The most exclusive Hollywood club has a new leader.
The producer Lynette Howell Taylor has been elected president of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Motion, the Group Board of Group announced Thursday, becoming the 37th person to hold the position in the 97 years of history of the Academy.
Howell Taylor, a member of the organization of producers of the organization since 2014, happens to Janet Yang, who was chosen in 2022 and resigns after three consecutive terms of one year. Howell Taylor takes the helm next to the Bill Kramer CEO while the organization continues to confront a landscape that changes rapidly for Oscar and the broader film industry.
Member of the Academy since 2014 and, at 46, the youngest president appointed for the position in decades, Howell Taylor, born in British, provides a deep production experience and a long participation in the leadership of the academy.
In the last two decades, it has produced more than 25 films, including “A Star is Born”, which earned him a best film in 2019. His other credits include “Fantastic Captain”, “Blue Valentine”, “The Place Beyond the Pins” and the next “Rooofman”. In 2020, Copodujo the 92nd Oscar ceremony with Stephanie Allain, receiving an Emmy nomination for the transmission that was limited by a historical victory for the “parasite” of Bong Joon Ho.
Within the Academy, Howell Taylor served three years as vice president and president of the powerful Awards Committee, where she played a key role in the configuration of the Oscar's address in a moment of institutional change.
At a meeting at the headquarters of Beverly Hills of the Academy, the board of 55 members also chose a list of officers for mandate 2025–26. Composer Lesley Barber, producer Jennifer Fox, the documentary filmmaker Simon Kilmurry, actor Lou Diamond Phillips and screenwriter Howard A. Rodman will serve as vice presidents, and Kilmurry will also assume the role of treasurer and Rodman who works as secretary. Barber and Rodman are official ones that return; The others are serving in officers for the first time.
As president, Howell Taylor is expected to help direct the organization through a period of reinvention and uncertainty not only for the academy but also for the industry in general. The Academy continues to fight with the decrease in the Oscar audience: this year's transmission averaged 19.7 million viewers, compared to the previous year, but even less than half of what the program attracted in its peak in the 1990 The academy, including, more notoriously, after the slap of the Oscar of Will Smith in 2022.
“Lynette has been a vital part of the Board of Governors of the Academy for many years, more recently revitalizing our awards work as president of the Board of Awards Committee,” Kramer said in a statement. “I hope to work with her as our new president of the Academy, as well as with these incredibly dedicated and strategic Board officers. This is an exceptional group of members of the Academy that will advance the mission of the Academy, will support our memberships worldwide, guarantee our long -term financial stability and celebrate the achievements of the global film community.”
