Steven Spielberg – The Color Purple

• Ron Howard – Cocoon
• John Huston – Prizzi's Honor
• Sydney Pollack – Out of Africa
• Peter Weir – Witness

Will Mackenzie – Moonlighting for "My Fair David"

• Ray Danton – Cagney & Lacey for "Who Said it's Fair? (Part 2)"
• Paul Michael Glaser – Miami Vice for "Smuggler's Blues"

Jay Sandrich – The Golden Girls for "Pilot"

• James Burrows – Cheers for "Birth, Death, Love and Rice"
• Peter Werner – Moonlighting for "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"

John Erman – An Early Frost

• Jeff Bleckner – Do You Remember Love
• Lamont Johnson – Wallenberg: A Hero's Story

Don Mischer – Motown Returns to the Apollo

• Marty Pasetta – The 57th Annual Academy Awards
• Tony Verna, Sandi Fullerton, Louis J. Horvitz, and Wendy Acey – Live Aid

Sandy Tung – CBS Schoolbreak Special for "The Day the Senior Class Got Married"

• Claude Kerven – ABC Afterschool Special for "High School Narc"
• Michael Uno – CBS Schoolbreak Special for "The War Between the Classes"

Harry Rasky – Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love

• John Cosgrove – Missing... Have You Seen This Person?
• Jody Eldred – The China Experience: Beyond the Wall

Andy Kindle and David Michaels – 1985 Tour de France

• David Caldwell – 1985 U.S. Figure Skating Championships
• Edward Nathanson, Harold R. Cline, and Bob Levy – 1985 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles

Ed Bianchi – Diet Pepsi's "Forward Pass", National Institute on Drug Abuse's "Gauntlet", Bounce's "Jump", and American Express' "Young Lawyers"

• Leslie Dektor – Apple's "American Dream" and "Changes", Levi's' "Bluesmen" and "The Gathering", and Coca-Cola's "Havens"
• Jim Johnston – United Negro College Fund's "Father and Son", California Cooler's "Matt", and Nike's "The Shooter"
• Richard Levine – Pacific Bell's "Boxers" and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "The More I See You"
• Joe Pytka – Pepsi's "Archeology", Special Olympics' "E.T. Special Olympics", and Henry Weinhard's' "Saloon"