Bare-bones press conference will replace lavish Golden Globes ceremony

After trying for weeks to salvage the high-luster Golden Globe Awards ceremony, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced today that it will forgo the televised event scheduled for Sunday in favor of a scaled-down news conference broadcast on NBC.

"'The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards' NBC telecast and champagne dinner in The Beverly Hilton's International Ballroom is officially cancelled," the organization said in a statement this afternoon.

The group decided to scrap the lavish dinner and ceremony because the Writers Guild of America vowed to picket the event. But depending on what events take place Sunday, they still might picket.

Last week, the Screens Actors Guild affirmed that its members would not cross the picket line to attend and a consortium of high-level publicists said their clients would also stay away, putting the award show in jeopardy. “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 favorite stars celebrating 2007’s outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television,” said Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.  “We take some comfort, however, in knowing that this year’s Golden Globe Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled.” 

The Golden Globes news conference will be covered by NBC News, which, though part of NBC Universal, is not affected by the ongoing writers strike. (Only some news division employees are union members, and they are employed under a separate contract from the one over which the WGA is striking.)

It remains to be seen how many A-level stars will attend the news conference, which won't provide the red carpet glamour of an award ceremony.

And there is an open question about whether the 6 p.m. press conference would be packaged with a series of Golden Globes shows, including a "Dateline" special on the nominees and a program featuring clips from the winning television programs and films. The latter would possibly be produced by Dick Clark Productions, the original producer of the Golden Globes.

NBC sent an e-mail to studios earlier today saying it planned to announce such a lineup, but guild officials apparently intend to fight such a plan, viewing it as a way to allow Dick Clark Productions to remain involved.

A spokesman for the production company said the WGA was mistaken. "We have absolutely no involvement in the news conference," Terry Fahn said. Since the rest of the evening's broadcast had not been finalized, Fahn could not comment further.

More news on the strike

-- Matea Gold and John Horn