The SAG Awards is the latest event to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the live show now scheduled for March 14, 2021, SAG Awards executive producer Kathy Connell announced Friday.

The event, which was originally scheduled for Jan. 24, will also change the eligibility period for motion pictures, primetime television, cable and new media programs by two months. Content debuting from Jan. 1, 2020 to Feb. 28, 2021 are now eligible, according to SAG. 

Nominations for the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced on Feb. 4, said SAG.

The move comes as other major awards shows have also changed its previously announced January dates due to the pandemic, including the Golden Globes Awards, which will now take place Feb. 28, and the Critics Choice Awards, which has been rescheduled for March 7.

Unions representing performers in TV, movies, theater, concerts and other venues are calling on congressional leaders to include them in the coronavirus-related stimulus package being hammered out in Washington. 

That came in a letter Friday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.), and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).  

Related: Conan to Produce Show From Home During Pandemic

They started off the letter by expressing their "sincere gratitude" for the legislator's "immense" efforts to craft a stimulus package, but followed that with a pitch for making sure that performers were not left out of the deal. "The unique nature of our industry means rules that require beneficiaries to have had a single, long-term employer will simply leave our entire workforce behind," was their urgent message. 

Congress has passed one short-term relief bill that insured sick leave, increased food assistance and boosted emergency unemployment insurance, but the Senate is still working on a second, near-trillion-dollar coronavirus economic aid package to help affected businesses weather the economic tsunami. Mcconnell reportedly has said passage ASAP, preferably by day's end Friday (March 20), was imperative.  

But payroll tax relief, paid leave and other assistance targeted at jobs with regular hours and paychecks may never get to the entertainment community.  

The groups pointed out that many performers can't work from home. "Our home is on the road, on the studio lot or in the theater, in venues across the country that must close during the pandemic, in front of live audiences or with cast members who cannot gather," they wrote. 

"They" included Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) 

Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) SESAC, UTA, William Morris and the Writers' Guild of America.

Their members' and clients' jobs have vanished, they wrote, "along with the costly and personally devastating investments we can never recover." 

Without help from a stimulus package, with direct payments likely the most effective approach, they said, "we know that many in our community will find themselves homeless, hungry, and unable to tend to their medical needs." 

The pain will be felt not only by performers, but by "managers, producers, promoters, stagehands, drivers, and countless others," the groups told the legislators, adding that the moment calls for "the unmatched capabilities of Congress."  

Speaking on the Senate floor Friday, Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) said the package should include payments to independent workers, including those in the 'gig' economy.

According to SAG-AFTRA, some of its members went to the New York offices of digital ad producer Droga5 to make the point in person that they think the company does not pay a fair wage or benefits to its performers.

They came armed with a petition--SAG-AFTRA said there were 8,000 signatures--but said Droga5 representatives did not accept it.

"Today’s action shows Droga5 we’re not going away quietly and reminds them that treating hard-working performers in an equitable fashion and allowing them to earn a middle-class living is the right thing to do," said New York local president Mike Hodge in a statement.

"Droga5 remains a non-signatory to the SAG commercials contract, enabling us to engage in non-union shoots when it is deemed appropriate," a spokesperson for Droga5 said in advance of theSAG-AFTRA visit. "However, when managing SAG productions, we always use SAG performers, which include any commercials for SAG-signatory clients or featuring any SAG celebrity talent. In those instances, we abide by SAG rules and pay SAG wages across the board. We do not engage SAG performers in non-union productions."