What if they held an awards show and nobody came? We won’t have to wonder for long as Sunday’s Golden Globe awards ceremony has been reduced to a mere press conference by the ongoing writers strike.The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual love in is the latest and largest casualty in the ongoing labour dispute between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood producers over residuals.
The writing, so to speak, had been on the wall for the bloated mutual masturbation for weeks, as the WGA promised to picket the red carpet and the Screen Actors Guild said its members were loathe to play strikebreakers in their frocks and tuxes. So the Hollywood Foreign Press pulled the plug on the ceremony and plans to have the winners announced by news presenters. The WGA still plans to picket and nobody will collect the awards, make speeches or show up. Whee!
I say good riddance. The HFPA, made up of 90 or so freelancers that may or may not actively cover the entertainment industry, has about as much editorial heft as your average Facebook group. But somehow their trophy has been embraced by studio publicists and agents and grown into a bloated beast that purports to be a beacon of taste and talent.
Out of touch? Full of itself? What a perfect target for the guild to take down. Watch out Oscar, you’re next.
Well said. I have never figured out how the Golden Globes attained such importance when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is simply a small group of people who really aren't even part of the industry.
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