Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge take over Golden Globes; shutters the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)
After 80 years and decades of controversy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is no more.
In a bombshell announcement on Monday morning, new owners Dick Clark Productions and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge have acquired all Golden Globes assets (including cash on hand), rights, and properties from the HFPA via a newly formed Golden Globe Foundation, which “will continue the legacy HPFA’s history of entertainment-related charitable giving.”
This doesn’t mean the end of the Golden Globe Awards, but the HFPA as an organization, after going through its most embattled era of controversies and more, will shutter. The awards show itself will now be part of the for-profit operations established last year by Dick Clark Productions, a longtime producer with the HFPA of the annual Golden Globe Awards.
HFPA’s current president, Helen Hoehne, said the deal had been approved by the association’s approximately 95 full-time members but no financial details of the deal were disclosed in the announcement. Proceeds from the HFPA sale to Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge, will go to the Globes Foundation for its charitable giving.
“We are excited to close on this much anticipated member-approved transaction and transition from a member-led organization to a commercial enterprise,” said Hoehne.
“My partners at DCP and I are grateful to Helen and team for their commitment to the successful implementation of a robust approach to governance, the expansion of the diverse and international voting body, implementing a professional, safe and accountable environment, and trusting new ownership with a new direction for the Globes,” said Boehly, who is chairman of Eldridge.
“As stewards of the Golden Globe Awards, our mission is to continue creating the most dynamic awards ceremony on live television viewed across the world,” said Jay Penske, CEO, Chairman and Founder of Penske Media and CEO of Dick Clark Productions. “We have a great team in place to grow this iconic brand and captivate new and existing audiences to celebrate the very best in television and motion pictures.”
With this change, Penske Media, which owns several entertainment journalism outlets including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, GoldDerby, TV Line and Deadline, will be the sole owner of the Golden Globes.
After facing deep scrutiny and full blown backlash against the HFPA after the L.A. Times exposé that revealed the voting body had zero Black members, NBC refused to air the 2022 Golden Globes, which became a privately held, non-televised or streamed event that year. After significant board changes, new rules and a huge influx of over 200 more voters, NBC gave the Globes a one-year license deal to air the 2023 show, the 80th anniversary of the Golden Globes. That show resulted in the lowest rated Globes of all time, with just 6.3 million viewers.
The 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards are set to take place on Sunday, January 7, 2024 on a yet to be announced network or streaming platform.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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