Globes ceremony cancelled
Keira Knightley has been nominated for a Golden Globe
Also In The News
|
Published by Harper Collins, hardback, 382 pages, £16. |  |
Tuesday, 08, Jan 2008 05:44
The Golden Globe awards ceremony is to be cancelled after eleventh-hour talks failed to find a resolution over the screening of the ceremony.
It had been reported that broadcaster NBC was considering pulling the telecast due to the ongoing screen writers' strike and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has now confirmed the awards ceremony is to be called off and replaced with a news conference.
Numerous members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) were expected to boycott the Golden Globes in support of the strike by Writers Guild of America (WGA) members after a statement on Saturday said there was "unanimous agreement" among actors not to cross picket lines.
Jorge Camara, president of the HFPA, whose members determine the Golden Globe winners, said the victors would now be named at an hour-long press conference on Sunday January 13th.
"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 favourite stars," he added in a statement.
According to the Hollywood Reporter the HFPA had put pressure on NBC to pull the broadcast as it hoped the WGA would lift its pickets in response, enabling stars to attend the ceremony.
A source with knowledge of the situation told the Hollywood trade paper that NBC was trying to find "a middle ground", potentially including a scaled-back event or a postponement.
WGA West president Patric Verrone told Variety the failure of last-minute negotiations was the fault of the major studios rather than the result of an unwillingness to compromise on the part of the writers.
"I'm hoping that they see the collapse of awards season and our ability to make interim deals with other companies as a sign that we are serious, and they need to get back to the table with us," he said.