The Golden Globes organization is ending its policy of paying a $75,000 annual salary to former Hollywood Foreign Press Association members, who vote on the organization’s annual film and TV honors.
The move comes as the former HFPA members were one year into a five-year deal, reached in June 2023 between the group and its new owners Penske Media Eldridge. Within the agreement, a $75,000 base annual salary was designated for voters that had been grandfathered into the newly shaped organization after being members of the HFPA, previously the title for the Globes’ voting body before this new acquisition.
Globes president Helen Hoehne informed organization members of the change during a video conference call held Friday. The pivot to stop paying those voters matches the pro bono protocol traditional to other major awards events, like the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, which do not provide compensation for their membership.
Since the Globes entered crisis mode in 2021, amid severe criticism of the lack of diversity among its insular membership, the organization has undergone an overhaul. What was once the nonprofit HFPA is now the for-profit Golden Globes LLC. (The venture is owned by Variety parent company Penske Media Corporation.) As part of the transformation and rehabilitation of the awards, the new regime expanded the pool of voters for the Globes from less than 100 to about 300 — most of whom are not paid for their services. But as part of the transition from HFPA to Golden Globes, some HFPA members were grandfathered in and brought in under the five-year contract in 2023.
Hoehne’s meeting was held with about 50 former HFPA members who voted in the most recent Globes ceremony held on Jan. 5. The exec shared that impacted members would be offered $102,500 in severance; voters are also invited to reapply for accreditation each year.
A spokesperson for the Golden Globes describes the change in policy as “an acknowledgement that continuing to pay members could add to a perception of bias in voting.” The spokesperson also stated that the Globes was “fully meeting its contractual obligations to the voters by offering the severance.”
News of the Globes policy change was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety parent company PMC owns Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.
