The Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Monday announced an update to its eligibility requirements for the Golden Globes as it tries to bring the awards show back in good graces, including a hybrid approach to screenings that will now include DVD or online options and a return to in-person screenings.
The updated policy, which was last adopted in 2020 but was updated last year due to the pandemic, will go into effect on June 15, and movies released prior to June 15 of this year can still be eligible for consideration by submitting screening links or a DVD copy for jurors prior to the final submission date when available.
At one point, studios had to submit their films for consideration in order to become eligible for awards, but as the HFPA is still in the process of reforming its membership and could not air their awards show last year, that requirement is merely optional again for this year’s Golden Globes.
“With the current relaxation of restrictions by federal, state and local health officials, the HFPA is reverting to its regular eligibility requirements but remains sensitive to the potential for increased COVID-19 case rates,” Helen Hoehne, HFPA president, said in a statement. “We will remain flexible in allowing eligibility through a combination of in-person screenings or submittal of screeners in DVD or online form for our jurors.”
The embattled HFPA has struggled to win over Hollywood publicists, studios and networks who boycotted the group following a 2021 Los Angeles Times report that exposed the group’s history of self-dealing and lack of even a single Black member. The outcry led NBC to cancel the 2022 broadcast. The group responded by adding 21 new members (six of them Black), appointing a chief diversity officer and other reform efforts, but TheWrap also reported that the PR boycott remains in place.
Full text of the new requirements below:
HFPA will provide distributors of motion pictures with a hybrid approach to screenings:
1) Contact the HFPA office to arrange a screening date on the official HFPA calendar for all motion picture releases. For English-language motion pictures, that official screening date must be no later than seven days after the release of that English-language motion picture in Los Angeles. Unless the country of origin is the U.S., screenings of non-English language films do not have to follow this one-week-after-release standard but must take place prior to the final date for all 2022 motion picture screenings.
2) Distributors must provide all HFPA jurors with the opportunity for an 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.
3) A final date for all 2022 motion picture screenings (including all screenings of non-English language motion pictures) will be announced separately. Films released prior to June 15, 2022, can be eligible for consideration by submitting screening links or a DVD copy for jurors prior to the final submission date when available.
· For 2022, submissions to the Golden Globe submission website will again be optional for award consideration. The HFPA will add qualifying content to its eligibility list if studios/networks/streamers are not doing so. The qualifying period is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, for English language films and Oct. 1, 2021 – Dec. 31, 2022, for non-English language films. The start date for these new requirements is June 15, 2022.
Motion Picture Release Formats: To be eligible for the Golden Globe motion picture awards, a release must meet the following exhibition requirements:
· Motion pictures are considered released when they are made available for exhibition in theatres or on pay-per-view cable or pay-per-view digital delivery (not subscription cable or digital delivery).