INSIDE LOOK AT THE OSCARS

 

Oscar poster produced by Gravillis Inc, - https://www.gravillisinc.com/home/

Let’s be frank. It takes a very talented village to create a successful Oscars telecast and the 96th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide some of those key players include Raj Kapoor, executive producer, and showrunner,  Molly McNearney, executive producer; Katy Mullan, executive producer, and Rickey Minor, music director. This will mark host Jimmy Kimmel's fourth time hosting. 

In case you’ve been living under a very big rock without Wifi you know that executive producer and showrunner Kapoor has worked on stages and screens around the world including producing the two most recent Academy Awards, and the seven most recent 

Grammys, ACMs, AMA’s, American Idol, The Beatles Grammy Special, Billboards, CMAs, Dancing With The Stars, Disneyland 60, Emmys, Greatest Hits, iHeart Radio Music Awards, RDMA’s, Sinatra 100 Grammy Special, The Voice, Xfactor and XQ Super School Live. 

Rob Paine returns as co-executive producer, and Taryn Hurd returns as talent producer. Producers Sarah Levine Hall, Erin Irwin , and Jennifer Sharron, music director Rickey Minor and lighting designers Bob Dickinson and Noah Mitz also rejoin the team.

Writers for this year’s show include Jamie Abrahams, Rory Albanese, Amberia Allen, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Bryan Cook, Blaire Erskine, Devin Field, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Eric Immerman, Jesse Joyce, Kimmel, Carol Leifer, Jon Macks, Mitch Marchand, Greg Martin, Jesse McLaren, McNearney, Keaton Patti, Danny Ricker, Louis Virtel and Troy Walker. The show’s production team also includes director Hamish Hamilton and production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley.

One of the key themes of the 2024 Oscars according to Kapoor, is “connection” and here’s what Raj Kapoor, Molly McNearney, Katy Mullan, and Rickey Minor had to share about making the 96th Oscars® extra special.

QUESTION:  What is going to be the theme of the show? Each Oscar is so distinctive based on what you guys have been cooking up for the past few weeks. So can you preview for us what we have in store? 

RAJ KAPOOR: I feel like our theme is human connection, emotion, inspiration, and creativity. Those are the things that we keep coming back to as we've created this show. 

QUESTION: One of the great announcements is that all five musical performances will be happening this year. Ricky, how exciting is it that we're going to have such a variety of performances this year as far as the musical performances and then what you are doing with your team, both the kickoff and throughout the show? 

RICKEY MINOR: Well, music is one of the highest vibrations on the planet and it changes the molecular structure, I know that each note that we play, it comes from a place of love and it hits there. And the artist who we've been working with [for these] performances, it was like home[coming] week.  We had so much fun, we kept laughing [so hard] that I finally had to say, ‘ok, look, we got to get to the music!’

QUESTION: You mentioned that one of the central themes, this year, is connection.  Can you push into that a little further? 

RK: When we were picking presenters this year, it was really about storytelling. We were really trying to find connections with our presenters, so everybody that's coming to the stage already has a connection and sometimes they have a connection to that category. And I think one of the things we're most excited about is what we call the 'Fab Five.'  We did a deep dive into so many of the past Oscar shows, and even though we've been a part of previous shows, even though I think all of us have watched the show since we were kids, we always feel like we learn. So we went back, we did a deep dive into Oscar's history, and one of the best moments that we loved (and has not been repeated until this year) was what [producer] Bill Condon did, which was past  [Oscar] winners presenting with nominees. It was this lovely storytelling, and again, it came down to connection. 

The 96th Oscars® hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

This piece has been edited for length and clarity.