SAG Awards officials work to solve seating puzzle

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This article was published 20/01/2018 (3172 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — Oh, to be seated at a power-women table.

A week and a half before the Screen Actors Guild Awards (Sunday, 7 p.m., Global), a team of four is huddled in an office, staring at a dry-erase board. In front of them lies what looks like a wedding seating plan with mock tables full of Post-it notes, on which the names of some of Hollywood’s biggest names are scribbled: Emma Stone, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda.

But where to put them?

This year, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, the jigsawing of 1,278 attendees across 86 tables in the Shrine Auditorium is trickier than ever. Prior to this seating meeting, allegations have arisen against James Franco, who is floating in the plan. (He’s nominated for his performance in The Disaster Artist.) Allegations are about to break against Aziz Ansari, who is nominated for his work on Master of None.

The SAG team handles a question about thorny seating issues delicately. “We’re always conscious of relationships,” executive producer Kathy Connell says. “We particularly like the positive ones, where we get to put people who might be in two different casts but might have a very positive relationship or be married or be engaged or be in love closer together. So we’re always cognizant of who’s in our room.”

The team tries to be fair and flip nominees around year to year: that’s why Veep is seated toward the back of the room, and newer nominees, like The Handmaid’s Tale, are near the stage.

Did we mention everyone gets to bring a date (some of whom will end up on camera)? “We do have a ‘famous dates’ list that I keep, so that we’re also aware of other people in the house,” awards director Jen Coyne-Hoerle says.

As final decisions are made, the meeting runs deep into the night.

Those who arrive without large casts present opportunities. A floater like Steve Carell, whose name is on yellow paper (indicating a nominee), is parked in an aisle next to his co-star Stone, whose name is on a green sticky (she’s a presenter). “But we’d like to try to get them together, since they were both in Battle of the Sexes,” ticket supervisor Dana Kenerson, a 20-year SAG Awards veteran, says. The tennis duo find a home at Table 20 with Robert De Niro and William H. Macy.

One thing is guaranteed: women will take the front seat on Sunday. The SAG Awards have a host for the first time ever: Kristen Bell (who this week both retweeted a defence of Ansari and publicly supported McKayla Maroney, the Olympic gold medal winner who sued USA Gymnastics after accusing the team’s former doctor of abusing her). Most of the presenters will be women. The show’s popular opening segment, “I am an actor,” will feature all women.

So keep an eye on the power at Table 8, where Hawn and presenter Lupita Nyong’o, Jessica Lange of Feud: Bette and Joan, and Fonda and Lily Tomlin of Grace and Frankie will be front and centre.

“Presenters and floating individuals are where you’re like, ‘OK, how do we take these seemingly unrelated people and who makes sense together?’” says Coyne-Hoerle, as Kenerson’s eyes light up at the prospect of Fonda and Lange rubbing shoulders. “And that happens every year.”

— USA Today