THE ACE CREDO

American Cinema Editors is an honorary society celebrating excellence within the art of motion picture editing. Our objective is to advance the prestige and dignity of the editing profession by elevating recognition for our creative contributions, promoting mutual respect among our peers, supporting diversity and inclusion, and endeavoring to be ambassadors for our unique art.  

Our History

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.

75th ACE Eddie awards – saturday, january 18, 2025

As you can see our submission deadline and voting schedule is EXTREMELY early this year. We are encouraging all studios and networks to have as many advanced, pre-nomination, screenings as possible and to upload submissions to our INDEE viewing portal as soon as possible. Any help in this regard is greatly appreciated.

Beginning of ACE Membership

A Charter Membership meeting was held on November 28, 1950 attended by 108 of the industry’s top film editors followed by the first General Membership meeting on January 9, 1951 at which time a name for the society was adopted when Donn Hayes suggested “American Cinema Editors”, abbreviated to “ACE” as its acronym.  (Members are identified on screen credits with “ACE” following their names.)  On May 29, 1951 the AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS became a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of California.

ACE Roundtable

From its inception the ACE membership was committed to the encouragement of mutually-beneficial dialogue with other members of the motion picture industry and to educating the general public.  The first of several seminars, known as the “ACE Roundtable”, was inaugurated in 1951 to discuss problems shared with other industry groups.  A panel discussion on “Better Pictures Through Creative Cooperation” was held on June 5, 1951 at the Masquers Club moderated by Fredrick Smith with guest speakers: Delmer Daves, President, Screen Directors Guild;  Paul Groese, President, Art Directors Society;  William Perlberg, President, Screen Producers Guild; Ronald Reagan, President, Screen Actors Guild;  Ray Rennahan, President, American Society of Cinematographers; and Karl Tunberg, President, Screen Writers Guild.