The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has revised the requirements for Golden Globe Awards eligibility due to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic on motion picture and television distribution and exhibition.
Screening rules have been relaxed in light of the closure of all theaters and screening rooms in Los Angeles. Thus the requirement that a motion picture release must be screened for HFPA members in such a facility has been temporarily suspended. In lieu of such in-person screenings:
- 1) Distributors must contact the HFPA to arrange a screening date on the official HFPA calendar that meets the timing requirements of the Golden Globes eligibility rules (i.e. not later than one week after the release of English-language motion pictures in Los Angeles); and
- 2) By that date, distributors must provide all HFPA members with a screening link or a DVD copy of the motion picture so that members may view it at home. This alternate screening procedure is in effect from March 15 until April 30, 2020, with this period subject to later review and extension.
Also changed have been theatrical release requirements for Golden Globe consideration. Previously eligibility for the Golden Globe motion picture awards called for films to be made available for exhibition in theaters or on pay-per-view cable or pay-per-view digital delivery (not subscription cable or digital delivery) in the greater Los Angeles area for a minimum seven-day period beginning prior to midnight, December 31 of the qualifying year. But now, due to the closure of L.A. area theaters, that requirement too has been temporarily suspended. Now motion pictures that had a bona fide theatrical release planned to begin in Los Angeles during the period from March 15 to April 30, 2020 (this period is subject to later review and extension) may instead be released first on a television format (e.g. subscription streaming service, subscription cable channel, broadcast television, etc.) and will still be eligible for the Golden Globe motion picture awards. (Motion pictures also may continue to be released on pay-per-view cable or digital delivery.) The HFPA’s reminders list committee will consider the application of this suspension of the rules on a case-by-case basis when compiling the annual Golden Globe reminders list in the fall.
The HFPA released a statement that it “will continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on motion picture and television distribution and exhibition and may extend these suspensions of the Golden Globe award rules and/or may make other temporary variations to those rules as it considers appropriate in the future.”
