Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is proud to announce the Hollywood community is once again rallying together and lending its support to the third SU2C primetime television fundraising special on Friday, Sept. 7 (8:00-9:00 PM ET /PT).
Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Jessica Biel, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw and SU2C Co-Founder Katie Couric will all appear in the broadcast which is being executive produced by Paltrow and Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions in collaboration with SU2C’s production team. Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Alicia Keys and Tim McGraw will deliver one-of-a-kind show performances as they join celebrities from film, television and sports to engage viewers with powerful stories and a moving call-to-action.
Actors and personalities including Simon Baker, Jordana Brewster, Diem Brown, Dana Delany, Chelsea Handler, Marg Helgenberger, Rashida Jones, Minka Kelly, Joe Manganiello, Jillian Michaels, Masi Oka, Ana Maria Polo, and Alison Sweeney have also been confirmed to participate in the broadcast. Additional stars and performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
This star-studded appeal continues to help build public support for groundbreaking translational research accelerating the delivery of new therapies to patients, getting them from the “bench to the bedside” as quickly as possible. SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across various institutions to collaborate.
“I’m honored to be working with such talented artists who are lending their voice to SU2C’s mission,” said Gallen. “As we continue to plan the 2012 show, there’s a hopeful energy building that the groundbreaking research we help fund will make an enormous impact in the fight against cancer.”
Gallen has produced three extremely successful televised fundraising specials: “America: A Tribute to Heroes” (after 9/11), “Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast,” and “Hope For Haiti Now.” Music was a key element of each. He also produced and directed the “25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert.”
As previously announced, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC will donate one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the nationally televised fundraising special on Friday, Sept. 7, to be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. BIO, E!, ENCORE, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, LMN (Lifetime Movie Network), Logo, MLB Network, mun2, Palladia, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, STARZ, STYLE, TBS and VH1 have also committed to carry the Stand Up To Cancer telecast. The program will include a celebrity phone/multi-media bank that will allow viewers to interact with participating talent. Viewers will also be able to donate via text-to-give and at standup2cancer.org. One hundred percent of all public donations will go directly to cancer research.
The legendary film producer Laura Ziskin, who was a member of the SU2C Executive Leadership Council, executive produced the first two telecasts. Ziskin lived with breast cancer for seven years before it took her life in June of 2011.
SU2C was founded on the belief that we are at a pivotal juncture with the potential for transformative progress in cancer research because of two trends: breakthroughs made in our understanding of the basic science of cancer, and technological advances that enable us to translate them into new treatments. Today’s cancer researchers need additional funding to fulfill the promise of life-saving discoveries, and Stand Up To Cancer engages the public to support their work.
The first two SU2C telecasts took place on Sept. 5, 2008 and Sept. 10, 2010, and have been viewed in more than 190 countries. To date, more than $180 million has been pledged for SU2C’s innovative cancer research. Since 2008, SU2C has made grants to seven multi-disciplinary “Dream Teams” of researchers as well as to 26 young innovative scientists who are undertaking high-risk, potentially high-reward projects to end the reign of cancer as a leading cause of death in the world today. Eighty-five institutions are currently involved.
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the world’s largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer, is the scientific partner of Stand Up To Cancer. The AACR is responsible for the scientific review, grants administration, and scientific oversight of SU2C research projects in conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., institute professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The SU2C funding model has fostered collaboration and innovation, and the unprecedented sharing of ideas and pooling of resources across institutions. Dr. Sharp calls SU2C’s revolutionary approach “the best dollar spent on cancer research in the country.”
Collectively, the research underway through the SU2C Dream Team projects has the potential to impact the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of cancers in adults and children across ethnicities including pancreatic, breast, ovarian, skin, cervical, uterine, brain, lung, prostate, rectal and colon, leukemia and lymphoma, all of which collectively represent approximately two-thirds of all U.S. cancer deaths. The following seven Dream Teams have been supported by SU2C: the SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team, the SU2C Pancreatic Cancer Dream Team, the SU2C PI3K Pathway Dream Team, the SU2C Breast Cancer Dream Team, the SU2C Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Chip Dream Team, the SU2C-MRA Melanoma Dream Team and the SU2C-PCF Prostate Dream Team.
For more detailed information about the Dream Teams, individual Innovative Research Grants and other Stand Up To Cancer activities, www.standup2cancer.org fosters an online community for everyone affected by cancer, with various ways for people to share opinions and support, view video updates, contribute, and learn of ongoing initiatives and progress in the fight against the disease. Features of the website include The Constellation: for a dollar donation or more, users can launch a star in honor of anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis; The SU2C Blog: diverse content describing cutting-edge research and offering unique perspectives of cancer survivors, researchers, and patient advocates; and The Grassroots Toolkit: providing tools for community members to fundraise through SU2C Teams, Races, Clubs, or Events.
SU2C social media also provides a variety of opportunities to interact with SU2C, support those in the fight, and contribute to SU2C’s efforts. Social channels include a thriving SU2C Facebook community of 850,000 fans, SU2C’s YouTube channel with 400 videos, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Crowdrise, and many more. Viewers can begin standing up to cancer now by becoming a fan of SU2C on Facebook, by following SU2C on Twitter @SU2C, by subscribing to SU2C’s YouTube channel or by following SU2C on Google+.
