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The Hollywood Critics Association, which recently faced wrongdoing charges and has been accused of harboring a hostile membership environment, has completed an organizational restructuring that it believes will resolve these issues. The HCA was due to present those plans to its 180 members this afternoon, including a new name: The Hollywood Creative Alliance.
Hollywood Critics Association Chairman (and We Live Entertainment journalist) Scott Menzel, who has been at the center of most controversy, remains CEO/President but is joined by a new board of directors: ABS-CBN Vice Chairman Yong Chavez; Member Engagement Lead Jeandra LeBeauf of Black Girl Nerds; Secretary Morgan Rojas of Cinemacy; and Treasurer Louis Valentine, an outside CPA who handles finances as an outside member. The HCA hosts several awards ceremonies each year that are well attended by top-class talent, including ceremonies for both television and film.
The reorganization was led by Menzel, led by corporate strategist Leslie Short of Cavu Group. Under Short’s direction, the HCA was reformed into a membership-based 501 c6 non-profit organization. The organization has also put together an extensive Members Handbook with rules and membership requirements and a code of conduct, all of which must be signed and accepted by members. This handbook also details the voting procedures for the organization’s HCA Awards.
Current members are invited to join committees such as membership/culture, internal content, events, a creative arts nominating committee, a film shortlisting committee, and a television nominating committee. A new advisory committee is set to recruit industry insiders to help consult with the organization.
The decision to sign Short came after former HCA chief executive Nikki Fowler resigned in June, blaming a “hostile, biased and unwelcoming senior management environment”. And Fowler’s exit comes after the HCA came under fire back in 2022 when a then-member, Shannon McGrew, took to social media to question some of the group’s procedures, including the way internally with funds were handled. This led to a very public back-and-forth between members online, followed by the resignations of several members (including some Variety employees).
“I listened to what the members were saying and I saw what was online,” Short said. “I spoke to Scott and some other people who were there and helped me with their leadership roles, which were very easygoing. It was a loose organization that operated. I said, “That’s great, but you’re not going anywhere fast.” There’s potential. But we really need to lay a foundation for this organization. Is it a non-profit organization? Is it registered as a non-profit organization? What does the name mean? What is the mission? What is the vision? How do you speak to members? How are the members?”
Short said “transparency” is something that comes up a lot in conversations, but she uses the term “visibility” instead. This led to the creation of the manual. “It’s all written down now,” she said. “Of course everything can be on paper. We also have people responsible and accountable for these committees and departments. We’ll keep it tight in the beginning and then give them room to grow.”
After a Hollywood Reporter revelation about HCA found that the organization had failed to file proper paperwork with the IRS, Menzel and Short said that was also cleared up as part of a major overhaul. “We assumed we would create a registered non-profit organization with the right attorneys,” Short said.
In fact, the most immediate change is the decision to remove “critic” from the HCA’s name. Founded in 2016 as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society, the group was renamed the Hollywood Critics Association by Menzel in late 2019.
“We’ve really taken the time to talk to members over the last two and a half months,” Menzel said. “We made calls, we conducted surveys. And the biggest surprise in these polls was that several members of our organization did not identify themselves as critics. We compiled a list of who you would identify as including publicist, actor, filmmaker, content creator and it was quite alarming to see that most people either ticked several boxes and a large percentage of people weren’t critics. The most important question was: Is this name the right name for the future?”
As the Hollywood Creative Alliance has said, Menzel wants to make it clearer that the organization is made up of “critics, entertainment journalists, content creators, industry influencers and creatives.” It also reflects the HCA’s move to create its own content, including podcasts, screening series, a magazine and aftershows. Menzel said keeping the name “critic” would be “a lie to the public.”
“When we say we’re a critics organization, we’re not,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, we now have an opportunity to rebrand and become something that pretty much sums up this industry…it’s the future of what everyone is doing. We’re all creative in many ways, we’re all content creators, whether you’re a filmmaker, YouTuber or podcaster, that’s the direction everyone is headed in.”
However, Menzel and Short said only critics and entertainment journalists will vote for the HCA Awards: “As we’re just getting started on this relaunch and the critics and entertainment journalists have always been the anchor, it’s really important to us to make sure they ‘Im At the moment we are still the center of attention,” Menzel added.
When asked about the very public group fights, Short said: “I’m not going to say one person is wrong and one person is right. I would like to say that there are clearly problems: if someone thinks like that, we have to look for the reasons why. Part of that was making sure there were processes and procedures in place. Now we realize that there are different ways to have a voice within the organization. And if you’re having trouble, here’s the address to contact. In everything I’ve done, I’ve reviewed and restructured the DEI. Race, Gender, LGBTQ+, Disabilities…. We will have workshops to talk about whether it is micro-aggression, bias or racism. What does this mean for each individual and what is and is not tolerated within the organization? That is why we are also creating a code of conduct that everyone has to sign.”
Menzel and Short didn’t directly address Fowler’s exit, but Short added that she would be consulting for a month to help implement the group’s reforms. “You can’t go out and fight something or fight someone’s feelings,” she said. “You have to go in and get the job done. So this relaunch will be the work. That’s the work Scott has done over the last two and a half months. It’s not like we announce this and then I’m gone. Now we need to roll it out and keep the work going.”
As Menzel remains in charge, he’s openly taking criticism of his management of the organization — while admitting that last year’s drama “had a huge impact on my mental health and my wife’s.” And personally, I really could didn’t get over it until Leslie came on board and did those daily briefings.”
Menzel said he’s neurodivergent, “and that’s when I get overly focused on things.” And then when something negative happens, it becomes my only existence. For the past year, I’ve relived every single thing in my life… I think a lot of the information that was out there was misinformation. I think that was due to the lack of structure and leadership and, quite frankly, this organization was something I never imagined. I can declare myself dead. But we have to think about the future. And the future was me sitting back and saying, even if “x, y, and z” aren’t true, maybe someone has some opinion on that. How can I fix this? To make sure it doesn’t happen again. And that’s what this is about. It repairs and enhances.”
Short added that in light of the earlier criticism, “there is new leadership.” So Scott won’t be a man on the island trying to figure that out. People step in to help. There will now be a Vice-Chair, a Director of Membership Engagement. There is an external agency that takes care of the financial management. So there’s a core, real leadership, and then there’s going to be an advisory board of industry insiders. I think one of the biggest things is that there is structure. where there was a lack of structure. Look, the light switch won’t flip and everything will be fine. That will be a process.”
Next up for the HCA is the HCA Film Awards, which will be held on January 6, 2024, followed by the postponed HCA TV Awards, which have already been voted on and will be announced at an event on January 8, 2024. The HCA Creative Awards will take place on February 26, 2024.