Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/756468
56 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2016 cut three-to-four episodes (according to credits listed in IMDb). At that rate, it would take 25-33 years to edit 100 episodes. INTRODUCING THE 100 CLUB Karen Stern, ACE, who just began season 18 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, started out in the feature world of New York. Working as an assistant editor on such classics as Raging Bull (1981) and Reds (1981), Stern settled into series TV when she relocated to Los Angeles. She worked on such shows as NYPD Blue (1993-2005) and Profiler (1996-2006) before joining Wolf Films for a new Law & Order (1990-2010) spinoff. A self-described Law & Order devotee, Stern had never missed an episode of the flagship show and was thrilled to join the burgeoning franchise, and has been on Law & Order: SVU since its launch in 1999. Fourteen years later, in 2013, Stern edited her 100th episode of the series. At its annual meeting that summer, the American Cinema Editors (ACE) honored her with a plaque as the first editor to cut 100 episodes of a single one-hour series. Though she was not the first to have reached this milestone — not even in the modern era, as is evident below — it is admirable that ACE recognized and celebrated such an achievement, encouraging all TV editors to keep a count of their credits. Stern has cut 131 episodes of Law & Order: SVU that have aired as of November 4, 2016. Additionally, she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the pilot episode of the series I'll Fly Away (1991-93) and has four ACE Eddie Award nominations (three for SVU episodes and the fourth for I'll Fly Away). Ellen Ring Jacobson is no stranger to longevity in series TV editorial. Her early credits include 26 episodes of Simon & Simon (1981-89) and 40 episodes of Murder She Wrote (1984-1996). She was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her work on the The Bourne Identity miniseries (1988). Ring Jacobson was brought onto 7th Heaven and stayed for the duration of the series from 1996-2007. All told, she edited 119 episodes of the series. Before retiring in 2013, she also cut 51 episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008-13). Janet Weinberg, ACE, was working on Spenser: For Hire (1985- 88) when she took time off to start a family. When she returned to work, she was doing short-term gigs before an old friend, Susan Malles, ACE, brought her onto 7th Heaven as an assistant editor. Shortly after, Weinberg was bumped up to editor and cut 7th Heaven for the rest of the 11-season run of the series, editing 109 episodes. After editing 16 episodes of China Beach (1988-91), Jacque Toberen moved over to cutting Movies of the Week for a few years. But when producer John Wells started working on ER, he regrouped a lot of the old China Beach team. Toberen joined the show's post-production team in 1995 — a year after the debut of the series — and stayed until the end of the final season in 2009. From the second to the 15th season, she racked up 105 episodes on ER, garnering a Primetime Emmy nomination as well as one for an ACE Eddie along the way. Gregory Gontz, who recently returned for the 14th season of NCIS, previously cut for a variety of series, including Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001), First Monday (2002) and JAG (1995-2005). He began working on NCIS from the series' beginning in 2003. The newest inductee to this club, Gontz edited his 100th episode of NCIS in 2015, and as of November 4, has had 110 episodes air. "We do a three-editor rotation on Ellen Ring Jacobson. Janet Weinberg.