Hollywood’s most unique membership has a brand new chief.
Producer Lynette Howell Taylor has been elected president of the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, the group’s board of governors introduced Thursday, turning into the thirty seventh individual to carry the submit within the academy’s 98-year historical past.
Howell Taylor, a member of the group’s producers department since 2014, succeeds Janet Yang, who was elected in 2022 and is stepping down after three consecutive one-year phrases. Howell Taylor takes the helm alongside CEO Invoice Kramer because the group continues to confront a quickly shifting panorama for the Oscars and the broader movie trade.
An academy member since 2014 and, at 46, the youngest president named to the submit in many years, the British-born Howell Taylor brings each deep manufacturing expertise and long-standing involvement in academy management.
Over the previous 20 years, she has produced greater than 25 movies, together with “A Star Is Born,” which earned her a finest image nomination in 2019. Her different credit embrace “Captain Fantastic,” “Blue Valentine,” “The Place Beyond the Pines” and the upcoming “Roofman.” In 2020, she co-produced the 92nd Oscars ceremony with Stephanie Allain, receiving an Emmy nomination for the published that was capped by a historic win for Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”
Throughout the academy, Howell Taylor served three years as vice chairman and chair of the highly effective awards committee, the place she performed a key position in shaping the Oscars’ path in a time of institutional change.
In a gathering on the academy’s Beverly Hills headquarters, the 55-member board additionally elected a slate of officers for the 2025–26 time period. Composer Lesley Barber, producer Jennifer Fox, documentary filmmaker Simon Kilmurry, actor Lou Diamond Phillips and screenwriter Howard A. Rodman will function vice presidents, with Kilmurry additionally taking over the position of treasurer and Rodman serving as secretary. Barber and Rodman are returning officers; the others are serving in officer roles for the primary time.
As president, Howell Taylor shall be anticipated to assist steer the group by way of a interval of reinvention and uncertainty not only for the academy however for the trade as an entire. The academy continues to wrestle with declining Oscars viewership — this yr’s telecast averaged 19.7 million viewers, up from the earlier yr however nonetheless lower than half what the present pulled in at its peak within the Nineteen Nineties. The presidency is an unpaid, largely ceremonial position, however it has taken on added weight in recent times amid rising scrutiny of the academy’s decision-making, together with, most notoriously, within the aftermath of Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars slap.
“Lynette has been a vital part of the Academy Board of Governors for many years, most recently revitalizing our awards work as chair of the board’s Awards Committee,” Kramer mentioned in a press release. “I so look forward to working with her as our new Academy President, as well as with these incredibly dedicated and strategic board officers. This is an exceptional group of Academy members who will advance the Academy’s mission, support our membership around the world, ensure our long-term financial stability, and celebrate the achievements of the global filmmaking community.”
