[4][5] It is best known for founding and conducting the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California, which honors notable achievements in film and television, from its inception in 1943 until 2023.

[11] There, Jennifer Jones was awarded "Best Actress" honors for The Song of Bernadette, which also won for "Best Film," while Paul Lukas took home "Best Actor" laurels for Watch on the Rhine.

[18] In response, in early May 2021, the association announced a series of reforms aimed at increasing membership with a "specific focus on recruiting Black members,"[19] improving governance, and reducing conflicts of interest.

[30][31] The 2020 residency program winners were TIFF participants: All These Creatures by Australian Charles Williams, Misterio by Chema Garcia from Spain, and Measure by Canadian director Karen Chapman.

[32] The 2021–22 residency fellows were: Maha Al-Saati (Saudi Arabia) Hair: The Story of Grass, Jeff Wong (Canada) H’mong Sisters, Alvaro Gago Diaz (Spain) Matria, Ahmad Bahrami (Iran) The Wasteland, Ana Rocha de Sousa (Portugal) Listen, Ricky D’Ambrose (USA) The Cathedral, Jose Maria Aviles (Ecuador) Al Oriente, Sol Berruezo Pichon-Riviére (Argentina) Nuestros Dias Mas Felices, Beatrice Baldacci (Italy) La Tana, Sahraa Karimi (Afghanistan), Rohena Gera (India), and Nuhash Humayun (Bangladesh).

[33][34] The 2023 residency program fellows were: Tahmini Raffaella (Banu), Monica Dugo (Come le tartarughe), Eldar Shibanov (Mountain Onion), Hanna Västinsalo (Palimpsest), Phumelele Mthembu (African America), and Soudade Kaadan (Nezouh).

[37] A 1996 article in the Washington Post alleged that the majority of HFPA members were not full-time professional journalists, but rather part-time freelance writers for smaller publications as well as non-journalists, ranging from a college professor to an appliance salesman.

[38] An investigation by the Los Angeles Times in 2021 found that the HFPA regularly paid its members over $1 million annually for serving on various committees, which might jeopardize its status as a tax-exempt non-profit organization.

Members allegedly were offered access to actors and film sets, as well as expensive gifts, such as high-priced hotel stays and restaurant bookings.

She alleged that the group was operating as a cartel that monopolized the market of foreign entertainment journalism, that she had been rejected as not to cannibalize other Scandinavian members, and that her inability to join was impacting her ability to gain their "exclusive" access to celebrities and junkets.

"[44] In April 2021, former HFPA president Philip Berk was expelled after he emailed fellow members an article that described Black Lives Matter as a "racist hate movement" and slammed organizer Patrisse Cullors for purchasing a home in an upscale neighborhood.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explained that the company "[doesn't] believe these proposed new policies—particularly around the size and speed of membership growth—will tackle the HFPA's systemic diversity and inclusion challenges, or the lack of clear standards for how your members should operate.

"[49][50] On May 10, AT&T-owned WarnerMedia and its subsidiaries similarly boycotted the HFPA, stating that the proposed reforms "[don't go] far enough in addressing the breadth of our concerns, nor does your timeline capture the immediate need by which these issues should be addressed," and also criticizing "special favors and unprofessional requests [that] have been made to our teams and to others across the industry," the lack of diversity among Golden Globe nominees and winners, and the HFPA not having an "enforced code of conduct that includes zero tolerance for unwanted physical contact of all talent and staff.

[57] In July 2022, the HFPA approved a major restructuring, under which interim CEO Todd Boehly would establish a for-profit entity via his holding company Eldridge Industries (owner of ceremony producer Dick Clark Productions, as well as the entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter) that will hold the Golden Globe Awards' intellectual property and oversee the "professionalization and modernization" of the ceremony, including "[increasing] the size and diversity of the available voters for the annual awards."