The anti-discrimination organization in the workplace has outlined a series of changes that the Golden Globes group can make.
In the continuing absence of a detailed plan by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to address its diversity and ethical issues, Time’s Up has released an extensive draft of recommendations.
“The measures set out below are the start of the real work that urgently needs to be implemented to achieve the ‘transformational change’ you promised,” wrote the anti-discrimination organization in the workplace in a public memo addressed to HFPA and its partners in production and presentation of the Golden Globe Awards – Dick Clark Productions, NBCUniversal and Comcast.
The Golden Globe Awards ceremony is produced by Dick Clark Productions, a division of MRC, which is co-owner of The Hollywood Reporter through a joint venture with Penske Media entitled P-MRC.
Read the full letter below.
March 9, 2021
ATTN:Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Dick Clark Productions, NBCUniversal and Comcast
As an organization born in the entertainment industry with a mission to ensure safe, fair and decent work for everyone, we are writing with a set of recommendations on how the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) – funded and enabled by Dick Clark Productions, NBCUniversal and Comcast – can get rid of institutional racism, sexism, disrespect, alleged corrupt financial negotiations and other unethical practices that respected media have documented and reported on for years.
These changes must be transparent for all to see, and actions must be taken quickly, so that a new HFPA can be implemented well before the start of the 2022 award cycle. The measures described below are the start of the real work you need be implemented urgently to achieve the “transformational change” you promised.
ASSOCIATION + GOVERNANCE
Immediate change in current management and the board should be outlined. The current HFPA management and board have already demonstrated that they do not understand these issues. However, we recognize the need to have corporate governance mechanisms in place to implement reforms quickly. To address this, HFPA must outline and commit to a plan to move to an entirely new board that will hire a new board. This plan must be announced immediately and include the following:
- The current administration and board must immediately train an independent external lawyer to implement changes to membership criteria, bylaws and policies, and to select new members for HFPA.
- This independent external lawyer will oversee the election of an entirely new board by the newly formed members.
- The new board will hire a new administration.
- While this process is taking place, the actions of the existing board and management must be supervised and approved by an independent external lawyer.
All existing HFPA members must resign and can re-apply under the new criteria after one year.
The membership criteria must be reformed. The island country club membership criteria and processes are expected to change fundamentally, including a dramatic expansion of membership under new criteria:
- To qualify for membership and remain in good standing:
- The candidate must be registered with the Motion Picture Association in the international directory for at least one year before applying.
- The applicant can reside in any location.
- The candidate must have at least five years of credible journalistic experience and provide proof of at least 30 articles of published coverage (broadcast, print, online and / or radio) in the past five years.
- To keep up with the organization, members must publish at least 10 pieces of coverage (broadcast, print, online and / or radio) per calendar year to maintain voting eligibility.
The number of HFPA members should expand to a minimum of 300in order to represent the entire diversity of global entertainment journalists. This minimum should be easily achieved due to the removal of the previous exclusion criteria and the voting process.
Candidates for this year will be reviewed and approved by an independent external lawyer. After this year, HFPA will implement a transparent process for voting for nominees of members and will require that all members with a potential conflict, such as a nominee who is also a journalist in the same territory as an existing member, be refused to vote on that member. named.
The HFPA will publicly disclose the names, representation of the country and the demographic diversity of its members at the end of this year’s affiliation process and every year thereafter.
Lifetime subscriptions will no longer exist. New members will have the right to vote for 10 years, after which they must request membership again.
ETHICS AND SAFETY PROTECTIONS
HFPA must develop and publish anti-harassment, anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies which will provide protection for employees, members, partners, contractors and participants in all HFPA events, including the Golden Globe.
- This should include several methods for reporting violations, a process for fair, thorough and independent investigations and a range of penalties for any violations, including dismissal from HFPA.
The reporting process referenced in the HFPA statement must include the ability to make confidential reports about violations of the above policies, as well as violations of any HFPA policies.
The HFPA must develop and publish ethics policies to govern its own members and leadership, including, but not limited to:
- Prohibition of HFPA members from receiving payment from anyone, including HFPA, for participating in HFPA, including participation in award decision making
- Members cannot accept gifts, favors or considerations of any kind, regardless of their value based on their HFPA membership
- Members must pay for all their own expenses, including, but not limited to, travel expenses for festivals, dinners, premieres, set visits and other events
- Members must be involved in a professional manner, which includes not asking for autographs, not asking for personal cell phone numbers from filmmakers and talents, and not intimidating and / or harassing – sexually or otherwise – industry members
NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS
HFPA must adopt, publish and enforce strict regulations which governs the conduct of HFPA members, content distributors, advertisers and others, in relation to the campaign limits for the promotion of eligible films and TV shows that closely reflect comparable events (such as AMPAS) This includes projections, special events, (e) e-mails, lobbying, among other efforts. Reporting violations of these regulations should be included in the reporting process.
The existing categories for awards and the criteria for inclusion in these categories should be revised to eliminate any discriminatory criteria and new rules should be applied consistently.
- There must be consistency applied to the categorization of films and TV series. HFPA must waive its ability to alter any award entry by a vote of two thirds or more. If any changes to a submission are necessary for typos or are HFPA suggestions, the final changes must be approved by the original sender.
- This year, as membership and leadership reforms are underway, the review of categories and the nomination process will be overseen by an external and industry-independent expert or a group of experts.
- After this year, the HFPA is expected to present transparent reports on its categories, criteria and decision-making process for appointments.
HFPA will waive exclusive HFPA press conferences. At the same time, NBCUniversal must commit to no longer holding exclusive HFPA press conferences.
Members should be obliged to make every effort possible to watch a filmmaker’s screening. There can be no more stories of non-attendance at exhibitions by artists of color.
To participate in the final vote, HFPA members must certify that they have attended at least 80% of the nominated projects.
The Golden Globe date should not occur during the Oscar pre-nomination window. The Golden Globes moment, not only the first major award, but arriving even before the Oscar nominations, gave the Globes a disproportionate influence on subsequent awards and exacerbated the effects of the Globes’ racism and institutional sexism. This can be minimized by changing the schedule for Globes, starting in 2022, as schedules are reorganized after the pandemic.
The problems with HFPA and the Golden Globe are not new, but they have not been resolved by HFPA, Dick Clark Productions, NBCUniversal and Comcast for years. It is past time now, in 2021, to boldly approach the changes and make the 2022 Golden Globe fundamentally different.
We recognize that a change of this magnitude is ambitious. But fans, artists and executives are watching and waiting for your commitment to the values that we all seek to represent within the industry and on behalf of your accomplishments for the world.
We look forward to hearing your commitments by the May 6 deadline.