Golden Globes Producer Suggests Expanding Categories After Uproar Over All-Male Directing Noms

Zack Sharf

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Will the uproar over the 2020 Golden Globe nominations result in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) making changes to the ceremony? Globes telecast producer Barry Adelman tells Variety that one possible solution could be opening up the categories to include more nominations. This year’s Globes nominations shut out women in categories such as Best Director and Best Screenplay. The HFPA has been particularly slammed for once again nominating only male filmmakers in the Best Director race. The Globes have only nominated five women for Best Director in its 77-year history.

“Every year, somebody gets left out,” Adelman said. “There’s so much talent going on, maybe we need to expand the categories so more people can be part of it.”

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The Oscars expanded categories in June 2009 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it would be nominating 10 films for Best Picture as opposed to five. That decision was made after the Academy came under fire for snubbing acclaimed blockbusters such as “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” in the Best Picture race in favor of more divisive indie fare such as “The Reader.”

HFPA president Lorenzo Soria maintains the group votes on films without taking the gender of each movie’s director and screenwriter into consideration. “What happened is that we don’t vote by gender,” Soria told Variety in the wake of the 2020 nomination backlash. “We vote by film and accomplishment.”

Adelman directed anyone upset with the male-dominated film nominations to this year’s television nominations, which include several series with female showrunners.

“A lot of the big television shows are created by women, so I think across the board there is a good representation,” Adelman said. “Maybe in a couple of those categories, we wish it could be a little different. Who knows what will happen next year.”

“Honey Boy” director Alma Har’el was one of several women directors to speak up against the Globes after it only nominated men for Best Director. “These are not our people and they do not represent us,” the filmmaker wrote on social media. “Do not look for justice in the awards system. We are building a new world.”

Har’el continued, ““Lulu Wang, Mati Diop, Greta Gerwig, Olivia Wilde, Lorene Scafaria, Marielle Heller, Melina Matsoukas, Chinonye Chukwu, [and] Céline Sciamma made films this year that reached people and touched them. That’s our awards. No one can take that away.”

The 2020 Golden Globe Awards ceremony is set to air January 5.

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