Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner will produce the 95th Oscars telecast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Saturday.
The announcement was made at the beginning of a meeting open to all Academy members, the first time in eight years that AMPAS has conducted such a forum. The hiring of Weiss and Kirshner means that the upcoming Oscars ceremony, which will take place on March 12, 2023, will be the first with a producing team whose experience does not include a substantial amount of work in film.
Weiss, who will also direct the Oscars, for the eighth consecutive year, is a director and producer who known for his work on live telecasts like the Oscars, the Tonys and the Kennedy Center Honors. Kirshner has won nine Emmys for his live telecasts, including the Tony Awards, the Emmys, the last eight Democratic Conventions and 14 Super Bowl halftime shows.
In the past, Oscar-producing teams have typically included at least one producer with extensive film work – including, in recent years, Will Packer, Steven Soderbergh, Lynette Howell Taylor, Donna Gigliotti, Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd. But with ratings for the Oscars steadily declining, Academy CEO Bill Kramer has emphasized the importance of having producers with experience in live television.
Kramer has also said that he wants to hire producers on a long-term basis rather than for a single show, though Weiss and Kirshner, partners in White Cherry Entertainment, are currently committed only to producing the 2023 show.
The Academy and ABC also announced a creative team that will include veterans of “Monday Night Football,” the Met Gala and Ariana Grande and Coldplay concert tours. They include red carpet executive producer David Chamberlain, red carpet creative consultants Lisa Love and Raul Avila, creative director Kenny Gravillis and production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, the first women-led design team at the Oscars.
The 95th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC on March 12, 2023.
