A new entertainment company formed by former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and other entertainment industry professionals has reached out to the embattled HFPA to offer its services in helping to improve the “tarnished” image of the HFPA and the Golden Globe Awards.
In a letter obtained by TheWrap, Pacific Coast Entertainment proposes a partnership between the company and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which oversees the Golden Globes. The letter, dated March 31 and addressed to HFPA president Helen Hoehne, interim CEO Todd Boehly and HFPA board and members, was signed by Isaacs, partner and senior adviser of Pacific Coast Entertainment (PCE), and managing partner Yusef D. Jackson. Jackson is a Chicago-based private investor and the son of civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Neither a PCE rep nor the HFPA immediately responded to TheWrap’s requests for comment.
PCE is described as “a new company comprised of a diverse group of experienced and well-known business and industry professionals” specializing in “challenging company transformations.”
“Over the last year, many watched the headlines that have dramatically impacted the reputation and stature of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA or Association), its members, and the Golden Globe Awards. A year into the Association’s public commitment to transform, and despite the actions taken toward that goal, the boycotts continue, and the public image of the HFPA and Golden Globe Awards remains tarnished,” the letter says.
“As you prepare to celebrate the Golden Globes’ 80th anniversary in 2023, I would like to propose a partnership between the HFPA and Pacific Coast Entertainment (PCE), a new company comprised of a diverse group of experienced and well-known business and industry professionals, who specialize in affecting the most challenging company transformations.
“As partners, we would take the additional steps needed to reassure the world that the processes by which nominees are considered and awardees selected adhere to the highest ethical standards. Further, we would deepen and accelerate the work you began more than a year ago … This evolution goes far beyond a single award show on a single night.”
Isaacs previously served as the first Black president of AMPAS, the organization that hosts the Oscars, and is noted for steering the organization through the “OscarsSoWhite” crisis over its membership as well as the lack of diversity in its nominees and winners. Isaacs has been named founding director of the newly established, three-campus Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University.
