You don’t need to have planned a wedding to know that a perfect seating chart can make or break a special event. That pressure only intensifies when that party is one of Hollywood’s biggest celebrations: the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Yes, Eddie Redmayne should probably sit next to his The Good Nurse co-star Jessica Chastain, who’s nominated for George & Tammy. But is it possible to place Chastain near Viola Davis — her former co-star in The Help who’s nominated for The Woman King — for an impromptu reunion? And if so, where can the stunt ensemble for The Woman King sit in the ballroom of the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel?
These are the conundrums confronting SAG Awards coordinating producer Jen Coyne-Hoerle and her team as they painstakingly create the star-studded, labyrinthine seating arrangement for the 29th annual ceremony. Twelve days before the awards fest, which streams live Feb. 26 on Netflix’s YouTube channel, Tudum watches as Coyne-Hoerle grapples with where to place nominees such as Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Michelle Yeoh, Blonde’s Ana de Armas, Inventing Anna and Ozark’s Julia Garner, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story co-stars Evan Peters and Niecy Nash-Betts and basically the entire cast of The Banshees of Inisherin.
One wall of Coyne-Hoerle’s office is plastered with a giant map of the tables that will dot the ballroom. Each circle is covered with different colored Post-its to represent the TV and film casts up for one of the 15 SAG Awards, all voted on by the SAG-AFTRA union’s 130,000-plus members. Dramas are purple, comedies are green, and there are different hues for each medium. Coming up with a perfect layout each year is “a living, breathing puzzle,” Coyne-Hoerle says. “It’s a dinner party. It’s also kind of like a wedding with celebrities.”
A wedding watched by millions, at that — meaning Coyne-Hoerle and her team must make sure individual nominees and presenters are sitting at tables with easy access to the stage, and that they’ve ensured an even mix throughout the room of film and TV casts.
While each year’s setup is unique, Coyne-Hoerle and the SAG Awards brain trust — which includes awards manager John Bogulski, seating supervisor Dana Kenerson, awards coordinator Timothy Simmons and executive producer Jon Brockett — start in the center of the room called the “island,” with the life achievement award honoree in the middle (this year, Sally Field) and strategically placed ensembles and individual nominees around her (this year, the casts of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Abbott Elementary, thanks to their more compact numbers). Then they move on to the larger ensemble casts, which are often placed on the sides of the room, with their individual nominees seated along the two aisles made for the TV cameras to easily traverse.
After those are solidified, Coyne-Hoerle and her team place the presenters and other important guests until the room is filled. This year, the capacity is 840, though in the pre-COVID era there would usually be more than 1,200 people in attendance.
Besides these logistics, they also consider the star factor: “It’s fun for the casts and talent to turn around and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s my favorite TV show,’ or ‘Oh my gosh, there’s Brad Pitt,’” says Coyne-Hoerle.
As the show approaches, sometimes difficulties compound, explains Coyne-Hoerle. “The hardest for me is when you have three pieces left and you're like, ‘These don’t really make sense together.’ And then something always happens — maybe somebody drops out; maybe a presenter comes in that makes more sense for a table.”
Since this is an award show specifically for actors, directors and writers and other crew members are relegated to plus-one status if they want to support their films. Yes, even Steven Spielberg, whose cast of The Fabelmans is in the running for motion picture ensemble. But regardless of who sits where, a friendly atmosphere is always the goal. “Even when we had to do a pandemic show on Zoom, that warmth was still there, [with actors] laughing and joking together and having a great time and complimenting and supporting each other,” Coyne-Hoerle says.
Will Adam Sandler, nominated for Hustle and Brendan Fraser, who received a nod for The Whale, be seated close enough to stage an Airheads reunion? Find out by streaming the SAG Awards live on the Netflix YouTube channel beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on Feb. 26.
