Watch The Academy Awards Nominations LIVE Tomorrow – Oscar.com Goes Behind The Scenes With First Installment Of “Inside The Oscars” Video Series

Contributed By: Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson

Well, we’ve just returned from AMPAS with our credentials badge for WAMG to be among the many outlets covering the Academy Awards nominations tomorrow morning.

With the announcement less than 24 hours away, and for the Oscar obsessivas (like us), this has been one of the toughest years to call. Even those of us who compulsively watch the race 365 days a year, all the categories are wide open, with expected surprises and snubs. This is always the best type of Oscar race to watch and we’ll bring you the news of who gets in and who isn’t invited to Hollywood’s biggest party of the year.

Actor, and tall-drink-of-cool-water, Chris Hemsworth and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs will announce the 86th Academy Awards nominations  on Thursday, January 16.

Boone Isaacs and Hemsworth will unveil the nominations at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives (including WAMG) from around the world will be gathered.

The Oscar® Nominations Announcement will be streamed live on YouTube.

Oscar.com is unveiling a complete digital roadmap to all things Oscar Sunday, providing fans with exclusive insider access to The Oscars before, during and after the show. The site is live now with:

• “Ellen Replies to #Oscars Tweets”: Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres responds to hilarious fan tweets in this short embeddable video.
• “Inside The Oscars” – From the nominations to the nominees’ luncheon and the show itself, this new semi-weekly video series hosted by “On The Red Carpet” host and “Good Morning America” contributing editor Rachel Smith will share access to top secret production details and behind-the-scenes event coverage leading up to Oscar Sunday.  In this first installment, Academy insiders give fans the scoop on everything involved in nominations, including how the nominations list is protected, what goes on inside the theater, how the hosts reveal the names of the nominees and more.
• A gallery of candid shots from the 2013 Governors Ball and the Governors Awards honoring Angelina Jolie, Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury and costume designer Piero Tosi.
• Oscar Buzz, which features fan commentary using #Oscars, #OscarNoms, and #BestDressed.
• The Oscar Timeline that includes historical video and photos of past winners, memorable moments and juicy tidbits celebrating every single year of The Oscars.
• And much more…

Beginning Jan. 16 the site is dedicated to this year’s nominees with programming sponsored by Cadillac that includes an embeddable nominations live steam, the complete list of nominees, and the hugely popular “My Picks” interactive ballot.  Friends can view and share the ballot on Facebook, which will update in real time on Oscar Night®, ensuring that the most competitive Oscar handicappers are instantly aware of their ranking among friends.

On Oscar Sunday, the site will highlight the Emmy-winning Oscar Backstage Pass, which will be streamed online and to mobile devices this year as part of ABC’s industry-defining multiplatform WATCH services. Presented by Samsung Galaxy®, Oscar Backstage Pass gives fans unprecedented access to the show through multiple live camera feeds placed throughout the show venue and streamed online and on mobile devices.  Previously available as a standalone Oscar app, Backstage Pass will stream to mobile devices via the WATCH ABC app (formerly ABC Player). With more than 15 million downloads, the WATCH ABC app is immensely popular on mobile devices and its functionality delivering live and advantaged VOD episodes earned ABC the honor of being named “Multiplatform Programmer of the Year” for 2013 by “Broadcasting and Cable.”

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron today announced 13 key members of the production team for the Oscars®, which will air on Sunday, March 2, live on ABC.

Director Hamish Hamilton returns to the show after having directed the 82nd Oscars in March 2010. Hamilton has directed many celebrated live televised events, including the 2013 “MTV Video Music Awards,” the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show featuring Beyoncé, and the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics, for which he received an Emmy® nomination. Hamilton also shared in the 2011 Peabody Award for the fifth annual “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” and was a 2003 Grammy Award® nominee for directing the musical special “Robbie Williams – Live at the Albert.” He will direct the upcoming 2014 Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bruno Mars.

Production designer Derek McLane was part of the team behind the 85th Oscars, which Zadan and Meron produced. During his career, McLane has designed sets for numerous acclaimed Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. He has received four Tony Award® nominations and won one for his work on 33 Variations. McLane designs can currently be seen in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. His other Broadway credits include The Heiress, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Follies,Anything Goes, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Grease and I Am My Own Wife. McLane’s television credits include the recent NBC event “The Sound of Music Live!” He was nominated for a 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction for Variety or Nonfiction Programming for his work on the 85th Academy Awards.

