It had been eight years since I saw Jacques Dury, who next week (11/14) will be inducted into the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) Hall of Fame, a ceremony held in tandem with the second annual AICE Editing Awards show.
When I first met Dury in the mid-1980s, he was already firmly established as one of the industry’s leading editors—consistently working with the likes of creative director Hal Riney, and directors Joe Pytka and Leslie Dektor.
I remember seeing Dury’s work regularly at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award ceremonies over the years, particularly the classic Henry Weinhard’s "Chuck Wagon" from Hal Riney & Partners, San Francisco, which helped Pytka earn the DGA honor as best commercial director of 1986. And, of course, Dury-cut spots garnered assorted Clios and other accolades.
So it’s fitting that he now be inducted into the AICE Hall of Fame, which returns after a one-year hiatus. The Hall of Fame honor wasn’t bestowed in ’01 because the AICE wanted to put all of its energies and focus on launching the inaugural Editing Awards. If these awards—as judged by editors—had been around a couple of decades ago, Dury certainly would have been a regular in the winners’ circle. His pending induction into the Hall is in large part due to his artistry, reflected in an incredible body of work spanning five decades.
AICE president Steve McCoy of FilmCore said, "Jacques was a master of image manipulation years before the advent of digital technology. At the time, an editor’s ability to rework the film was accomplished with a tape splicer and optical printer. As his commercials show, a gifted editor transcends the tools he is given and can create a body of work that is distinguished in any era.
McCoy’s remarks are contained in his letter, which opens this week’s SHOOT Special Supplement on the AICE Editing Awards and Hall of Fame honor. In that supplement is a profile of Dury, who I got together with last month as he graciously shared reflections on his career and the industry.
As underscored in that Supplement story, a dynamic other than his reel played a key role in earning AICE Hall of Fame distinction for Dury. His boutique shops in Los Angeles—Dury Associates and then Decoupage—were spawning grounds for talent.
Coming up through the ranks there were such notables as editor/director/entrepreneur Larry Bridges of Red Car, director Marcus Stevens of Bedford Falls, editors Hal Honigsberg of Chrome and Tom Schachte of The Blue Rock Editing Company.
Schachte described Dury as a mentor. "Working with Jacques—and the work I did at his company—helped define me as an editor," said Schachte. "I remember very clearly him taking me aside one day after I had cut one of my first commercials at Dury Associates. I was very proud of it. He looked at the spot and told me quite simply that I needed to loosen up a bit and to not take things so literally.
"That’s a piece of advice that stays with me to this day," continued Schachte. "The entire time I worked there, Jacques was an inspiration with the fresh way he looked at things—he was brilliant in the art of telling a story and approaching it from a different angle."
