Raj Kapoor Returns as Showrunner of 2025 Oscars
Michael Bearden joins the creative team as music director for the first time
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The 2024 Oscars won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding variety special (live), the first time the Oscars have won a top program Emmy since 1991, so it’s not surprising that the creative team behind that show will largely remain in place for the 2025 Oscars. The event will air live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET.
Raj Kapoor is set to return as executive producer and showrunner of the 2025 Oscars, Katy Mullan as executive producer and Hamish Hamilton as director. It is Kapoor and Mullan’s second time executive producing and Hamilton’s fifth time directing the Oscars. Kapoor and Mullan were among the recipients of that Emmy win for outstanding variety special (live); Hamish also won for directing the show, but in a separate category, outstanding directing for a variety special.
Michael Bearden, a music director, keyboardist, arranger, conductor and composer, joins the creative team as music director for the first time. Rickey Minor was last year’s music director, and won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding music direction for his work on the show. Bearden has worked with such artists as Whitney Houston, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson (as the King of Pop’s final music director).
Bearden received Primetime Emmy nominations for outstanding music direction for the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show Featuring Lady Gaga (2017) and One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (2022). He has served as a music director for the Primetime Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and as a musician and arranger for several Kennedy Center Honors and Oscars shows. Bearden’s feature film scores include Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only, Outlaw Johnny Black, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, American Blackout and Constellation.
Kapoor has won two Primetime Emmys. In addition to the 2024 Oscars, he won as an executive producer of Adele: One Night Only, which won outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) in 2022. Kapoor has also been nominated for Emmys for his work on four Grammy telecasts, another Oscar telecast and Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter.
Kapoor’s other credits include the ACM Awards, the Latin Grammys, the Emmy Awards, Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, and The Paris Olympics LA28 Handover Closing Ceremony.
Mullan is an executive producer, showrunner and partner in the global live event production company Done + Dusted. Her work in live entertainment ranges from producing the London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies to The Little Mermaid Live!. Mullan’s recent credits include Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, Step Into…the Movies and the Disney Family Singalong franchise.
Hamilton made his Oscars debut directing the 82nd Academy Awards telecast in 2010. In addition to the 2024 Oscars, he also won an Emmy (alongside Jay-Z) for co-directing the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Rihanna. Hamilton has directed many other live televised events, including The Emmy Awards, The Grammy Awards, 15 Super Bowl Halftime Shows and the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics. Hamilton has received 13 Primetime Emmy nominations, a BAFTA Award, a Peabody Award and a Grammy Award nomination for the music special Robbie Williams – Live at the Albert. He is the founder of Done + Dusted.
Production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, who also won Emmys for their work on the 2024 Oscars in the category of outstanding production design for a variety special, will also return, as will red carpet show executive producer David Chamberlin. The official live red carpet show airs at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The host of the 2025 Oscars has yet to be nominated. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 2024 show.
