Welcome back to What I’m Hearing...

New year, new you? Puck readers are happier, healthier and more productive, so become a member today, and subscribe your entire group by emailing [email protected].     

Discussed in today’s email: David Zaslav, Adam Aron, Helen Hoehne, Seth Oster, Nancy Utley, Tom Rothman, Ari Emanuel, Thomas Tull, and the fall of Rome.

Sponsored by HBO Max

How NBC Resolved Its $60 Million Globes Contract Dispute

Will everyone just pretend the Globes don’t exist?

Tonight’s untelevised, unglamorous, un-dignified Golden Globe Awards carries at least one silver lining for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and its producing partner, MRC: They ultimately probably won’t lose money on it.

NBC usually pays MRC (formerly Dick Clark Productions) around $60 million to air the Globes, which the producer splits with the H.F.P.A. That’s not happening this year, thanks to NBC yanking the show off the air amid the H.F.P.A.’s diversity and ethics scandal. Regular readers will remember that I noted awhile back that MRC wanted to be paid anyway, arguing that NBC unilaterally canceled the 2022 Globes before giving MRC a chance to fix any problems. NBC said no way, claiming that MRC, thanks to the talent boycott, was unable to deliver a show on par with previous years—as required by the contract—thus there’s no obligation to pay the hefty license fee.

Who’s right? Both, maybe. According to a well-placed source, the dispute has been resolved with no money changing hands for this year’s untelevised show, and NBC has agreed to add a year to the contract to televise the Globes. That eight-year deal, which began with the 2019 show, will now be extended to 2027. So MRC and the H.F.P.A. will have a chance to make up this year’s lost revenue on the back end of the contract.That’s if there’s a Globes in 2027. Or 2023. All of this is premised on the ability to revive the telecast after a year off the air and the ongoing publicist-led boycott. MRC and the H.F.P.A. declined to comment on the deal. An NBC rep says, “We don’t comment on the terms of our contracts.”

Which leads me to...

Quote of the Week

“For the box office—when there was a fully functioning box office—those award shows were everything. The recognition there became the reason to go see a smaller movie. How do you do that in the current climate? It’s hard.”

—Nancy Utley, the former co-chairman of Fox Searchlight, lamenting the demise of the Golden Globes and Covid-impacted awards shows.

A little more on this...

News and Notes, Sunday Edition

• The Globes’ silence is deafening: At 6pm tonight, for about 90 minutes in the nearly empty International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, perhaps the saddest Hollywood awards show ever will take place. No celebrities, no drinks or dinner, very little reason to celebrate. The 100 or so members of the boycotted Hollywood Foreign Press Association are all invited to attend the untelevised Golden Globes, but the program is nothing but president Helen Hoehne and H.F.P.A. philanthropy recipients reading nominees and winners. There’s a Zoom link for members who aren’t there, and light appetizers will be available afterward by the pool.

ADVERTISEMENT

FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT