Who benefits? That’s the question to ask about this deal. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) on Thursday approved an offer from billionaire interim CEO Todd Boehly to sell him the rights to the Golden Globes entertainment awards. The association of international journalists from the Hollywood entertainment industry would thus be transformed from a non-profit company into a for-profit company – and anyone who wants to know why this is so should remember what happened in January at the 79th awards ceremony price happened.
It took place in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles; a glamorous venue for an event devoid of any glamour. There was no red carpet – what’s the point? There were no stars there. There were no cameras to be seen – why should they? The TV station NBC did not want to broadcast, and no streaming portal was found. What was once a momentous night in the entertainment industry felt like the annual meeting of LA’s used car dealers. It was, and this is the worst verdict in Hollywood: a perfectly normal evening without celebrities.
This was of course due to the scandals in the months before: The Los Angeles Times had proved at the beginning of 2021 what everyone knew anyway: The HFPA, which has been awarding the Golden Globes since 1944 and thus consolidating its relevance, is an association whose members accept invitations and gifts to the limit of corruption (perhaps even beyond) consider journalistic standards to be rather annoying and apparently have no problem with the fact that none of the 87 members at the time were black.
An example: Paramount Network, producer of the Netflix series “Emily in Paris”, invited more than 30 HFPA members to Paris in 2019; they stayed in the 1,200-euro-per-night Hotel Peninsula Paris and were allowed to inspect the shooting, the press conference including lunch took place in the Musée des Arts Forrains, a fairground museum. Nominated for Best Comedy Series at the 2021 Golden Globes: “Emily in Paris”.
At the Golden Globes evening, stars loosened their tongues with plenty of champagne
The HFPA liked the role of the quirky great-uncle at the family party, to whom nobody quite knows why he’s invited – but who nobody complains about because he gives everyone a lot of presents; namely with the second most important award in the Hollywood industry after Oscars (film) and Emmy (TV) and the attention that such a Golden Globes evening brings with it, when stars loosen their tongues with plenty of champagne and then ever spill a few secrets.
That means: The HFPA needs the Golden Globes, very urgently, and that’s why it’s interesting what’s happening with this deal, about which the German HFPA President Helen Höhne says in a statement: “It’s a resolute step in dealing with the increasingly difficult economic environment to adapt – both in the award shows and in the journalistic market.”
The deal: Investment firm Eldridge Industries, of which Boehly is a chairman, is creating a subsidiary that will acquire the rights to the Golden Globes for an amount that is currently unknown, to be decided by a third party. Proceeds from future Golden Globe awards will be donated to the HFPA’s charitable arm. NBC, for example, will pay $62.5 million a year for broadcast rights through 2025. This also applies if the broadcaster refuses to broadcast as long as the HFPA is organizing an event. This also explains why the award ceremony took place in January: it was about the money.
The deal benefits Boehly. He is involved in the LA sports clubs Dodgers (baseball), Lakers and Sparks (both basketball); he recently caused a worldwide uproar when he and other investors bought the English football club Chelsea FC from the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich for $4.93 billion. Boehly owns the magazine The Hollywood Reportershe is the head of the independent studio Media Rights Capital (MRC), which produces series like “Ozark” and successful live TV shows like the NBC New Year’s Eve party in New York – and through a subsidiary also the Golden Globes.
In short: Boehly is consolidating his already great influence in Hollywood.
The deal also benefits HFPA members. The reforms of the association, which celebrated a little too much for that (Höhne said at the awards in January: “We have worked very hard to reform and restructure our organization from the ground up”), not only included the inclusion of 21 of new members – six of them black – but the future waiver of gifts and invitations. In addition, there will be restrictions on the remuneration of members for activities in the future. For example, those who oversaw the budget for excursions on the Travel Committee received about 2,300 euros per month.
Boehly’s proposal, which is available to the SZ, states that the deal abolishes the non-profit status of the association and thus the right to tax breaks. But it is “an opportunity for the members to get a share of the profit and thus participate in the success of the Golden Globes” – and now it’s getting interesting.
HFPA members will probably get an annual salary of $75,000 in the future
Concrete figures are not known; However, the SZ learned from those around the HFPA that members should receive an annual salary of $75,000. Who now asks: Wait, the HFPA people just get a salary instead of gifts? Answer: Yes, that’s what it seems to be. The so-called far-reaching changes mean that many things could remain as before.
The deal could also benefit the entertainment industry. It was outrageous hypocrisy that many pretended that only the HFPA needed to be pilloried – even though everyone knew what was going on, they went along with it as long as it was worthwhile for them. It should also do so in the future, because the HFPA members, now just over 100, will still be voting on the Golden Globes. As long as they do that, they should get more exclusive access to stars than other reporters; especially since the number of HFPA members has remained manageable for the industry.
The deal, which now has to be approved by the Attorney General of California, benefits many parties involved. HFPA President Höhne said: “It is a historic moment for the HFPA and the Golden Globes. We look forward to celebrating our 80th anniversary in January.” In Hollywood terms: the show will go on.