January 7, 2019: Golden Globes Steer Clear of Controversy, Oscars Reconsidering Kevin Hart as Host, This Company Makes the Most Recognizable Award Season Trophies

1. GOLDEN GLOBES STEER CLEAR OF CONTROVERSY: The Golden Globes ceremonies of recent years have prominently addressed America's political turmoil and the #MeToo movement in Hollywood. The 76th annual ceremony, which took place Sunday, played it somewhat safe in terms of addressing current controversies in the entertainment industry. The New York Times: "The hosts, Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, kicked off their opening monologue declaring that they were 'the only two people left in Hollywood who haven’t gotten in trouble for saying something offensive' and announcing that one lucky audience member 'Will! Host! The Oscars!' Their opener, amiable if a little stiff, played on the idea of aggressive niceness, 'roasting' stars in the room with compliments. Even one of the zingers, a joke by Oh about Hollywood’s casting white actors as Asian characters, produced a cheerfully penitent 'I’m sorry!' from Emma Stone, who played a part-Asian character in Aloha. But the most striking part of the duologue came at the end, when Oh turned celebratory to pay tribute to the diverse casts of many of the year’s nominated works. 'I see you,' she said. 'All these faces of change. And now so will everyone else.' (Her message came across even louder when she won the award for best actress in a TV drama for Killing Eve and addressed her parents in Korean.) The awards aside—and you should always set the perplexing Golden Globe Awards choices aside—this year’s Globes were a test case for what works at an awards show these days. Having tried running politically hot and sardonically cold, this year it wondered if warm might be just right. Sometimes it was cozy, sometimes just tepid. ... The spirit of the past couple years’ Globes activism took a quieter form than the Oprah Winfrey speech that caused a boomlet of 2020 candidacy speculation last year. Regina King, accepting the supporting film actress award for If Beale Street Could Talk, challenged herself and the audience to produce projects with 50 percent women. Glenn Close, accepting her best actress award, quipped about her film: 'It was called The Wife. I think that’s why it took 14 years to get made.'" https://nyti.ms/2RBMkhs

2. OSCARS RECONSIDERING KEVIN HART AS HOST: The Oscars, which still doesn't have a host for the February 24 ceremony, are reportedly open to Kevin Hart returning after the comedian and actor appeared on The Ellen Show to give an apology over past homophobic tweets, which led to him stepping down from the hosting gig last month. Ellen DeGeneres, a former host of the ceremony, also reached out to the Academy to ask them to rehire Hart. Variety: "Leadership at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC, the network that broadcasts the telecast, are open to Hart resuming his role as emcee if he signals that he wants the job. That message could come through a spokesperson or on social media, where Hart maintains an active presence on Instagram and Twitter, the individual added. The about face is extraordinary because Hart’s appointment as host stirred up so much controversy. Past homophobic jokes that Hart had made resurfaced on Twitter and other social media platforms within hours of the announcement that he would emcee the broadcast. The comic was initially dismissive, saying he had previously addressed those remarks. He later offered a more full-throated apology after announcing he was declining the Academy’s offer. In the ensuing weeks, Oscar producers have struggled to find a replacement. The Academy hoped Hart would have a meaningful conversation about his past tweets in the aftermath of his December exit, another insider close to the show’s well-documented troubles said. It’s unclear if Hart’s apologies on Ellen were sufficient, and if he demonstrated an understanding of the effect of his old tweets.  While Hart still sits atop a wish list of marquee hosts within the Academy, show producer Donna Gigliotti and her team have been working 'non-stop' on living without him, the insider said. This includes options like a cameo-heavy, hostless show, which Variety exclusively reported last month. Momentum built for Hart’s return on Thursday after both the network and the wider Academy leadership were made aware of a conversation between the comedian and DeGeneres in which she urged the comic to reconsider his decision to step down and stressed that his past homophobic comments were not representative of a man she called a friend. For his part, Hart said that the criticism was being driven by trolls who wanted to destroy his career." https://bit.ly/2Vvaz09

3. THIS COMPANY MAKES THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE AWARD SEASON TROPHIES: The 76th annual Golden Globes took place on Sunday, kicking off the 2019 award season. Winners received the ceremony's golden globe on a black marble base statuette, a trophy made by the Society Awards. Founded in 2007 by David Moritz, the Society Awards creates trophies and statuettes for nearly 100 awards ceremonies around the world. A former entertainment lawyer, Moritz discussed how some of the iconic awards are made and how much they cost. Vox: "A good award is tall and rather slender, so you can hold it with one hand and put it over your head. A bulky sculpture that takes two hands to hold is going to be hard to accept on a stage. If the award is for an award program, it should have a nice silhouette, in case the design is ever incorporated into the logo of the program. When we design awards for sports, we sometimes make them very trophy-like, but otherwise, we like our awards to work as sculptures, or as home decor, or just as beautiful objects. It starts by asking the client: What kind of thing are you looking for? What size? How many? When do you need them? After that, it’s kind of like commissioning an artist. Other award companies will just start designing and then have the client look at sketches. That might seem fun in the beginning, but if I send you a sketch, how are you really going to imagine the award? Are you a fine artist or a sculptor or something? We make fully finished, photorealistic, 3-D CAD [computer-aided design] renderings, like Pixar. Our clients get to make refinements after that, but we don’t ask them to art-direct. ... Simple is beautiful, and simple is cheaper. For under $100 per unit, you can do something elegant, like a simple crystal shape. When you move up to, like, a nice 12-inch-tall golden figure of something, you’re probably looking at $10,000 to $15,000 in one-time setup costs, and then $250 to $350 per unit. That will get you something totally nice, respectable, very good. On the other hand, you might have $50,000 or $100,000 to produce one or two editions of an award, maybe for a major golf tournament." https://bit.ly/2C3l4i9

* LOCAL NEWS *

DALLAS/FORT WORTH:  The Expo Group, an exhibitions and event partner, has appointed Marisa Lichtenstein national sales director of Level5 Events by the Expo Group. 

LOS ANGELES:  The Producers Guild’s 30th annual P.G.A. Awards will take place January 19 at the Beverly Hilton.

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  Dance Dance Resolution, a yoga, mediation, and dancing event presented by Daybreaker, will take place January 20 at Faena Forum. 

Outstanding in the Field, a farm-to-table dinner series, will celebrate Stock Island’s seafood and fishing heritage with a dinner on January 30 at Bama Shrimp Dock. The event will be hosted in collaboration with Lost Kitchen Supper Club, Hogfish Bar & Grill, Roostica, and Key West’s Thirsty Mermaid. 

Design on a Dime Miami will take place February 1-3 at the Moore Building. 

NEW YORK:  Barbecue restaurant Blue Smoke in Flatiron is closed for renovations starting today through the end of January. When it reopens, the restaurant, which is owned by Union Square Hospitality Group, will no longer accept tips, including downstairs at Jazz Standard. 

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

ORLANDO/CENTRAL FLORIDA:  DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld has appointed Marje Jones as director of sales and marketing.

TORONTO:  The Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival will take place January 26 at Roundhouse Park. 

YOUR NEWS: What are you doing? Tell us: [email protected]. 

JOB BOARD: Post a job or find a job: http://jobs.bizbash.com

With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

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