Golden Globes Announce Rule Changes and Nomination Timeline

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced some changes in the eligibility rules for the upcoming Golden Globes for TV series/miniseries, animated features, and foreign-language films.

The organization’s president, Theo Kingma, announced that the TV miniseries category will be replaced by a limited series category. A TV series’ eligibility for the category will depend on its story and content, instead of its length or number of episodes. If a TV show’s characters and storyline are limited to one season of a series, then that show will be considered a limited series. Kingma cited examples such as True Detective and Fargo which brought about the re-defined category.

“We did that because there seems to be a new trend to come out with shows that wrap up in one season and have one storyline and one cast,” Kingma explained, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

To qualify for Best Television Series, “the ongoing theme, storyline or main characters must be presented under the same title and have continuity of production supervision within the year and from year to year.”

Animated features have also been more clearly defined. The group decided that to be considered an animated feature, the film must be at least 75% animated “where the movement and characters are created or manipulated frame by frame” and not through motion-capture.

The animation category will now include non-English films as well. There was some confusion over the fact that Hayao Miyazaki’s animated Japanese drama The Wind Rises was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Motion Picture category last year. Now, animated foreign-language films will no longer be eligible for that category, which will be solely for live-action foreign films.

The released timeline for the 2015 Golden Globes states that October 31 is the deadline for submissions and nominations will be announced on December 11.

• Oct. 31: Deadline for submissions for motion pictures and TV
• Nov. 14: Deadline for submitting a media or publicist credential request for the nominations announcement
• Nov. 26: Deadline for nomination ballots to be mailed to HFPA members by Ernst & Young
• Dec. 3: Final screening date for motion pictures
• Dec. 6: Final date for Motion Picture press conferences
• Dec. 8: Deadline for receipt of nomination ballots by Ernst & Young
• Dec. 11: Announcement of nominations
• Dec. 12: Deadline for receipt of media credential applications; tinal ballots mailed to all HFPA members
• Dec. 26: Deadline for receipt of publicist credential applications
• Jan. 7, 2015: Deadline for receipt of final ballots by Ernst & Young
• Jan. 11: Presentation of the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards

The 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards will air January 11, 2015 on NBC and will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for the third consecutive year.