 75 bottles of vodka," Ed Blinn, cocktail creator and chairman and CEO of The Blinn Group, tells ET, adding that he creates the cocktails, but SAG picks the names.
This year, they'll be serving three signature drinks: The Dailies, Hit Your Mark and The Callback at four separate bars around the Shrine Auditorium. "At the beginning of the show, it's pretty interesting, because they get here and they haven't had anything to drink or anything to eat. They're starved, they're thirsty, they come in the door and they go right to the bars," Blinn reveals.
"Once the show is over, then everybody goes behind the stage to the ballroom and it becomes crazy," he adds, calling it "probably the best party in the city."
The 2018 SAG Awards will air on Sunday, Jan. 21 and be broadcast on both TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Reporting by Angelique Jackson.
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