Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Awards
The Golden Globe Award trophy
Awarded for	Excellence in film and television
Country	United States
Presented by	Hollywood Foreign Press Association (1943–2023)
Website	goldenglobes.com
Television/radio coverage
Network	NBC

The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed for excellence in both American and international film and television. It is an annual awards ceremony held to honor artists and professionals and their work.

The event was first held in January 1944, organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization representing international journalists who reported on the American entertainment industry. The ceremony is normally held every January, and has been a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year in the Academy Awards.

In June 2023, The Golden Globe Awards were sold to Dick Clark Productions (DCP), which planned to continue to manage the awards telecast and focus on expanding the Globes' viewership around the world.

History

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) was founded in 1943 by Los Angeles-based foreign journalists seeking to develop a better-organized process of gathering and distributing cinema news to non-U.S. markets.

In the early years, the Golden Globe Awards had little prestige, and the organization originally consisted of fewer than 10 foreign correspondents from Germany, France, South America and elsewhere. It was a time when overseas box-office receipts were considered largely irrelevant: “Foreign journalists were treated like dirt, because [the studios] looked down on the foreign market. Everybody made fun of them, said they were nobodies” commented Maureen Dragone, author of Who Makes the Golden Globes Go Around? Her mother, a correspondent for London’s Evening News, helped found the HFPA in the early 1940s.

The show, however, garnered appeal based largely on its loose, anything-goes vibe of a big party, quite different from the solemnity of the Academy Awards. The open bar with freely flowing champagne also contributed to memorable moments and a lack of seriousness among the invitees and awards recipients who often don unusual outfits. Yet, over the course of not many decades the Golden Globes became a highly rated annual spectacle, a lead in to the Oscars.

Early years

Gregory Peck standing between Grace Kelly and Jean Simmons at the 10th annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, 1956. Grace Kelly won the Henrietta Award and Jean Simmons won for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a comedy or musical

One of the organization's first major endeavors was to establish a ceremony similar to the Academy Awards to honor film achievements. The 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, were held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at various venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The event would eventually move to The Beverly Hilton, where it remains today.

In 1950, the HFPA established a special honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as an international figure within the entertainment industry, the first award was presented to director and producer Cecil B. DeMille. The official name of the award thus became the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Golden Globe in Television

The 13th Golden Globe Awards held in February 1956 saw the first Golden Globe in Television Achievement. The first three permanent television award categories, Best TV Series, Best TV Actor, and Best TV Actress, then made their debuts during the 19th Golden Globe Awards held in March 1962.

The Carol Burnett Award was created as a television counterpart to the Cecil B. DeMille Award, named after its first recipient in 2019, actress and comedian Carol Burnett.

Support of young artists

Beginning in 1963, the trophies commenced to be handed out by one or more persons referred to as "Miss Golden Globe," a title renamed on January 5, 2018, to "Golden Globe Ambassador". The holders of the position were, traditionally, the daughters or sometimes the sons of a celebrity, and as a point of pride, these often continued to be contested among celebrity parents.

Revenues generated from the annual ceremony enabled the HFPA to donate millions of dollars to entertainment-related charities, as well as funding scholarships and other programs for future film and television professionals. The most prominent beneficiary is the Young Artist Awards, presented annually by the Young Artist Foundation, established in 1978 by Hollywood Foreign Press member Maureen Dragone, to recognize and award excellence of young Hollywood performers under the age of 21 and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically or financially challenged.

Criticism of HFPA

In the 2020s, the HFPA began to face criticism for the ethical standards of its operations—including allegations that the organization lacked accountability, and that there was a lack of Black journalists among its 87-person membership and in fact there had been none since at least 2002.

Calls for reform in response to these issues led the HFPA to announce plans for a reform package, including a 50 percent increase in members over the next 18 months, as well as new positions, term limits, and practices to improve its accountability. However, the lack of given timelines for filling some of the new management positions was criticized since it appeared they would not be completed soon enough to have any material impact on the cycle of the upcoming 79th Golden Globe Awards in January 2022.

Amazon Studios and Netflix announced that they would stop their activities with the HFPA until sufficient actions on reforms are made, and other media companies followed suit on May 10. NBC announced that it would not televise the 79th Golden Globe Awards, but that it would be open to televising the ceremony in 2023 if the HFPA were successful in its efforts to reform. Tom Cruise returned the awards he had won for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia in solidarity.

