Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editors who are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the post-nominal letters "ACE".[1] The organization's "Eddie Awards" are routinely covered in trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.[2][3] The society is not an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E. (specifically the Motion Picture Editors Guild or MPEG), to which an editor might also belong. The current president of ACE is Kevin Tent, who was elected in 2020.[4]
Eligibility for active membership is based on the following:
Nomination or win of an ACE Eddie award and/or
Desire to be a member
Sponsorship by at least two active members
Minimum of 72 months' (6 years) editing experience on features and/or television
Interview by the Membership Committee
Approval by the Board of Directors
Acceptance by the general membership
Members use the postnominal "ACE" as part of their signatures, as well as on motion picture credits. Until 2014, the acronym was separated by dots "A.C.E.", but this was dropped in order to conform with the more modern format used by other industry organizations, such as the American Society of Cinematographers.[5] The society publishes its current membership on its website.[6]
Beginning on March 14, 1951, the ACE held an annual dinner to honor the film editing Academy Award nominees - and the award was dubbed the Academy Nominees Awards Dinner for its first eleven years.[8][9] When the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) created a film editing category, the ACE invited them to the dinner as well. The first dinner was hosted by filmmaker George Murphy while Frank Capra handed the awards. The first dinner also included over two hundred guests - including film editors, stars, and producers.[10][11]
As of 2024, the ACE presents 16 categories for film and television alongside special ones, these have gone through several name changes to make distinctions between genre, running time and commercial/non-commercial television productions depending on the category. The list below shows the categories under their current names respectively.
Since 1951, the ACE has published the quarterly magazine CinemaEditor. It began as an in-house publication, but grew to 5,000 subscribers in 1963. In the early 1990s the magazine collapsed into a four-page newsletter. In 1994, Jack Tucker was appointed as editor and transformed the publication into today's magazine. Walter Fernandez Jr. leads the magazine's team, with publications committee chair Edgar Burcksen.
The American Cinema Editors also holds an annual student competition, awarding one student editor for editing a set of video dailies for a dramatic scene.[15] Three finalists are guests at the annual ACE Eddie Awards in February. Applications are accepted through October and cost US$125. The competition is limited to the first 100 students only.
The ACE Store is the source of the dailies used at most film schools today, primarily for editing exercises.[16] One scene that many film students must edit is from "Buffalo Man," a 1958 episode of the TV series Gunsmoke. The educational film with this footage is called Film Editing: Interpretation and Value, and is available only to instructors of film editing classes, though it can be found online as well.[17] The film includes three different edits of the Gunsmoke scene, as well as the scene's original dailies.[18][16] Another film, "Basic Principles of Film Editing", was produced by Leon Barsha. Using clips from the movie, Baby Face Nelson, the film demonstrates how the use of various angles would enhance the film's story.[16][19]
^ ab"About American Cinema Editors". American Cinema Editors. Retrieved 2019-04-20. The society was the original idea of two Paramount Studio film editors, Warren Low and Jack Ogilvie, who arranged for an historic meeting of representative editors to discuss starting the organization. It was held at the Masquers Club in Hollywood on October 26, 1950 and, besides Low and Ogilvie, was attended by George Amy, Folmar Blangsted, James Clark, Frank Gross, Richard Heermance, William Hornbeck, Fred Knudtson, William Lyon, Fredrick Smith, Richard Van Enger and Hugh Winn.
^Smith, Fredrick Y., ed. (July 1961). "A.C.E. Celendar of Events". ACE First Decade Anniversary Book. Hollywood, California: American Cinema Editors, Inc. pp. 47–55.
^Ogilvie, Jack (July 1961). "The Origin of the A.C.E.s". In Smith, Fredrick Y. (ed.). ACE First Decade Anniversary Book. Hollywood, California: American Cinema Editors, Inc. pp. 43–45. The first annual Awards Dinner honoring the Nominees for Film Editing Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was held in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel on March 14, 1951.
^ abOgilvie, Jack W. (1971). "A.C.E. Calendar of Events". In Smith, Fredrick Y. (ed.). ACE Second Decade Anniversary Book. American Cinema Editors, Inc. pp. 39–45.
^ abcSmith, Fredrick Y., ed. (July 1961). "A.C.E.'s Motion Pictures on Film Editing". ACE First Decade Anniversary Book. American Cinema Editors, Inc. p. 73.
