I attended the 2023 SAG Awards Viewing Party for the Nashville Local and had a fantastic time. Knowing my Day Job is DIT/Media Manager, the Branch Director asked me to help run the A/V for the evening and of course, I agreed. The event is at the gorgeous Country Music Association building in their Special Events room. Many local branches have a Viewing Party for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards to cheer on the Nominees together.
This post originally appeared on my Actor website. For more info and pictures, click here.
After 18 years in Las Vegas, I recently moved back home to Louisville, KY. The Nashville Local has jurisdiction over SAG-AFTRA work in KY. I had “met” a few of them online at some recent Union zoom meetings, but this is the first time In the Real World. It is so refreshing to be around positive people in The Business. No ego or badmouthing at the party. Just a bunch of goofy actors watching an Awards show and cheering on the Winners.
1.5 Million Views!
Title
Role
A/V Tech
Equipment/Specs
Used the Branch Director’s laptop (Windows)
Type of Production
Live Event
Description
I liked the new Streaming format for the show. It was one long continuous show, not broken up by commercials. You also didn’t have to wait for people to take a break and then find their seat again, so we didn’t waste a lot of time.
The Awards show is livestreamed ONLY on Netflix’s YouTube channel on Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 8pm ET / 5 pm PT. This is signficant. TNT and TBS broadcast the show for many years. Next year, the show will stream directly on Netflix itself (not their YouTube channel). I’m sure they will make it open to the public, so even if you don’t have a Netflix subscription, you can watch the show.
My Backstory with the SAG Awards
At the 2010 SAG-AFTRA Nevada Local Fall General Membership Meeting, I proposed that we should get together and watch the Award show somewhere. We see each other on set, but it is not the same as hanging out and talking over a beer. Then I realized, Christmas is only a month or 2 earlier, so why don’t we also have a Mixer? We could plan both parties at the same time and this would give us more bargaining power. The Mixer was open to the General Public and we used it as Member Outreach. The Awards show was for the union member plus one guest. The Council thought that was a great idea so I was appointed Chair to spearhead those 2 Events – and they were wildly successful.
Ratings
Variety reports 1.1 Million views initially. Within 12 hours, this grew to 1.5 Million counting in rewatching the show on YouTube and other websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
More examples
For more examples of my Live Event work, click here.