‘Beasts’ Gets a Boost from the Golden Globes New Rules

The Hollywood Foreign Press is at it again. The organization that runs the Golden Globes has released another batch of new rules that will affect both television and film nominations at their upcoming awards. Some are clarifications of previous bylaws while others are new.

On the film side, the HFPA announced that a film that is released day and date in theaters as well as any streaming network is eligible for the film awards. This clearly benefits Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation in a major way. It falls in line with the Oscars’ rules in this area.

Also following AMPAS standard, winners for Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical will adhere to the Producers Guild of America eligibility but also be able to appeal a decision. The exceptions are in Foreign Language Film, which goes to the director and Animated Film, which goes to the director and producer. In Original Song, those credited in the film will receive credit for the Golden Globes and the song may now be allowed to be released before appearing in the film.

In Foreign Language Film, it will now be required that in addition to the official screenings for HFPA members, foreign film producers also must provide screeners or online access to their films. New language also stipulates that a single film may have multiple countries of origin. This was already an established rule at the Globes but it now in the books.

New rules now state that a film does not need to hold a press conference for the HFPA in order to qualify for eligibility. There was confusion before by publicists since the ‘rule’ was still on the books, it is now removed.

On the TV side are the biggest changes. Previously, a TV series was defined as a show with at least six episodes. Now, a series will be defined as a show whose episodes run a total of at least 150 minutes.The 150-minute rule was already being used by the HFPA to determine eligibility for its limited series awards. Although the Globes use a calendar year for eligibility, they will qualify a program that runs over two years in the year of its majority showing.

It defines lead actors in television as those who “drive the narrative of a program,” a determination that will be made by an HFPA committee. For supporting or guest performances, an actor must appear in 5% of a show’s running time to qualify. Also, cameos or voice-overs by actors playing themselves are not eligible for nominations.

The 73rd annual Golden Globe nominations will be announced on December 10th, 2015 and the ceremony will be held January 10th, 2016.