Golden Globes group at odds over plan to make the association a for-profit

The Hollywood International Press Assn. is at odds over whether or not to simply accept a proposal by interim CEO Todd Boehly that can successfully rework the nonprofit worldwide journalists’ group right into a for-profit enterprise.

In an e mail to members on Sunday, Luca Celada, a former board director who represents Italy, brazenly questioned Boehly’s plan.

Calling it a “company takeover” and a play for the group’s “mental property,” Celada mentioned the plan would make the nonprofit HFPA right into a “subsidiary of his company portfolio,” based on the e-mail obtained by The Occasions. “This mission makes a whole lot of sense for Eldridge, however none for the HFPA.”

Earlier this month, Boehly, chairman of personal fairness agency Eldridge Industries, the mum or dad firm of longtime Globes producer Dick Clark Productions, (now generally known as MRC Stay & Various) introduced his plan throughout a common membership assembly.

Underneath his proposal, Eldridge would type a brand new firm and purchase the Golden Globes belongings based mostly on an “impartial third-party valuation agency,” based on the plan’s bullet factors reviewed by The Occasions. The proceeds can be used to fund the charitable wing of the HFPA.

The affiliation’s tax-exempt standing can be dissolved, and the brand new affiliation would allow members “the chance to share in its income, thereby giving them a stake within the success of the Globes.”

In further to approval by members, the plan would additionally want a closing sign-off from California’s legal professional common.

Boehly, appointed interim CEO of the HFPA final October, is an element proprietor of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and Sparks. He’s at present bidding on the English Premier League soccer crew, Chelsea FC. His agency Eldridge additionally owns stakes within the Beverly Hilton, the longtime house of the Globes awards ceremony in addition to commerce publications together with the Hollywood Reporter.

Boehly was not instantly out there for remark.

In his e mail, Celada prompt that handing over management of the group’s IP might “name into query the authorized fiduciary obligation to behave within the Affiliation’s finest curiosity.”

Moreover, he cautioned that the transfer would possibly additional tarnish the group’s repute as a voting physique, saying it might “rework us from impartial award-voting members to company workers — that’s how we might be perceived.”

“As with all group such because the HFPA there may be at all times going to be important wholesome debate about future plans and that’s no totally different within the historical past of HFPA and no totally different transferring ahead because the HFPA contemplates these modifications,” mentioned James Lee, the group’s spokesperson.

Lee added that the Eldridge proposal continues to be being mentioned and vetted by the board, in addition to exterior counsel, and plenty of components have but to be finalized, together with the concept of increasing membership to 300.

Celada’s e mail elicited conflicting responses from different members, reflecting divisions throughout the group and anxiousness over its future.

“I agree with a whole lot of what you’re saying. However let’s not overlook one factor: our resurrection, with or with out Todd Boehly, is just doable if NBC places the Globes again on the air. If that doesn’t occur, we’re doomed since we’ll quickly run out of cash and go bankrupt,” wrote Hans Spürkel of Germany.

Jenny Cooney, a longtime member from Australia, replied within the thread that Celada’s e mail was “incendiary” and “not acceptable or skilled … portray us as chaotic, disorganized and unable to transition into an expert group.”

Ersi Danou of Greece countered, “However Luca is a professional member with a professional concern. A priority a whole lot of us have and we want addressed.”

Elisabeth Sereda, a member representing Austria, supported Boehly, writing that after “years of declining job alternatives for journalists …” the HFPA wanted a brand new strategy, “on what our group and our model ought to appear like sooner or later.”

Calling Boehly’s plan a “constructive proposal,” Sereda slammed “dishonest and pandering emails” from others and described Boehly as a “man who has confirmed himself as somebody who GROWS companies as an alternative of dismantling them.”

HFPA members cited on this e mail thread didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Boehly’s proposal is the newest rebound try to convey the HFPA again into the Hollywood fold. Final yr, NBC dropped the published of the 2022 Globes present, a contingent of highly effective publicists boycotted the group, and studios together with Netflix and Warner Media reduce ties after The Occasions’ investigation raised questions concerning the group’s moral and monetary lapses and revealed that not one of many then 87 members was Black.

Since then, the nonprofit HFPA has undertaken a sequence of reforms together with establishing new bylaws, banning items and including 21 new members, six of whom are Black.

The HFPA has not but introduced when the group will vote on the Boehly proposal.