"The HFPA Has Already Changed Tremendously in the Past Year"
Helen Hoehne, President of the HFPA, was born in Hamburg, Germany, and relocated to the U.S. in 1994. She earned a BA in Psychology at UC Irvine in 1998 and followed up with an MA in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2000. Continuing her education, Hoehne studied journalism at UCLA from 2000 to 2002. Upon completing her degree, she began working as a correspondent for Bauer Media Group, and in 2004 became a member of the HFPA. Hoehne served on the Board of Directors from 2012 to 2019 and was elected Vice President in 2020. Hoehne has written for various publications in Germany including national magazines such as Instyle and Empire, as well as Swiss Airlines magazine, Swiss. Currently, she is a contributor to TV Movie magazine as their US Correspondent, one of Germany’s highest circulated bi-weekly television and movie magazines through the Bauer Media Group. Pivoting to broadcast journalism, Hoehne can be seen regularly in her role as a contributor on German televisions channels RTL and ProSieben.
Helen Hoehne is the President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
When you first started your career did you ever imagine your work would take you to the US?
I think anyone that aspires to become an entertainment journalist has dreams of working a red carpet at some glamourous award show. I also think anyone that starts work as a journalist starts out with a sense of curiosity. It’s what sets journalists apart I think, to ask questions, to understand the “why” behind every story, and try and find the missing pieces that make up a complete picture. I can’t say I’m very good at jigsaw puzzles, but I like to think I’m a pretty good journalist. While growing up in Germany, I think anyone is exposed to American culture and entertainment and certainly has visions of life over here. While reruns of Baywatch may have promised golden beaches and impossibly fit people, the reality was a little different with traffic on LA freeways and rents to make anyone’s pocketbook cry. Overall though I wouldn’t have traded any of it for the opportunities I have had, the friends I have made, and the stories I was able to report on.
How has entertainment journalism evolved since you first started writing about it?
I think not only entertainment journalism, but journalism as a whole has become much more difficult in large part because of the collapse of so many media companies, newspapers, and magazines going under, and a lot of journalism jobs disappearing. Social media and the internet have also greatly affected the industry by shifting reporting from journalists to celebrities and newsmakers talking directly to consumers through a tweet, TikTok video or Instagram Reel. In my area of international journalism, it has been incredibly difficult as overseas outlets cut back on supporting bureaus in the U.S. and transferring many journalists from paid staff to freelancers who often are competing against syndicated material generated out of paid studio press junkets. That makes for less original storytelling, less insightful journalism and frankly I think it is also a disservice to the celebrity talent because it makes them less interesting.
What lessons have you learned in your journey as a foreign correspondent in the US? What has helped you achieve the most out of your career?
One of the biggest challenges has been coming to terms with the American culture and traditions. Who knew I needed to become a linguistic expert in American slang? Also, in the U.S. so much value is placed on building relationships, having access and a lot of backscratching. It is a much more commodity-driven place, I think. For myself, I earned by degree in psychology and I think that has been the biggest benefit for my career and working in the U.S. in using those skills to manage talent, publicists, fellow journalists and finding ways to understand people’s motivations to help me write a better story.
What excites you the most about the work you do with the HFPA?
Well pretty much every day is exciting at the HFPA and not necessarily the good kind of excitement, but the challenges of transforming an organization that has existed since 1943 and modernizing for today’s world is immensely rewarding work. Each time I speak to a member who has enthusiasm about an interview, new movie screening or discovering a new, rising star, I remember why we got into this business in the first place. I am hopeful the future will remain bright for the HFPA and I can see an 80th Annual Golden Globes telecast for the rest of the world to enjoy.
With your new role as president of the HFPA, can you tell us what kind of reimagining you foresee for the future?
The HFPA has already changed tremendously in the past year. We have broken new ground on some truly transformative changes including a first-ever gift ban in our industry and massive changes to bring in outside independent governance and significantly expand our membership and its diversity. More importantly, we made these changes to our bylaws and governance structure, so we put in place permanent changes enabling greater diversity, accountability and transparency. I think these changes have been well received by the industry and the fans since we recently saw social media data from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild awards and Critics Choice Awards which saw our show generate more than twice the social media impressions than the other two shows combined…and we were not even broadcast! The strength of the Golden Globe brand remains strong, especially overseas and I look forward to expanding and building that brand in new markets.
Helen Hoehne
What kind of steps will the HFPA take in order to diversify the world of journalism? What problems or challenges have you identified in terms of the lack of diversity in the HFPA?
We have taken the first steps by diversifying our own membership, but we have also begun the outreach to fellow journalistic organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists and the Foreign Press Correspondents Association to find more ways to promote diversity. We also launched a partnership with the NAACP to create the Reimagine Coalition, an industry-wide effort to promote diversity and create more opportunities for minorities through the entertainment industry including in journalism. We are very optimistic and heartened by the response so far as we launched with our first affinity partners and seeing more wanting to join.
American culture and media play such a dominant role domestically and abroad. Do you think that the Golden Globes has limited its scope by having just one separate category for foreign language films?
I think there is always room to expand, reassess and reconfigure how the Golden Globes are handed out. In our history we have added, dropped, and modified categories many times and I think we can certainly look at the non-English language film category. I could even see us down the road someday recognizing non-English language television too as we see streaming and foreign broadcasters burst onto the scene with some amazing programming.
What role do journalists/the media play in making sure the entertainment industry keeps evolving to be more inclusive?
We have to remain champions for change. We have to write the stories that recognize diverse talent and ask the tough questions as to how Hollywood is going to keep not only changing but more importantly creating the opportunities allowing new diverse talent to have their own big break. We also have to continue shining a light on ourselves and hold fellow journalists accountable to change too.
