Academy CEO Bill Kramer on this year’s Oscars: ‘We’ve spent a lot of time running through scenarios’

Bill Kramer has every right to be a nervous wreck. It is only days away from the 95th Academy Awards, which also happens to be the first Oscars ceremony since he was appointed CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As if there isn’t enough stress involved in putting on a high-profile live show for a global audience, there is a feeling in Hollywood that the show really, really needs to work this year. So, no pressure. 

But as I greet Kramer in a sun-filled conference room at the Academy’s offices in Beverly Hills, he is in buoyant, confident mood. If there is stress, it does not show.

“How am I feeling? I’m feeling so good,” says Kramer, 54. “We’re in great shape for the show. It’s going to be incredibly entertaining.”

An entertaining programme would be a good start to Kramer’s tenure, especially after a rocky stretch in which the Oscars ceremony has been plagued by controversy, declining ratings and complaints that the show is simply too long. And those problems were before last year, when Will Smith stunned the world by slapping comedian Chris Rock onstage, prompting withering criticism of the organisation that Kramer now leads. 

The Oscars have always been scrutinised down to the last sparkly sequin, but in recent years the shows have often been a stark projection of Hollywood’s anxieties, blind spots and outright sins for all to see. Its shrinking audiences are a reminder of streaming’s threat to the traditional cinema that the awards celebrate. The 2015 roster of nominees reflected a glaring lack of diversity in the industry, prompting media strategist April Reign to create the #OscarsSoWhite campaign and leading to efforts to reform that are onging. And then there was the sheer madness of last year’s show.

Kramer, a veteran of the Academy, is well aware of all the baggage. “I walked into this with my eyes open,” he says. “I’ve been an observer of [the Oscars] process before, so I was not intimidated or surprised by what was in front of me. And I really was very eager to jump in.”

Having been chief fundraiser for the Academy from 2012 to 2015, he left for a position at the Rhode Island School of Design. But he returned in 2020 to lead the Academy Museum. He began preparing for Sunday’s ceremony immediately after taking the CEO job in July of this year, giving top priority to repairing what many saw as the mistakes of recent shows. He has brought back Jimmy Kimmel, a comedian and chat show host, marking the third time he has led the show. “It was really important for us to have live TV expertise on the show,” Kramer says. 

Kramer also reversed a decision made last year to pre-tape the awards for eight categories — including original score and film editing — that had enraged members of the Academy. His predecessor, Dawn Hudson, was rightly seeking ways to make the show move faster, but Kramer believes it is possible to keep things humming and still include all the categories — an important feature in his goal to promote “the collaborative nature of moviemaking”.

The Academy also created a post-Slap “crisis team” to deal with any other acts of unscripted violence. “We’ve spent a lot of time running through scenarios, and I think we’re in very good shape,” Kramer says. 

Before taking the top job, Kramer was best known as the person who oversaw the completion and opening of the $480mn, Renzo Piano-designed Academy Museum — a project decades in the making that had been plagued by cost overruns and delays. A formidable fundraiser, Kramer took over in 2020 and the museum opened its doors in the autumn of 2021, just as pandemic restrictions were beginning to ease. In addition to raising $250mn for the project, he has championed exhibits recognising the works of a diverse group of filmmakers, including Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar. 

Kramer grew up outside of Baltimore, Maryland, in a movie-loving family. His grandmother, Bonnie, would sometimes sneak him out of school early to see a must-see movie (Poltergeist was one). 

But his passion for film was truly ignited once he moved to Texas to attend university in Austin, where a vibrant independent film scene took off in the early 1980s. The Coen brothers’ first film, Blood Simple (1984), was shot in and around Austin, and the scene produced other directors such as Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez. 

“Austin had a very healthy, independent film scene, and that’s where I learned to love Spike Lee and Pedro Almódovar,” he recalls. “I have not lost that kind of enthusiasm and joy for watching films.”

Today, part of his job is to make sure that film — and the Academy itself — remains relevant. The most obvious barometer of the Academy’s health is the ratings for the Oscars show, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue. Last year ratings rose nearly 60 per cent from the Covid-nadir show in 2021, but it was still the second-least watched show in the programme’s history.

Kramer wants the Oscars to be judged by new metrics of health to account for the secular decline in traditional television viewing. “I’d like to start talking about the reach of this show that goes beyond the TV ratings [to reflect] how the world is engaging with content,” he says, citing social media views and other online metrics. 

More broadly, though, the film industry — and the Academy — faces questions about the continued relevance of cinema. The competition for younger viewers’ attention has never been more fierce, ranging from TikTok to Netflix to video games. This means moviegoing is less central to the lives of teens now than it was when Bonnie Kramer was sneaking her grandson out of school to catch a matinee. And older viewers have still not made a meaningful return to the cinemas since the pandemic eased. Forecasters predict US box office receipts to post a double-digit increase in the US this year, but they still think the total will fall short of the record levels set in 2019.

An organisation like the Academy need only look to New York’s Metropolitan Opera to see where this can lead. In December, the Met said it would have to tap up to $30mn from its endowment and give fewer performances in its 2023 season, partially due to the impact of the pandemic, but also due to declining audiences for canonical operas.

Kramer insists that streaming is simply the latest technology to disrupt moviemaking — a list that includes TV and home video — and that movies will survive this, too. “The pandemic accelerated the importance of streaming, and that was a major pivot point,” he says. 

But he believes streaming has helped drive an overall rise in movie-watching, even if people are not necessarily going to the cinema to watch. “The great news is movies are as vital as ever and people are engaging with films more than ever,” he says.

He says the Academy itself is also well positioned, despite concerns about the impact of the declining Oscars audiences on its financial health. The new Academy Museum brought in $24mn its first year; along with $138mn in ad revenue from the Oscars plus donations, total revenues were about $290mn in 2022. “I want to ensure the successful future of the Academy and diversifying our streams of support is critical for us,” he says. 

For now, though, Kramer has a show to put on — and he is not even trying to hide his inner movie fan as he looks ahead to Sunday night. “I love the glitz, I love the glamour, but more importantly, I love moviemaking and promoting the arts and sciences of moviemaking,” he said. “And to be able to do that on a big stage is very exciting.”

The Oscars take place on March 12, oscars.org