97th Oscars Sets Returning EPs Raj Kapoor, Katy Mullan

The 97th Academy Awards team is coming together — and three of them are Emmy-winning veterans of the 96th Oscars. Raj Kapoor returns as executive producer and showrunner, joined by fellow EP Katy Mullan and director Hamish Hamilton, who will be back for the fifth time.

Further veterans of the Academy Awards who round out the 2025 creative team include production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley and red carpet show EP David Chamberlin. Michael Bearden, meanwhile, will make his debut as music director. 

In a Monday statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said, “We are delighted to announce the return of our incredibly dynamic and creative Oscars team, Raj, Katy, Hamish, Misty, Alana and Dave. And we are thrilled to announce the addition of the brilliant Michael Bearden. Their love for cinema, their collective creative vision and their unparalleled expertise in live television make them the perfect team to create an exceptional show for our global audience on the film industry’s biggest night.”

Kapoor and Mullan added, “We are thrilled to lead the brilliant Oscars production team again and work alongside the Academy and Disney/ABC to help create an unforgettable night of television for movie lovers worldwide. We hope to continue to inspire and connect new generations to share our love for the art of filmmaking and celebrate all the incredible artists who are Oscar-nominated this year.”

Kapoor has won two Emmys, earlier this year for the 96th Oscars and in 2022 for “Adele: One Night Only.” He was nominated four times for exec-producing the Grammys and again in 2023 for “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter.”

The showrunner shared the 2024 Outstanding Variety Special (Live) Emmy with Mullan, who was also EP on, among many other titles, “Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas,” “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration,” “The Little Mermaid Live!” and the London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. She is a partner in the live event production company Done + Dusted, which was founded by Hamilton.

Five-time Oscars vet Hamilton directed his first Academy Awards in 2010 for the 82nd ceremony. He earned two of his 12 total Emmy nominations for directing the 86th and 87th Oscars (in 2014 and 2015), and won for the 96th Oscars. In 2023, he won his first Emmy for the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Buckley and Billingsley also won an Emmy for production design on the 96th Oscars. Billingsley is the winner of three additional Emmys, for art directing the 2020 and 2021 Academy Awards and the 2012 Grammys. Buckley has a total of six Emmy nominations.

“Last year’s show was a tremendous success in no small part to the creative vision of Raj, Katy, Hamish and their teams. We are excited to have them back and can’t wait for what’s in store for the 97th telecast,” Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s executive vice president of Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment, said.

New to the Oscars fold is Bearden, whose long list of credits includes his Emmy-nominated music direction for both the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show (with Lady Gaga) and “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.”

Finally, Chamberlin will serve as executive producer of ABC’s “The Oscars Red Carpet Show” for the sixth consecutive time.

The Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, airing live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The official live red carpet show kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.