LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Liane Hansen.
Tonight, a lot of us would have been glued to our televisions to watch the stars parade down the red carpet at the annual Golden Globes Awards in Hollywood. But actors refuse to cross the picket line in support of the striking writers, so the ceremony has been cancelled.
And as NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports, that's been a costly decision.
KAREN GRIGSBY BATES: Cancellation of the Golden Globes means more than just a good time lost for the celebrities involved and fans that like to watch them. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the L.A. County Development Corporation, says some serious money has just gone down the drain.
Mr. JACK KYSER (Chief Economist, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation): The Golden Globes' enormous ceremony will generate about $60 million for the L.A. County economy.
BATES: Kyser says, besides the show's actual production cost, there are other expenses.
Mr. KYSER: Studio spending on ad campaigns, star perks, in-town parties.
BATES: Because all the major parties associated with the Globes have been cancelled, Kyser says a lot of people who never appear in movies or on television will also be feeling the pain.
Mr. KYSER: The banquet staff at the Beverly Hilton and the people serving at all of the parties, because they can generate a lot of tip income. Limo services, people providing valet parking, security services, flower shops, even dermatologists.
BATES: Oh, no Botox. Madeline Leonard manages Cloutier, a top-tier agency that provides stylist, hair and makeup artists to Hollywood's A-list celebrities. With no famous clients to service for the Golden Globes, Leonard says the phones at Cloutier have been ominously silent.
Ms. MADELINE LEONARD (Head of Operations, Cloutier): Award show weekends are the busiest weekends of the year. And the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes have always been the two busiest weekends for hair and makeup.
BATES: One awards tradition is holding steady despite the fact that the Golden Globes have gotten bust, and that's the swag sweep. Swag stands for Stuff We All Get.
Unidentified Woman: This one retails for about 6,000. So, it's 18-karat gold diamonds and really unique.
BATES: Melissa Lemer owns Silver Spoon, an entertainment marketing business. At Voda Spa in West Hollywood, celebs are happily shopping for freebies at long tables of jewelry, cosmetics, clothes and accessories as Lemer's security looks on. Lemer says she felt obligated to support sponsors who've already shelled out for the event in the hopes that celebrities will be seen in their wears eventually.
Ms. MELISSA LEMER (Co-founder, Silver Spoon Entertainment Marketing): A lot of people, unfortunately, have pulled out so many things. I mean, people are losing so much money on advertising that, for me, to turn to all the sponsors and say we're not doing it, that'd be a waste of their money. I can't do that to them.
BATES: One of Lemer's celebrity guests would normally be too busy to be here. Melissa Rivers is usually coordinating last-minute details for red carpet coverage with her mother, Joan, heard here at last year's Golden Globes.
(Soundbite of archived Golden Globe Red Carpet Coverage)
Ms. JOAN RIVERS (Actress): Mark Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, just another simple girl in a dress.
Ms. JENNIFER LOPEZ (Actress): How are you, Joan?
Ms. RIVERS: Whose dress?
Ms. LOPEZ: This is Marquesa.
BATES: This year, says Melissa, both Rivers ladies are staying home.
Ms. MELISSA RIVERS (Actress): My mother has not crossed the picket lines. She will not - she has not done any of the shows that have had picket lines in front of them. And you have to support the people that have supported you all those years. And the Writer's Guild was the first guild she ever belonged to.
BATES: Performers' support of the writers pretty much guaranteed the show wouldn't go on. It's meant that NBC has lost several million dollars in advertising; that magazines like Us and In Style won't have the awards show fashion coverage their readers crave; it means that restaurants and clubs that normally do very well being rented out for private parties won't receive ad income.
If there's a silver lining to the Globe's wreckage, Cloutier's Madeline Leonard says, it might be this.
Ms. LEONARD: I think it's kind of a wake-up call, and it will push people to resolve this prior to the Oscars.
BATES: Which are six short weeks from now - not that anybody is counting.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.