Golden Globes Ceremony Off

Zap2It.com | January 7, 2008
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Winners will instead be announced at a press conference

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Monday officially pulled the plug on the Golden Globes ceremony, dropping the glitzy awards banquet in favor of a televised press conference announcing the winners.

The decision came after talks with NBC, which was scheduled to air the Globes on Sunday, about a compromise that would allow winners and nominees to be recognized but would not force the nominated actors, directors and writers to cross a picket line promised by the Writers Guild of America.

"We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars ...," says Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "We take some comfort, however, in knowing that this year's Golden Globe Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled."

At least two Globes parties have also been cancelled. The Los Angeles Times reports that the HBO and Warner Bros./In Style bashes will not take place.

NBC News will carry the live press conference at 9 p.m. ET, with a "Datleine" special about this year's nominees preceding the show at 7 p.m. The network is also negotiating with Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Globes, for a one-hour clip show at 8 p.m. Following the press conference, NBC plans an "Access Hollywood"-style roundup of whatever parties decide to carry on.

The news division is not affected by the strike.

NBC was loath to give up on a full-blown Globes ceremony, even though the Writers Guild declared its intention to picket the Globes several weeks ago. Things proceeded normally, however, until last week, when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued a statement saying it had entered into talks with the guild about striking an agreement that would allow the full ceremony to happen, without pickets.

The guild, however, quickly refuted the HFPA statement and said it wouldn't make an interim deal with Dick Clark Productions. That, in turn, brought harsh words from Dick Clark Productions, which says it offered the guild the same terms that David Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants, agreed to to get its CBS late-night shows back on the air.

"We are disappointed that the WGA has refused to bargain with us in good faith," the company says in a statement. "It is apparent that we are being treated differently from similarly situated production companies." The statement also noted that Dick Clark Productions isn't a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is representing the big media companies in the broken-off negotiations.

The Screen Actors Guild said over the weekend that its members wouldn't cross a picket line to attend the ceremony, and a number of top publicists also said their clients would stay away.

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