Oscar Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron Signal They Aren't Returning

by Gregg Kilday

After producing the Oscar show for three years running, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron appear to bowing out of the possibility of overseeing a fourth.

In a tweet posted Saturday evening, Zadan wrote, "Hoping that whoever produces the #Oscars next year will retain our innovations: #TeamOscar program & reading all 24 nom on Oscar nom morning."

Reps for the Academy did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but a rep for the producers said it has not yet been decided if they will return.

After a number of years in which a new producing team was invited each year to handle the awards show, Zadan and Meron's three-year run was unusual, creating an ongoing production team even as they recruited three successive hosts: Seth MacFarlane, Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris. 

However, this year’s show saw ratings drop 16 percent from last year’s broadcast, with had hit a ten-year high.

Zadan’s tweet referred to the Team Oscar contest, which invited young filmmakers to submit videos for a chance to appear on stage to help hand out the Oscar statuettes during the ceremony, and to this year’s nomination announcement, which, for the first time, included the nominees in all 24 categories.