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Golden Globes ceremony scrapped

Other News Materials 8 January 2008 05:59 (UTC +04:00)

This year's Golden Globes ceremony is to be scrapped and replaced with a news conference amid a strike by writers over royalties, organisers say.

The winners will now be revealed in an hour-long conference next Sunday that replaces the dinner and ceremony.

Hollywood actors had vowed to boycott the event in support of the writers.

Without top actors present, TV networks had threatened not to screen the film and TV awards, regarded as second in prestige only to the Oscars.

Jorge Camara, president of the Golden Globe organisers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, said: "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 favourite stars."

The conference revealing the film and TV award winners will be aired at 1800 local time (0200 GMT) next Sunday in Beverly Hills.

The move follows the announcement on Saturday by the Screen Actors' Guild, the union which represents Hollywood actors, that its members would boycott the awards.

Union president Alan Rosenberg said there was "unanimous agreement" not to cross picket lines set up by writers.

"After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross WGA (Writers' Guild of America) picket lines," he said.

The WGA, which has been on strike since early November, thanked the actors' union for its "solidarity and support".

Its members are in dispute over so-called "residuals" - royalties for work distributed online or released on DVD.

The WGA says it is engaged in a "crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come".

The dispute has virtually halted the production of TV comedy and drama shows. ( BBC )

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