Golden Globes: HFPA Will Attempt to Hold Ceremony in 2022 Without NBC and Despite Ongoing Boycott

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association declared on Friday that it will announce Golden Globes nominations and winners in early 2022, recognizing film and TV work in 2021, despite an ongoing boycott of the organization by a large coalition of publicists, as well as numerous major studios, networks and talent due to concerning demographic and ethical shortcomings exposed by The Los Angeles Times last February.

NBC, which currently owns the broadcasting rights for the Golden Globe Awards, stated in May that it will not air the show in 2022, arguing that the “meaningful reform” that it expects from the HFPA “takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right.”

So it remains to be seen what the Golden Globes would look like without a broadcasting partner and participating talent — perhaps a press release?

Since the last Golden Globe Awards back on Feb. 28, the HFPA has significantly overhauled its bylaws, most notably banning complimentary travel and gifts for its members, and it also added 21 new members, six of them Black. But the organization did not revoke the accreditation of any of its existing members, more than a few of whom are seen as problematic by groups boycotting the HFPA (not least due to inactivity as journalists).

Moreover, film and TV content from 2021 has not been widely made available to HFPA members this year, and certainly not to the recently announced members.

And the HFPA’s decision to push ahead with the Globes prior to resolving its differences with those boycotting it may well further antagonize those constituencies. (Studios and networks have to submit content for it to be considered for Golden Globes, and, at least at the moment, it seems unlikely that many will do so.)

It certainly has antagonized the Critics Choice Association, which had announced that its Critics Choice Awards, which are broadcast by The CW and attract considerable talent from film and TV, would take place on Jan. 9, the same date on which the HFPA now intends to announce its winners. “The three Critics Choice Awards immediately prior to the pandemic took place on the second Sunday in January,” CCA CEO Joey Berlin tells The Hollywood Reporter. “This seems like a hostile move by the HFPA, given that we had already announced that the Critics Choice Awards will take place on that date, and given that the HFPA had at no time laid claim to Jan. 9, 2022, even before its current problems.”

Assuming the HFPA moves forward with the plan it announced on Friday, it plans to employ the following timeline:

Monday, October 18, 2021	Submission website for 2022 Golden Globe Motion Picture and Television entries now open
Monday, November 15, 2021	Deadline for submission of Golden Globe Motion Picture and Television entry forms
Monday, November 22, 2021	Deadline for Television nomination ballots to be sent to all HFPA members by Ernst & Young
Monday, November 29, 2021	Deadline for receipt of Television nomination ballots by Ernst & Young, at 5:00 p.m. PT
Tuesday, November 30, 2021	Deadline for Motion Picture nomination ballots to be sent to all HFPA members by Ernst & Young
Wednesday, December 8, 2021	Final screening date for Motion Pictures
Thursday, December 9, 2021	Final date for Motion Picture press conferences
Friday, December 10, 2021	Deadline for receipt of Motion Picture nomination ballots by Ernst & Young, at12:00 p.m. (noon)
Monday, December 13, 2021	Announcement of nominations for the 79thAnnual Golden Globe® Awards, at 5:00 a.m. PT
Friday, December 17, 2021	Final ballots sent to all HFPA members by Ernst & Young
Monday, January 3, 2022	Deadline for receipt of final ballots by Ernst & Young, at 5:00 p.m. PT
Sunday, January 9, 2022	Presentation of the 79th Annual Golden Globe® Awards

Full disclosure: The writer is a longtime member of the Critics Choice Association.