They won’t change

They probably didn’t need to do anything to have most ego feeding actors and directors stay the course with this award organization.

The organization is discussing adding ten new members so they can say they increased membership by 15% and are taking steps to blah blah blah.

They won’t change, but the actors and directors just want a little cover with a bunch of word salad.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes)

Golden Globes: 100+ PR Firms Warn HFPA They Will Cut Off Talent Unless There Is “Transformational Change”

It’s bad enough for a Hollywood organization to invoke the ire of Time’s Up, the coalition formed in the wake of #MeToo to combat workplace discrimination, but in this town, when publicists — the gatekeepers of “talent” — are upset with you, you are truly facing an existential crisis.

Ahead of the 78th Golden Globe Awards on Feb. 28, Time’s Up launched a campaign — amplified by numerous Hollywood A-listers via social media — calling on the HFPA to state specific plans for reforming itself. The HFPA acknowledged that it needs to change in a written statement and during a brief segment on the Globes telecast, and then on March 9 announced that it had retained a diversity consultant and a law firm to conduct an internal review.

This was not enough to tamp down concern on the part of Time’s Up and Hollywood’s leading personal PR firms, which began emailing with each other on March 9 and scheduled a March 10 meeting on Zoom. Ever since, they have been honing a letter to get it to the point that they all feel comfortable with. By Monday afternoon, more than 100 firms — virtually every major one on both sides of the Atlantic — had signed on to the unprecedented missive.

This threat should cause significant alarm among the members of the HFPA, most of whom only gain access to top Hollywood talent, via interviews and press conferences, because of their HFPA membership. They then use that content for stories which they either deliver to an editor, if they are regularly employed, or shop around, if they are a freelancer, in order to make a living.

The letter, which was sent late Monday, reads:

Greg Goecker, COO & General Counsel
Ali Sar, President
Meher Tatna, Board Chair
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
646 N. Robertson Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

As publicists we collectively represent the vast majority of artists in the entertainment industry. 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.

In the last decade our industry has faced a seismic reckoning and begun to address its failure to reflect and honor the diversity of our community, yet we have witnessed no acceptance of responsibility, accountability or action from the HFPA, even as systemic inequity and egregious behavior are allowed to continue. We collectively and unequivocally agree that transformative change in your organization and its historical practices is essential and entirely achievable. We want to be part of the solution.

To reflect how urgent and necessary we feel this work is, we cannot advocate for our clients to participate in HFPA events or interviews as we await your explicit plans and timeline for transformational change.

While we stand ready to support your good faith efforts, please know that anything less than transparent, meaningful change that respects and honors the diversity and dignity of our clients, their colleagues and our global audience will result in immediate and irreparable damage to the relationship between our agencies, our clients and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and those who sanction the institutional inquity and insular culture that currently define it.

The eyes of the industry and those who support it are watching.

Respectfully,

42 West
Advantage PR
Agence Contact
align Public Relations
American Entertainment Marketing (AEM)
Anderson Public Relations Group
Array
Ascend Public Relations Group
BazanPR
Bespoke Publicity
Carol Marshall Public Relations
Cassandra Butcher PR & Marketing
Cinematic Red PR
CLD Communications
Core PR Group
DawBell
DDA
Detail PR
E2W Collective
Elzer & Associates
Flash Forward Publicity
Forefront Media
Full Coverage Communications
Guttman Associates Public Relations
Heidi Schaeffer Public Relations
Herring PR
Hive Collective
ICON PR
ID
Image Management PR
imPRint
Independent Public Relations
Indie PR
Integrated PR
JCPR
JDS
Jill Fritzo Public Relations
Jonas PR
JONESWORKS
Joy Fehily Management + Consulting
Katrina Wan PR
Katz Public Relations
Kovert Creative
LongstreetWorks
LSG Public Relations
Luna Entertainment
Main Stage Public Relations
Marleah Leslie & Associates
Marque PR
McClure & Associates Public Relations
Meghan Prophet Public Relations
MLC PR
MPRM Communications
MRC Publicity and Marketing
Nancy Seltzer & Associates
Narrative
NMA PR
Patricola Public Relations
Paula Woods Consultants
Persona PR
Personal PR
Pinnacle Public Relations
Platform Public Relations
PMG-Platform Media Group
Polaris PR
Portrait PR
PR Machine
Premier
PRStudio USA
Presse Public Relations
Principal Communications Group
Prism Media Group
Prosper PR
Public Eye Communications
Rebel PR
Red Sea Entertainment
Relevant
Rogers & Cowan/PMK
Rosenfield Media Group
Rowe PR
Schure Media Group
Sechel PR
Shelter PR
Slash Agency
Slate PR
Strategic Heights Media
Strategic Public Relations
SYStrategies & PR
TCOPR
Tencer & Associates
The Chamber Group
The Collins Jackson Agency
The Initiative Group
The Lede Company
The Oriel Company
The Samonte Group
True Public Relations
TS Collective
VanIden Public Relations
Viewpoint
Vision PR
Wolf Kasteler
ZTPR

UPDATE: Tina Tchen, president and CEO of Time’s Up, said in a statement issued later on Monday, “We are proud to be in solidarity with the voices of over 100 Hollywood PR firms in calling for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to radically transform the Golden Globes. We agree that anything less than transparent, meaningful change will no longer be acceptable. The entire world is watching.” – Source