Following these events, the HFPA released a timeline for its reforms, which would see the process completed by the week of August 2, and on October 1, they released a list of 21 new members that it had recruited under these reforms. The HFPA then announced on October 15 that it still planned to hold the 79th Golden Globe Awards on January 9, 2022, with or without another media partner.

The 79th ceremony was conducted as a non-televised, private presentation, with limited guests. A televised ceremony returned the following year.

New ownership

In July 2022, the HFPA approved a major restructuring, under which interim CEO Todd Boehly agreed to establish a for-profit entity via his holding company Eldridge Industries (owner of Dick Clark Productions—which has produced the Golden Globes' telecast since 1993. The HFPA's philanthropic activities were to continue separately as a non-profit entity. NBC subsequently agreed to a one-year contract to air the 80th Golden Globe Awards on January 10, 2023.

The transition of the Golden Globes to a for-profit event was finalized in 2023. On June 12, 2023, the HFPA was wound down, and all Golden Globe Awards assets and intellectual property were acquired by Eldridge-owned Dick Clark Productions, whose ownership includes Penske Media Corporation, owner of fellow entertainment publications Deadline Hollywood and Variety); the financial details of the purchase were not disclosed. The new owners were to launch the Golden Globe Foundation, which will carry on HPFA’s entertainment-related charitable giving.

Trophy

The Golden Globe trophy dates back to 1945 when members of the HFPA held a contest to find a design for a statuette that would best represent the overall aims of the organization. President of the association, Marina Cisternas, presented the idea of a golden globe encircled with a strip of motion picture film, and mounted on a pedestal.

The statuette has been redesigned several times, the constant element being the iconic gold-plated globe which symbolizes the international character of the awards.

The 2009 redesign (not the first in its history) was carried out by the New York firm Society Awards, who collaborated with the HFPA for two years to produce a statuette that included a unique marble pedestal and enhanced the statuette's quality and gold content. It was unveiled at a press conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show.

The latest redesign debuted in 2019. Stephen Larkin, executive director of growth at R/GA who were were given the commission, said "the brief was simple—to modernize and reimagine the Golden Globe award. The only demand was that they couldn't make any changes to the globe itself."

One disadvantage of the previous trophy had been its square marble base. This proved awkward for the winners to hold in one hand.

According to Lars Hansson of R/GA: The new Golden Globe Award was designed with purpose and intent. We evaluated how the award has been historically presented, shown and used at the event and reconfigured a cylindrical, more ergonomic base, which is easier to hold with one hand.

The new cylindrical base was a clear improvement, as the winners easily held the statuettes aloft in one hand. The design retained the heritage and history of the previous iconic Golden Globe, enhanced by modern touches.

There are two version of the new Golden Globes: There is an all-gold version for the film and TV winners; and for the special awards, the Cecil B.de Mille and the new Carol Burnett trophies for lifetime excellence in cinema and television, the golden globe sits atop of a black marble base.

Additionally, an innovative aspect is the inclusion of "an NFC component in each award which will showcase such information as the name of the winner, the category and the year it was bestowed upon them, ensuring each award is unique and authentic."

Rules

Eligibility

The eligibility period for Golden Globe nominations corresponds to the calendar year (from January 1 through December 31).

Films must be at least 70 minutes and released for at least a seven-day run in the Greater Los Angeles area, starting prior to midnight on December 31. Films can be released in theaters, on pay-per-view, or by digital delivery.

For the Best Foreign Language Film category, films do not need to be released in the United States. At least 51 percent of the dialogue must be in a language other than English, and they must first be released in their country of origin during a 14-month period from November 1 to December 31 prior to the Awards. However, if a film was not released in its country of origin due to censorship, it can still qualify if it had a one-week release in the United States during the qualifying calendar year. There is no limit to the number of submitted films from a given country.

A TV program must air in the United States between the prime time hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m (or 7 p.m. and 11 p.m on Sundays). A show can air on broadcast television, on basic or premium cable, or by digital delivery; it does not qualify if it is only on pay-per-view or via digital delivery of film. Also, a TV show must either be made in the United States or be a co-production financially and creatively between an American and a foreign production company. Furthermore, reality and non-scripted shows are disqualified.

Actors in a TV series must appear in at least six episodes during the qualifying calendar year. Actors in a TV film or miniseries must appear in at least five percent of the time in that TV film or miniseries.

