Fellowship & Service Award

Most awards, not just in Hollywood, honor accomplishment––often accomplishment measured by dollars. But the Motion Picture Editors Guild’s Fellowship and Service Award is a different kind of honor. It takes into consideration a different value set, and salutes individuals who embody the values that the Guild holds most dear. These values are: Professionalism, Collaboration, Mentorship, Generosity of Spirit and Commitment to the Labor Movement.

Professionalism may sound like it speaks for itself. But the integrity at its core must include the human values of compassion and respect for co-workers. When one thinks of a "work ethic," it shouldn’t just be a commitment to a finished film, but also a commitment to doing the right thing by one’s colleagues. Which brings us to Collaboration. Perhaps the defining quality for an Editors Guild member, Collaboration should apply to one’s peers––and future peers––as well as to directors, producers and writers. It should mean a willingness to show assistants how to approach a cut, and how to approach a director. Mentorship is simply a form of instruction akin to friendship. In the classics, Mentor was a friend of Odysseus, who tutored the great man’s son, Telemachus. Generosity of Spirit is a kind of giving for its own sake. Because the moment calls for it.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Commitment to the Labor Movement. A union is two things: a set of ideals and a living, human enterprise. Being a member of a union means making a contribution to both of these things. It means taking that spirit of working together for the common good to a slightly higher level. It means giving help where it’s needed and being able to work with a variety of different people, with a wide range of interests and dispositions. It also means moving our better interests forward as best as we can. A union is an effective mechanism for maintaining fair play in a setting that has a powerful interest in making money. The design of the handsome crystal award was spearheaded by board members Maysie Hoy, ACE, and Sharon Smith Holley and created by artist Stephen Schlanser. It was inspired by the Editors Guild logo and is a tribute to the forward-looking sensibility of former Guild president Donn Cambern, ACE, who was instrumental in bringing the original logo design to the Guild from his friend, the late title designer Saul Bass. The Guild logo draws together the three primary aspect ratios—or screen dimensions—in filmmaking. The inaugural Motion Picture Editors Guild Fellowship and Service Award was presented in January 2007 to Donn Cambern. - Jeff Burman