Choreographer Rob Ashford has worked on two previous Oscar telecasts, including last year’s show and the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009, for which he won an Emmy.  Ashford was recently nominated for a Directors Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series for NBC’s broadcast of “The Sound of Music Live!” which was executive produced by Zadan and Meron. Ashford has been nominated for eight Tony Awards and won for Best Choreography in 2002 forThoroughly Modern Millie. Additional Broadway choreography credits include The Wedding Singer, Curtains, Cry-Baby and Evita. He also served as choreographer on the upcoming feature film adaptation of “Cinderella,” directed by Kenneth Branagh.

In addition to Ellen DeGeneres’ team of writers, Zadan and Meron have brought in Kristin Gore, Amy Ozolsand Jon Macks to complete the writing staff. Gore is a novelist and screenwriter whose past credits include “Futurama” and “Saturday Night Live” and whose current projects include a Showtime pilot with director Bennett Miller, an HBO pilot with director Jay Roach, and a Dreamworks movie with director Lance Accord.  Ozols was formerly a writer and producer for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Macks, a longtime writer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and has been nominated for 6 Emmys.  He has written for numerous major awards shows, Including 17 prior Oscar telecasts.

Music director William Ross returns to the Oscars after working on the 79th, 83rd and 85th Academy Awards. Ross is a four-time Emmy winner whose musical arrangements have played a part in the opening ceremonies of several Super Bowls as well as the opening and/or closing ceremonies of five Olympic Games. Ross earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on the 85th Academy Awards show. He has also composed music for numerous feature films, including “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” “The Tale of Despereaux” and “Ladder 49.”

Costume designers Julie Weiss and Bruce Pask return to the Oscars after working together on the 85th Academy Awards. Pask is the Men’s Fashion Director of T Magazine at The New York Times. He has served as fashion editor at notable publications for more than two decades and has worked with Annie Leibovitz on numerous covers for Vanity Fair and on advertising campaigns for “The Sopranos.” Pask debuted as a costume designer for the stage in Joe Montello’s Broadway revival of Noel Coward’s “Design for Living.” He has created costumes for the Broadway musical revival of “Promises, Promises,” directed by Rob Ashford, who also worked with him on the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors for which Pask received Emmy honors.

Weiss has designed costumes for more than 50 feature films, including her Oscar-nominated work for “Frida” and “Twelve Monkeys.” Her credits include “Steel Magnolias,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “American Beauty,” “Hitchcock,” “Bobby,” “Auto Focus,” “Blades of Glory,” “The Freshman,” “A Simple Plan,” “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and “The Missing.”  Weiss has earned Emmys for her work in “The Dollmaker” and “Woman of Independent Means” and has an additional five Emmy nominations.  Her Broadway credits include “The Elephant Man” for which she received a Tony nomination and has worked with Rob Ashford in last season’s production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” She is currently designing for Ashford’s production of the opera, “Carmen.”  Weiss is the recipient of the Career Achievement Award from The Costume Designers Guild.

This is the first time talent producer Taryn Hurd has worked on an Oscar telecast or collaborated with the show’s producers. Hurd has served as talent producer on events including the FOX network’s “New Year’s Eve Live,” the Breeders’ Cup telecast, “Teen Choice 2013” and “VH1 Divas Salute the Troops.” She also has served as talent producer on the FOX series “So You Think You Can Dance” and ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Previously, Hurd amassed numerous credits as talent executive on broadcasts such as “The ESPYS,” the “Billboard Music Awards” and the “Critics’ Choice Awards.”

Also rejoining the production team are supervising producer Michael Seligman, co-producer Lee Lodgeand lighting designer Robert Dickinson.

Seligman has more than 300 major television events to his credit and has earned a total of 11 Emmy nominations, including nine for his work on Oscar telecasts. Seligman’s other producing credits include “The American Giving Awards,” “America Celebrates July 4th at Ford’s Theatre,” “Stand Up to Cancer” and “Return to the Titanic…Live!”

Lodge has served as either co-producer or creative producer for the past five Oscar broadcasts. His credits also include co-executive producer on the “MTV Video Music Awards” in 2012 and 2013, creative producer on the “CMA Awards” since 2010 and creative producer on the “Billboard Music Awards” since 2011.

Winner of 18 Primetime Emmys, lighting designer Robert Dickinson has worked on 26 Oscar broadcasts, including the 85th Academy Awards in 2013. His numerous other credits include the “Kennedy Center Honors,” “Grammy Awards,” “ The Emmy Awards,” “Tony Awards,” “American Music Awards,” Olympic Ceremonies in Atlanta, Salt Lake and Vancouver, the broadcast of the “Sound of Music Live!” and “The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar® Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The presentation, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.