ACE Internship Program

Internship MISSION STATEMENT

Each year, the American Cinema Editors Internship Committee selects two interns and provides them with the opportunity to shadow for one week each the editing rooms of a feature, a television show, and an unscripted show. Interns also visit several facilities integral to post-production (e.g. sound stages, VFX vendors, labs, etc.). Interns are being mentored by ACE editors and previous alumni. The ACE Internship Program is geared toward anyone with a passion for editing, who is just starting their career in post-production.  

Starting in 2024, the ACE Internship Program
will be available in both Los Angeles, New York, and London.

Internship program structure

The ACE internship starts in October and lasts four weeks.  

Please note that if you are selected as an intern, you are expected to attend the program full-time.  

The two selected interns are paid a stipend while attending the program and are covered by liability insurance through American Cinema Editors, so they can be considered “paid interns”.  

The structure of the ACE Internship Program emphasizes assistant picture editing. The program includes:

• Orientation (begins the day of in-person interviews), interns are assigned editing rooms where they shadow assistant editors.
• Observation of work in a variety of editing venues: scripted television, features, and reality television.
• Exploration of post-production facilities: lab, telecine room, VFX house, sound effects, and music editing rooms, ADR, and dub stages.

These offer the opportunity to observe the different styles and requirements of each room and see what assistant editors are expected to deliver during the making of a project. It is an opportunity for interns to absorb, question, compare, and contrast what they’ve learned in school and on the job.  

During this time there are many opportunities to network with other interns, assistant editors, editors, and filmmakers. Before, during, and after the program, the Internship Committee meets with the interns to prepare, encourage, and mentor them.  

Thanks to Lawrence Jordan and Richard Sanchez, the interns also receive free access to the online course “Master the Workflow”, which allows them to deepen and refresh what they learned about post-workflows during their time as interns.  

Interns are expected to:

• Email a daily journal to their assigned mentor (an ACE member) recapping what they have learned each day of the program.
• Attend the ACE Holiday Party as a volunteer as well as an attendee. 
• Work at the ACE Blue Ribbon Panel screenings where ACE members vote for films nominated for an Eddie Award.
• Attend the Eddie Nominee Cocktail Party where interns receive their plaques of participation.
• Attend the Eddie Awards and black-tie banquet after-party.
• Work at the Invisible Art / Visible Artists event (where a panel of the current Oscar nominees screen sequences from their films) the day prior to the Academy Awards.
• Write an article for the ACE CinemaEditor Magazine describing their experience.
• Give a short speech at the ACE Annual Meeting describing your experience with the ACE Internship Program.

It is also expected that ACE interns will return the following year to participate in the orientation of new interns. This helps foster the basic ideology of mentoring.

Internship Success STORIES

The ACE internship program was created in the early 1990s by William Gordean, ACE, and was directed by Lori Jane Coleman, ACE, and co-chaired by Diana Friedberg, ACE for nearly two decades. As of 2015, the internship program has been co-chaired by former interns Carsten Kurpanek and Tyler Nelson, ACE.   

The success of this program has been outstanding, and it is due to the practical experience these young filmmakers and budding editors receive while in their first professional editing rooms.  Thank you to the ACE Active Members and their teams who have contributed to this worthy mentorship for more than 30 years.

Since the inception of the ACE Internship Program, many of those who have gone through the program have gone on to have successful careers in editorial. 

Here are just a few success stories:
Julia Wong, ACE (1996 intern) – Editor of Hocus Pocus 2, Minx, Valley Girl, Child’s Play, The Belko Experiment
Mark Hartzell, ACE (1998 intern) – Editor of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, The Last of Us, Locke & Key, Lost in Space, Agent Carter, Scream, True Blood
Hunter Via, ACE (2001 intern) – Editor of Justified: City Primeval, Mayans M.C., The Chi, Snowfall, The Walking Dead – ACE Eddie Winner for The Walking Dead
Joi McMillon, ACE (2005 intern) – Editor of Mufasa: The Lion King, If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight, Girls, Togetherness – Academy Award Nominated for Moonlight
Shoshanah Tanzer, ACE (2006 intern) – Editor of The Sandman, Bel-Air, Love Victor, Jessica Jones, Queen Sugar
Melissa McCoy, ACE (2007 intern) – Editor of Ted Lasso, Whiskey Cavalier, Rush Hour
Tyler Nelson, ACE (2006 intern) – Editor of The Batman, Creed III, Tron: Ares
Laura Zempel, ACE (2010 intern) – Editor of Lessons in Chemistry, Beef, Euphoria
Parker Goldsmith (2011 intern) – First Assistant Editor on Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, The Lion King, Assistant Editor on The Mandalorian
Amelia Allwarden (2015 intern) – Editor on Marvel’s Echo, Sunny, Daisy Jones & The Six, Westword
Gretchen Schroeder (2016 intern) – Assistant Editor on Avatar 2, 3, Megalopolis, Post PA on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Ben Murphy (2016 intern) – Assistant Editor on Avatar 2, Alita: Battle Angel, Smallfoot, The Lego Batman Movie
Irene Chun (2018 intern) – Firs Assistant Editor on Minari, Shang-Chi
Qingya “Emma” Li (2018 intern) – 2nd Assistant Editor on Grand Turismo, Assistant Editor on Avatar 2, Pen15
Katelyn Wright (2018 intern) – 2nd Assistant Editor on Aquaman 2, Post-PA on Malignant
McKenna Cook (2021 intern) – Assistant Editor on Daisy Jones & The Six