Sharon Waxman On the Business of Entertainment
The founder and editor of TheWrap’s take on life on the left coast, high culture, low culture and the business of entertainment and media. Waxman writes frequently on the inside doings of Hollywood, and is is also the author of two books, Rebels on the Back Lot and Loot
The Golden Globes are set to announce this week a return to NBC in January 2023 after a one-year hiatus in which the group said it aimed to root out corruption, increase diversity and grow the number of voters – but succeeded only in half-measures.
An announcement that the Globes broadcast will return on January 10 is being prepared for as early as this week by NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, according to three knowledgeable individuals who spoke to TheWrap.
An HFPA spokesman said he was unaware of any pending announcement and NBC had no comment.
If in fact the Globes are held on Jan. 10, that Tuesday-night date would be a marked change from the ceremony’s usual Sunday-night spot. (NBC has scheduled “Sunday Night Football” for Sunday, Jan. 8.)
But the HFPA has been pushing the network hard to restore the awards, which previously earned a lucrative $60 million a year for the now for-profit association and its producer, Dick Clark Productions, according to its contract with NBC. And many in the Hollywood promotional machine are keen to reinstate what had traditionally been an effective marketing tool for awards season, with the Golden Globes coming at least six weeks before the Academy Awards.
It is unclear (though unlikely) that NBC will need to pay its full contractual fee to restore the Globes, which has been badly tarnished by the reports of corruption and lack of diversity.
Also uncertain is if the powerful personal publicists who have boycotted the HFPA for 18 months will continue to do so, and whether they would recommend that their celebrity clients attend.
One leading publicist who represents top Hollywood talent said every actor or other creative should choose for themselves whether to attend the Globes in 2023. But actors should anticipate having to answer questions on the red carpet about why they returned, this publicist said. And doing so at a time when Hollywood is under scrutiny as an industry to be more diverse might be difficult.
Multiple publicists who TheWrap has spoken to in recent weeks said that many prominent Hollywood figures would not attend if the awards were reinstated, saying the event had become too controversial.
The HFPA announced a plan to increase diversity in its membership last year but fell short of the announced goals. The group added 21 new members last year (though it also lost about a dozen through death or attrition), six of whom are Black, and recently added another 100 voters who are not members of the HFPA.
Meanwhile, Hollywood billionaire Todd Boehly, who was serving as interim CEO of the HFPA, has taken the group private in a recent membership vote. It will no longer be a nonprofit association, and the existing members will be paid salaries of $75,000 per year to watch films and vote, at least for the next few years.
