Third in a series of interviews with individuals who work to create the Golden Globes show.

Richard A. Pizante, senior VP of production for the Golden Globes, often has to tell people, “I’m a producer, I’m not a magician.”

However, people who work with him might protest that he IS a magician. Pizante is one of many people who work hard to make the Golden Globes telecast seem effortless. The “party of the year” takes place at the Beverly Hilton Jan. 5, 2025. The January 2024 ceremony was his initiation into the challenges. Since he’s done it before, this year should be easy, right?

Well, no.

For the upcoming ceremony, the team has added several days of planning to the production schedule because of all the hotel’s construction and the added six days to the load-in process will add to the budget.

But Pizante is not complaining. Jay Penske, head of DCP and exec producer of the show, “brings out the best in you,” he says. “Jay has a strong aesthetic, a vision for what he wants this show to be.”

Many people who are the head of production find their job is frequently saying no. “But I never want to be the person who says ‘No you can’t do this.’ ‘No’ is not an option,” he says.

Aside from major planning, “We have to come up with backup plans because there are so many variables, things you can’t plan for, like the weather and people who arrive late. You have to think on your feet.”

Aside from coordinating the work of his unit, he deals with the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau, City Council, Unified School District, fire marshals and police departments, to update them on the changes required each year. Pizante also deals with any concerns of the Hilton executives, and vendors — the companies that supply lighting equipment, audio, camera rentals, set-building, etc.

Beyond concerns about practical issues like traffic and safety, Beverly Hills is a community and is very protective of its image.

Pizante has been working at Dick Clark Prods. since September 2023, saying “I’ve always wanted to work on the Globes.”

In 2016 he interviewed for the job when it opened, but the company went with someone else. Seven years later, DCP posted the job again and this time he got it. “I’ve always been freelance and never worked for a company until now.”

Pizante was born in Hollywood Presbyterian and graduated from Beverly Hills High — his senior prom was at the Hilton.

After attending UCLA, he found an ad in Variety for Brown-Kraft business-management company. While working, he started volunteering as a runner-intern. He did a lot of awards shows, talk, game shows, political conventions, almost every aspect of TV, he says, except scripted television.

“I liked the pressure of live television, and where you always need a contingency plan, which is critical to the process.”

After many years in freelance TV work, he found a job perfect for him; it’s not work many people can do.

His duties at DCP include working on all shows, including “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Country Music Awards and Streamy Awards and, of course, the Golden Globes.

The job sounds exhausting, but he says, “You’re only as good as the people who support you. And we have a lot of good people. I don’t like the word ‘team,’ because it insinuates competition; I like ‘unit’ better because you’re all one, working toward a common goal.

“It’s a tremendous challenge to get the show reined in — and it’s all going to change next year.”

That’s because the ongoing Hilton construction will require another rethink of arrivals and red carpet. Several weeks before the 2025 ceremony, he says, “We’re already drawing up plans for next year.”

So yes, it will require his skills as a producer — and as a magician.