GOLDEN GLOBES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT AS NEW ERA BEGINS FOR AWARDS SHOW
▶ Acrimony led to a change of ownership, TV network, voting membership and categories, writes
There will be no shortage of scrutiny and interest when the Golden Globes takes centre stage in Los Angeles on Sunday, kick-starting a new awards season under a new guise.
To understand what all the fuss is about you have to go back to June when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – the group that originally owned and ran the annual ceremony – dissolved after 80 years.
At the time, American media behemoth Dick Clark Productions bought the awards show, turning it into a for-profit organisation with some of the proceeds continuing to go to the charities that the disbanded goup used to support.
The association was formed in 1943 by foreign journalists in Los Angeles who were looking to create a better system of distributing cinema news to markets outside of the US. The Golden Globes was launched the following year.
However, following a series of scandals including accusations of sexual harassment, an anti-trust lawsuit and the 2021 revelation that the association had not admitted a new black member since 2002, it was ultimately disbanded.
The association may no longer exist, but the Golden Globes as a brand still does and the awards ceremony is scheduled to air on CBS from The Beverely Hilton hotel.
The event has moved from its former home at NBC after it was announced the network would no longer broadcast it following allegations of racism and corruption against the former owners.
The disbanded organisation, which used to decide on nominees and winners – and which journalists used to have to apply to join – is now overseen by a membership board of directors, who will select and accredit journalists as Globes’ anonymous voting members.
The year’s most surprising nomination is for Finnish actress Alma Poysti, who has been shortlisted for best actress in a musical or comedy for the comedy drama Fallen Leaves. Her inclusion
has been held up as an example of the Globes’ new direction, following their much-derided three nominations for the Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie flop The Tourist in 2011.
Dick Clark Productions is a subsidiary of US billionaire Todd Boehly’s holding company Eldridge Industries.
Boehly also co-owns Chelsea Football Club and has a stake in the LA Lakers.
Eldridge Industries also owns Penske Media, behind US print publications and websites The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard and Deadline – the main
publications reporting on Hollywood and the film industry.
These outlets were given the exclusive announcement that the association was disbanding. Eldridge Industries also has a stake in a group called Cain International, which owns part of The Beverly Hilton hotel.
Boehly told Los Angeles Times that the aim was to “transition the organisation from a not-for-profit with no accountability and bad governance to an organisation where there is employee-based accountability”.
The 300 former members, who were previously unpaid, were given the option of remaining at the company and becoming employees with a $75,000 annual salary and insurance.
The role includes voting for the Golden Globes and providing content for the company. But as a salaried employee, they can be fired.
Los Angeles Times reported that any former association member who wanted to leave the organisation would receive $225,000 in severance. The 103 non-member voters who were invited to join the association last year retain their voting rights, but do not get paid.
Boehly has said putting members on salaries removes the issues Hollywood publicists had long complained about regarding the power of the association when it came to having access to celebrities during their awards campaigning.
Due to the association’s policy of exclusivity, actors who campaigned for a Golden Globe had to attend member-only press conferences, shutting out all non-member journalists and giving the organisation all the power.
The new category in this year’s awards that has created confusion in Hollywood is called the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. According to the Golden Globes, films are eligible if they achieve a box office takings of $150 million or more, including $100 million at the US box office.
Movies that did not get a theatrical release need to be able to show similar digital streaming figures.
The category has been lauded for recognising the success of the likes of sci-fi and superhero movies that are traditionally shut out of awards season, while others see it as awarding the biggest money-maker without recognising the film’s additional achievements.
“The problem I have with the category is that it’s not even about box office achievement,” said Dustin Rowles, a film critic at Pajiba.com.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a tough one because it’s the 10th highest-grossing film of the year, but probably the most profitable because Swift didn’t work with a studio middleman and she netted most of the profits herself. That is a box office achievement, though not a cinematic one.”
“The most important metric, money or acclaim, is still not immediately clear,” said journalist Mikey O’Connell of The Hollywood Reporter.
“Though it would at least seem that the $1.44 billion-grossing Barbie is the front-runner either way.”