A film cannot be entered in both the film and TV categories, and instead should be entered based on its original release format. If it was first aired on American television, then it can be entered into the TV categories. If it was released in theaters or on pay-per-view, then it should instead be entered into the film categories. A film festival showing does not count towards disqualifying what would otherwise be a TV program.

Screening requirements

Active voting members need to be invited to an official screening of each eligible film directly by its respective distributor or publicist. The screening must take place in the Greater Los Angeles area, either before the film's release or up to one week afterwards. The screening can be a regular screening in a theater with the public or a press screening; it does not need to be a member-only event. The screening must also be cleared with the Motion Picture Association so there are no scheduling conflicts with other official screenings.

This rule was updated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing distributors a hybrid approach to screenings: in-person screening in both Los Angeles and New York (these may also be part of the distributor’s premiere, junket, or all-media screenings) or distributors can provide jurors a screening link or a DVD copy of the motion picture so jurors may view it at home. This applies to English and non-English language films alike.

For TV programs, they must merely be available to be seen by jurors in any common format, including the original TV broadcast.

Nominations and voting

As part of their regular journalistic jobs, active voting members will participate in covering the press conferences, and interviewing cast members, of selected films and TV programs. The film press conferences need to take place either before the film's release in the Greater Los Angeles area or up to one week afterwards.

Ballots to select the nominations are sent to voting members in November, along with a "Reminder List" of eligible film and TV programs. Each HFPA member then votes for their top five choices in each category, numbering them 5 to 1, with 5 being their top choice. The nominees in each category are then the five selections that receive the most votes. The ranked voting is only used to break ties, with number 5 worth 5 points, number 4 worth 4 points, and so on.

After the nominations are announced in mid-December, HFPA members receive the final ballots. The winner in each category is selected from among the nominees by plurality voting. In case of a tie, the winner is the one that had the most votes on the nomination ballot.

Ceremony

The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars and the Grammy Awards. Since 2010, it was televised live in all United States time zones.

Until Ricky Gervais hosted in 2010, the award ceremony was one of two major Hollywood award ceremonies, the other being the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards), that did not have a regular host; every year a different presenter introduced the ceremony at the beginning of the broadcast. Gervais returned for the next two years to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards, again in 2016, and for a fifth time in 2020. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2013 through 2015.

The Golden Globe Awards' theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi.

Broadcasting

The HFPA had a lucrative contract with NBC for decades, which began broadcasting the award ceremony locally in Los Angeles in 1958, then nationally in 1964.

Since 1993, Dick Clark Productions (DCP) has produced the ceremony with NBC as a broadcaster; DCP's involvement came at a time of instability for the Golden Globes, including reduced credibility and having lost its contract with CBS (the interim period saw it contract with cable network TBS to air the ceremony). Enthusiastic over Clark's commitment, the HFPA's contract contained an unusual provision granting Dick Clark Productions the role of producer in perpetuity, as long as it continued to maintain broadcast rights with NBC. When DCP extended their contract with NBC without involving the HFPA, the HFPA sued them. The NBC perpetuity clause was upheld in court.

In 2014, Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA reached a settlement; details were not released, but DCP committed to continue its role as producer through at least the end of its current contract with NBC, and to work with the HFPA to "expand the brand with unique and exciting entertainment experiences." NBC held a right of first refusal to renew its contract beyond 2018, but bidding was to be open to other broadcasters.

In September 2018, NBC agreed to renew its rights to the Golden Globes, maintaining the current broadcast arrangement and the involvement of Dick Clark Productions. In 2019 and 2020, NBC televised the late Sunday afternoon National Football League (NFL) playoff game (which had historically gone to another NFL broadcaster) as a lead-in to the Golden Globes. Because of the large viewership of NFL playoff games, this was intended to boost the Golden Globes' TV ratings, which dropped 11% between 2017 and 2018. If the game ever went long, NBC planned to still air the Golden Globes in its entirety on a broadcast delay.

The 2021 ceremony was then postponed to February 28 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema and on television, avoiding the NFL season altogether. Following the acquisition by Dick Clark Productions, NBC signed a one-year deal to televise the 2023 ceremony, moving it to a Tuesday evening to avoid conflicting with its coverage of the NFL. CBS then signed a new deal to air the 2024 ceremony, allowing the ceremony to move back to Sunday nights since CBS only airs NFL afternoon games.

