2019 Oscars: Production team for 91st Academy Awards announced
Production Team Welcomes New Faces, Includes Veterans
Producers Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss today announced 11 key members of the production team for the 91st Oscars, which will air live on Sunday, February 24th on ABC. It was previously announced that Weiss would be returning as director for his fourth consecutive year, while sharing producing duties with Gigliotti for the first time.
“We are pleased to welcome five new faces to the Oscars production team,” said Gigliotti and Weiss. “These highly accomplished professionals join six returning show veterans, including lighting director Robert Dickinson, who this year commemorates his 30th Oscars ceremony.”
Rob Paine has been associated with the Oscars telecast for more than 20 years and returns as the supervising producer. Paine has more than 200 television events to his name and has earned six Primetime Emmy® Award nominations, a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. His other credits include 12 Super Bowl Halftime Shows, “The Kennedy Center Honors” and the “Primetime Emmy Awards.”
Production designer David Korins joins the Oscars telecast for the first time. His television credits include “Elton John: I’m Still Standing – A Grammy Salute” and “Grease: Live!,” for which he won an Emmy Award. Korins’s prolific work for the Broadway stage includes “Hamilton” (Tony Award® nomination), “Dear Evan Hansen” and “War Paint” (Tony Award nomination). He is currently the scenic designer for the upcoming Broadway musical “Beetlejuice” and is serving as the creative director for “Hamilton: The Exhibition,” set to open in Chicago later this year.
Lighting designer Robert Dickinson returns for his 30th Oscars show. He has won 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, including three for Oscars telecasts. Additionally, Dickinson has been honored with two Daytime Emmy Awards. His credits include “The Kennedy Center Honors,” “Grammy Awards®,” “Primetime Emmy Awards,” “Tony Awards” and “Academy of Country Music Awards”; Olympics ceremonies in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Athens and Vancouver; the ceremonies of the European Games in Baku; and the specials “Peter Pan Live!” and “The Sound of Music Live!”
Jon Macks, head writer, returns for his 22nd Oscars telecast. He has been honored with eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including three for the Oscars telecast. In addition to his work on the Oscars, Macks wrote for 22 years on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and writes for Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Chris Rock and Martin Short.
Taryn Hurd rejoins the Oscars telecast team for the sixth consecutive year as talent producer. She also has served as talent producer on the past five Governors Awards ceremonies along with numerous television variety specials and award shows.
Co-producer Raj Kapoor joins the Oscars for the third consecutive year, overseeing screen content and performances. Kapoor’s recent credits include “The 60th Annual Grammy Awards,” “The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards,” “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “People’s Choice Awards” and “Stand Up to Cancer.” Kapoor has mounted numerous large-scale international tours for Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, One Republic, American Idol, Jason Aldean, Shania Twain, Juanes, Jewel, Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato.
Mitchell Marchand joins the Oscars telecast for the first time as a writer. He has written for numerous live award shows and variety specials, including “The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards,” “The 48th NAACP Image Awards,” “Telethon for America,” “2018 Soul Train Awards,” “Jazz at the White House” and “BET Awards.”
Rickey Minor makes his Oscars telecast debut as music director. A seven-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Music Direction, he won in 2017 for “Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America.” He received nominations for “Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Bee Gees,” “Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at The White House,” “An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Chaka Khan,” “The 51st Annual Grammy Awards,” “50th Annual Grammy Awards” and “Genius: A Night for Ray Charles.” Notably, Minor was the musical director and bandleader on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” from 2010-2014.
Mike Reiss makes his debut as a writer for the Oscars telecast. He has received 10 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning four and a Peabody Award over his 28-year run as a producer and writer for “The Simpsons.” His credits also include writing for such animated feature films as “Despicable Me 2,” “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” “Rio,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” “The Simpsons Movie” and “Robots.”
Matt Roberts returns to the Oscars telecast as a writer. He previously was a writer for the 85th Oscars. Roberts has garnered 19 Primetime Emmy nominations over his career, winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for “64th Annual Tony Awards.” His producing and writing credits also include “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” “Adele Live in New York City,” “Maya & Marty” and “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Beth Sherman is a first-time writer for the Oscars telecast. She has won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on both “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “The Talk.” In addition, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for “Late Show with David Letterman.” Sherman’s writing credits also include “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “American Music Awards 2016” and “The Queen Latifah Show.”
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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