2019 ACE Eddie Awards (My First)
Thursday, April 4th, 2019Up to now* (Feb. 15, 2019, when I first started to pen this article), I’ve attended ten ACE (American Cinema Editors) IAVA Panels, one EditFest, one ACE Internship Applicant Panel and one ACE Holiday Party but I have never been to the Eddies.
2018 was a banner year for me, I made the decision to finally move to the post production/editing world, as a career. I got a summer internship and an amazing trailer company, went to the Golden Trailer Awards, became an ACE Intern applicant, went to EditFest for the first time, went to the ACE Holiday Party and attended the day-long panel associated with being an ACE Intern applicant. I have attended numerous post-related networking events this year as well: Ask Avid, LACPUG meetings, LAPPG meetings, Editors’ Lounge, Screenings and Q&A’s, BCPC and a couple of classes. Over the year, I made a lot of new friends!
But over the last ten to eleven years, I have built a lot of friendships too. I founded and ran the Independent Filmmakers of the Inland Empire for seven years. That group, among many user group statuses, was an official Avid user group. This year, and probably most years, Avid hosted a pre-Eddie award party. I reached out to one of my friends at Avid and said, “tell me more about this party.”
There were a few things before that, that lead up to me being able to attend the Eddies. At EditFest, I had a conversation with someone. After that, I emailed that person. After the ACE Intern day of panels, a few of us were socializing at the Pig & Whistle. Someone who would later turn out to be our applicant group’s mentor, mentioned, “Go to all the events.” They mentioned that you may not be able to go to the Eddies per se, but they were held at a hotel and “hotels have bars. Just sayin’.” After the Intern day, I also emailed that earlier person. (I’m sorry to be so general but I just want to show the process, not the whos.) That comment cemented in my mind that I must go hang out at the bar where the Eddies were held and network more with ACE editors.
The Eddies are a black tie affair. Luckily, I was future-thinking when I got married and bought my tux. (Farther back, in high school, I used to read GQ a lot and remember that it said you should always own at least one black tux.) So, I had something to wear.
After getting an invite to the Avid pre-party, I figured I was one step ahead of my original plan. At least I had one place to go that was adjacent to the Eddie festivities!
The night of the Eddies, I reached out to see if anyone else wanted to go along with me to no avail. But I kept forward with my plan. I got to the Beverly Hills Hilton and made my way to the Avid party. On the way, I got to the “red carpet” area. There I ran into a friend who was interviewing editors for his podcast. “Do you have a ticket?” People would ask me that or some variation of that throughout the night.
“No. I’m just going to hang out and maybe see if I can get in but if not, just hang out.”
At the Avid party, I saw a lot of friends, even some who weren’t ticketed either. It was a great party with Avid swag and food and drinks and lots of “celebrity” editors. I’m not too outgoing when it comes to parties, but I try to push myself at these kind of events. After reaching my limit of that though, I kind of made my last lap around the bar and as I was about to just slip away, had an inviting “hi” from another bloke in a penguin suit.
We talked a bit and I found out that he was from England and that this was his second time across the pond for the Eddies. The last time he didn’t win and did not expect to win this time either. In fact, he confessed, he hadn’t written speech or anything. He asked me what table I was at and I confessed that I was just “hanging out”. We joked about him saying I was with him but that didn’t actually work out when it came to trying to get in to the event.
As the crowd moved towards the dining hall, there were a couple of “bouncers” at each door. One asked to see my ticket. I grabbed all of my pockets. Looked around, calling my new friend’s name, who I had somehow lost in the crowd on the way there, and said, “Oh I lost my friend who has the tickets. I’ll be back.”
I sashayed my way over to the ticket tables and noticed a couple of friends of mine were working it. I started talking to one and he said, “are you on the list?”.
“I’m not on the list. Unless I’m ‘on the list’”, I winked.
He looked through the list… “No you’re not on the list.” So much for that idea!
As I moseyed away, I noticed the person I had been emailing after each of my earlier events. I went to them and struck up a conversation. After confessing that I was “just hanging out” again, they said they had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to go! Hallelujah! Not only had I so far exceeded my networking goals, I was about to attend the Eddie Awards!
As an aside, I have to tell you, by networking, I truly mean just making friends. I not only want to immerse myself in the field but also I want to have friends in the industry, for the sake of having friends. I find, generally, post people are my kind of people. So it makes life easier having people with the same interests, etc.
Well the show was amazing, the food, the MC, the presenters, the clips, the speeches, hanging out with people I knew, everything was surreal. Speeches! Turns out my new friend won his category and with a lucky lead in to his category, had a nice opening to his speech. And he did just fine with it.
I was so happy for him that I waited for him to come out, after the show was over, to congratulate him. He had found another person from England, whom he had worked with before, and they both invited me to follow them for a drink. She acted as PR agent as we went to a “you-had-to-pre-register” after-party and got us into that one with a “look, he’s won!” and I just threw my wrist out to be banded, as they both did.
Then off to the next bar and the next, there were a lot of bars in this hotel, actually! And I stayed way into the night, cavorting with lots of friends and having the best of times, celebrating and honoring the winners and the nominees and the craft. And when I had my fill, I said my good-byes.
What attending the Eddies meant to me was “exposure”. Exposure to what’s possible. Exposure to “yeah, you can achieve this in your life”. Awards aren’t the goal in artistry but I can see it’s nice to be recognized and being around these folks, whom I admire for their work, makes me want to do more and reach higher goals in this industry. So this was my first and I’m positive it won’t be my last.
–EFH
Dedicated to Norman Hollyn. He’s the one who turned me on to all of these ACE things and supported me and so many other people all along the way. I dearly miss you, My Friend.
*I attended my 11th IAVA Feb 23, 2019.
