A group of more than 100 Hollywood publicity firms say they are concerned about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s recently released plans to overhaul the organization.
“We will continue to refrain from any HFPA sanctioned events, including press conferences, unless and until these issues are illuminated in detail with a firm commitment to a timeline that respects the looming 2022 season reality,” reads a statement released by the group on Friday. “We stand ready to collaborate with the HFPA to ensure that the next Golden Globes — be it in 2022 or 2023 — represents the values of our creative community. We are reminded of the HFPA’s 1943 motto, conceived by the original group of foreign journalists: ‘Unity Without Discrimination of Religion or Race.’ Seventy-eight years hence, your commitment to swift and deliberate action remains essential.”
In a 70-3 vote on Thursday, the HFPA members approved a plan put forth by its board to radically overhaul the non-profit. The plan includes measures to increase the number of people of color in its ranks. The plan also includes new restrictions on gifts that the members could receive and payments for work on their committees.
Immediate plans include finding a vendor to set up a complaint line, hiring a search firm to compile a list of candidates to fill newly formed staff positions, identifying new members to increase membership by 50% in the next 18 months, creating a list of DEI consultants and retaining Ropes & Gray to facilitate the reforms.
The publicist group sent a letter to the HFPA on March 15 warning that that they have advised clients not to work with them unless the organization committed to serious reform.
“We call on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to swiftly manifest profound and lasting change to eradicate the longstanding exclusionary ethos and pervasive practice of discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption endemic to the HFPA, funded by Dick Clark Productions, MRC, NBCUniversal and Comcast,” the letter read.
NBC released a statement on the reform plans. “We believe that the plan presented charts a course for meaningful reform at the HFPA,” the company said. “We remain committed to encouraging the plan’s prompt implementation through productive conversations so that the HFPA can emerge a better and more inclusive organization.”
The HFPA has long come under scrutiny for many of its practices. A Los Angeles Times report in February detailed and questioned the non-profit group compensation practices for the members involved in awards judging and other association functions. The HFPA for years has been routinely criticizing for taking part in lavish junkets and accepting other perks from studios and networks in the hunt for Golden Globe trophies.
Time’s Up Foundation president and CEO Tina Chen also responded to the proposed reforms, saying in a statement, “Sadly, the list of ‘reforms’ adopted yesterday, and endorsed by NBCUniversal and Dick Clark Productions, are sorely lacking and hardly transformational. Instead, these measures ensure that the current membership of the HFPA will remain in the majority and that the next Golden Globes will be decided with the same fundamental problems that have existed for years.