The American Cinema Editors used their ACE Eddie Awards on Saturday to fire back at the Oscars. Facing declining ratings and long running times, the Academy, the Oscars ceremony producers and ABC decided to award Oscars for editing and seven other categories outside the live telecast. ACE board member Kevin Tent introduced the awards saying, “There might be some setbacks and slights at times which can sting.”
Hacks editor Susan Vaill used her speech to implore everyone from PAs to other crafts to amplify each other, in order to “make those people who don’t think we should be on the broadcast listen.” tick, tick… BOOM! editor Myron Kerstein concluded his speech by saying “present all 23” categories.
Deadline spoke with other nominees prior to the show. They shared degrees of disappointment, some understanding and hope for future inclusion. Andrew Weisblum won an Eddie with Kerstein for tick, tick… BOOM! and they are also nominated for the editing Oscar. Weisblum was also nominated for an Eddie for The French Dispatch.
“I don’t think that that’s the answer to the ratings problem,” Weisblum told Deadline. “I’m happy that I’m at a place tonight that understands the mission and the integrity of supporting our craft and celebrating its value.”
Flee editor Janus Billeskov Jansen was Eddie nominated, and called the honor the “top of my career of 50 years in an editing room.” The film is Oscar nominated for Best Documentary, Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature, yet relegating editing to a pre-taped segment strikes him as wrong.
“Would it be fair to say that that is rude?” Jansen said. “You wouldn’t have any film without the editors, would you?”
Sing 2 editor Gregory Perler said he understood the tension between broadcast audiences and wanting to recognize technical crafts.
“I kind of feel like the audience won on this one so it’s a little disappointing,” Perler said.
Joe Walker was Eddie and Oscar nominated for editing Dune. Walker acknowledged the controversy the Oscars’ decision caused.
“It’s very important that people realize it’s an Academy,” Walker said. “We have to survive financially, but it’s a decision that has not gone down well with the membership. I’m very sad because this year of all years, I think we should just celebrate the diversity of our arts and the contributions we make to making cinema fantastic.”
Jeremy Milton won an Eddie for editing Encanto. Milton also said it was important for the Oscars to acknowledge all contributors to filmmaking equally.
“We know that all the craftsmen who make the movies are such an important part of the moviemaking process,” Milton said. “It’s not just about the directors and the actors and the glitz and the show. It’s about all the people that make it.”
Milton added that the Eddie nomination made him feel valued by his peers. “I’m more excited to be acknowledged by this group of people than really any others,” Milton said. “They’re people who know what the work is and they’re just a hugely talented bunch of people.”
Viewers who may not understand what editing entails may be at the heart of the Oscars’ decision. Adam Kurnitz and Affonso Gonçalves were Eddie nominated for editing The Velvet Underground documentary. Kurnitz said his friends and family don’t understand what he does for a living, and omitting the award from live telecast reinforces that.
“Nobody understands what I do because they’re not interested,” Kurnitz said. “So I kind of understand why the Academy doesn’t want to show something that nobody is interested in. Having said that, it’s very painful that my family doesn’t know what I do, that my friends don’t know what I do and that people don’t seem to be interested.”
Gonçalves added that the editing Oscar is a chance to help explain the craft.
“And the way they did it is not right,” Gonçalves said.
Others are trying not to let the television decision sour their experience. Pamela Martin won an Eddie for editing King Richard and she is nominated for the Oscar, too. Green shared her colleagues’ disappointment, but decided to enjoy attending the Oscars regardless.
“I’m super honored to be nominated for an Academy Award but I wish they weren’t doing it that way,” Martin said. “I can’t say that it doesn’t hurt some feelings, et cetera but I’m going to go and have a good time like everybody else. Maybe the pressure’s off me in terms of worrying about tripping up the stairs.”
King Richard director Reinaldo Marcus Green also attended the Eddie Awards. Green said he picked Martin to edit King Richard based on her work on Little Miss Sunshine and The Fighter, and shared disappointment that her category won’t be live.
“For Pam, it would’ve been nice to be able to see her televised, get that moment,” he remarked.
The ACE board and fellow institutions may be in positions to influence the Oscars’ decision on future broadcasts. Lillian Benson won the Career Achievement Award and still serves on the ACE board, which wrote a letter to the Academy the night they announced the decision.
“I think we are [taking] more of a wait-and-see attitude right now,” Benson said. “We have to take them at their word and see what they do next year. I think there’s a lot of disappointment for the people who are nominated for editing this year. If they do win, they will not be speaking to the audience live. That’s a sad thing.”
ACE awarded the Sundance Institute the Golden Eddie, with Institute Founding Senior Director of Artistic Programs Michelle Satter accepting. Also an Academy member, Satter said she was unhappy about the decision, though she understands the reasons and acknowledged it was not an easy decision. She said the Sundance Institute could get involved in advocating for more recognition of the crafts.
“That’s a good question for us at Sundance,” Satter said. “There is much that we advocate for out on the world stage, but I assume we would want to make sure that editors are being acknowledged and part of the ceremony going forward.”
Even television and streaming nominees opposed the Oscars’ decision.
Jabez Olssen accepted the Eddie award for The Beatles: Get Back. Olssen called omitting the eight categories a shame.
“I think the Oscars should be for all the categories they have always been,” Olssen said. “I hope that there are other things that could be tried, other ways to make it an entertaining show without losing some of these important categories.”
Amy E. Duddleston won the Eddie award for editing Mare of Easttown. Though she migrated from film editing to television editing in her career, she expressed solidarity with film editors.
“Oh, it’s terrible,” Duddleston said. “We’re the invisible art but we’re not invisible. We’re just not.”
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