The producers of the Academy Awards have good news for those watching at home: They're trying to cut out the boring parts.

Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron say they watched 40 years of past ceremonies to find ways to keep the show moving at a brisk pace. They say they are looking to nip and tuck unnecessary moments that can turn the show into a marathon.

At an annual lunch honouring Oscar nominees on Monday, Zadan and Meron said they identified time-consuming segments that might run only 15 or 30 seconds but which collectively can bog down the show. In some years, the Oscars have run to a ponderous four hours or more.

"You start adding up those 30 seconds, and you have an accumulation of time that you can use for entertainment. So that's what we're doing – we're learning a lot about the things that we don't need in the show," Zadan said. "The main goal is to honour the nominees and the winners. And then beside that, there's a lot of pregnant pauses that you get in the show. … We've scooped out a lot of those pauses and created more time for performance and entertainment."

Zadan and Meron said they have moments planned that should appeal to all ages and interests, including performances by Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand and a tribute to the James Bond franchise.

Seth MacFarlane working on show

They also are working closely with Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, creator of the hit animated television series Family Guy and last summer's comedy hit Ted who is known for edgy, potty-mouthed humour. The producers said they're not worried that they will need an emergency switch to censor MacFarlane.

Director Steven Spielberg and actress Anne Hathaway attend the 85th Academy Awards Nominations Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

"There's no oversized red button" to bleep the broadcast if MacFarlane goes too far, Meron said. "Seth is Seth, and we love him."

Among those attending the Oscar lunch were acting nominees Denzel Washington, Sally Field, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

Also on hand was Ben Affleck, who missed out on acting and directing nominations for his CIA thriller Argo but does share a best-picture nomination as a producer on the film. Affleck said he's thrilled with the awards attention the film has received and that he is not sweating his snub as director.

Since he got left out of the directing field on Oscar nominations morning, Argo has gone one to dominate other Hollywood awards, including the top prize for Affleck at Saturday's Directors Guild of America honours. The film has established itself as the Oscar favourite among the nine best-picture contenders, a rarity since films hardly ever win the main award if they are not nominated for best director.

"I just feel so incredibly honoured to be nominated as a producer for this movie — to be here at the big party," said Affleck, who shared a screenplay Oscar with Matt Damon for 1997's Good Will Hunting but had not been nominated since until this season.

Actor Denzel Washington, star of the movie Flight, was on hand for the Oscar luncheon. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

"There are nine amazing movies, any of which could win, any of which would deserve to win if they did. I don't get into worrying too much about who got what and who didn't get what. I mean, I've had many, many, many, many, many, many years watching from home," Affleck said.

About 160 nominees attended the lunch, an annual rite leading up to Hollywood's big night.

If the Oscar producers really want to keep the show moving, they might take a leaf from the playbook of Robert De Niro, a supporting-actor nominee for Silver Linings Playbook.

Asked how big a deal the Oscars are to him now, the notoriously terse De Niro lived up to his reputation with a five-word answer: "It's still a big deal," he said, before moving on to the next question.