Categories

Motion picture awards

• Best Motion Picture – Drama: since 1943 (separated genre in 1951)
• Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: since 1951
• Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language: since 1948
• Best Motion Picture – Animated: since 2006
• Best Director – Motion Picture: since 1943
• Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: since 1943 (separated genre in 1951)
• Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: since 1951
• Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: since 1943 (separated genre in 1951)
• Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: since 1951
• Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture: since 1943
• Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture: since 1943
• Best Screenplay – Motion Picture: since 1947
• Best Original Score – Motion Picture: since 1947
• Best Original Song – Motion Picture: since 1961
• Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures: since 1951

Television awards

• Best Television Series – Drama: since 1961
• Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy: since 1961
• Best Miniseries or Motion Picture – Television: since 1971
• Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama: since 1961
• Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: since 1961
• Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture – Television: since 1981
• Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama: since 1961
• Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: since 1961
• Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture – Television: since 1981
• Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television: since 1970
• Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television: since 1970
• Carol Burnett Award for Lifetime Achievement in Television: since 2018

Retired awards

• Best Documentary • Awarded from 1972 to 1976
• Best English-Language Foreign Motion Picture • Awarded from 1957 to 1973
• New Star of the Year – Actor • Awarded from 1948 to 1983
• New Star of the Year – Actress • Awarded from 1948 to 1983
• Henrietta Award (World Film Favorite – Female) • Awarded from 1950 to 1979
• Henrietta Award (World Film Favorite – Male) • Awarded from 1950 to 1979
• Promoting International Understanding • Awarded from 1945 to 1964
• Best Cinematography – Motion Picture • Awarded from 1948 to 1953, in 1955 and in 1963
• Special Award – Juvenile Performance • Awarded in 1948, 1949, 1953 and 1959

Criticism

Henry Gris resignation

Former HFPA president Henry Gris resigned from the board in 1958 claiming that "certain awards are being given more or less as favors" with others querying why so many winners were represented by one public relations firm.

Pia Zadora

In 1982, Pia Zadora won a Golden Globe in the category "New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture" for her performance in Butterfly, over such competition as Elizabeth McGovern (Ragtime) and Kathleen Turner (Body Heat). Accusations were made that the Foreign Press Association members had been bought off. Zadora's husband, multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, flew voting members to his casino, the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, which gave the appearance that they voted for Zadora to repay this. Riklis also invited voting members to his house for a lavish lunch and a showing of the film. He also spent a great deal on advertising. Furthermore, Zadora had made her film debut some 17 years earlier as a child performer in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

The Tourist and Burlesque

The nominations for the 2011 Golden Globes drew initial skepticism, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated The Tourist in its Best Musical/Comedy categories, even though it was originally advertised as a spy thriller, along with being one of the most panned films of the season. Host Ricky Gervais even jokingly asked the main star of the film, Johnny Depp, if he had seen it. Rumors then surfaced that Sony, the distributor of The Tourist and Burlesque, had influenced Globes voters with an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, culminating in a concert by Cher.

Asian films exclusion

In 2020, the HFPA received widespread criticism for nominating Asian and Asian American films, such as The Farewell, Parasite, and Minari, for Best Foreign Language Film while excluding them from the Best Motion Picture categories. The decision to categorize Minari as a foreign language film, despite having an exclusively American production team and setting, was heavily condemned by many actors and filmmakers of Asian descent. While HFPA rules stipulate that a film must have at least 50 percent English dialogue to be nominated for the Best Drama or Comedy/Musical categories, critics noted that the films Inglourious Basterds and Babel did not meet the 50 percent threshold but were still nominated for the Best Motion Picture categories, prompting accusations of anti-Asian racism.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Dragone, Maureen. Who Makes the Golden Globes Go Around? Highstream Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0976177609
• Crouse, Richard. Reel Winners: Movie Award Trivia. Dundurn, 2005. ISBN 1550025740
• Hess, Stephen. Through Their Eyes: Foreign Correspondents in the United States. Brookings Institution Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0815735847
• Stanford, Grahame. Golden Globe Award Winners - A Quick Reference Guide 1943-2021. Kindle, 2019. ASIN B07Y18NDW2

External links

All links retrieved May 24, 2024.

• Official Golden Globes website
• Awards listing at Official Golden Globes website
• Golden Globes Awards listing IMDb

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