Hire video editors

What a video editor does beyond cutting

An editor assembles the story, paces it, and makes it play on the platform it is for. Depending on the job that also means titles and lower thirds, basic motion graphics, music selection and licensing, sound mix, colour correction, captions, and exporting the right versions for each channel. Not every editor does all of these; a motion-graphics-heavy explainer and a documentary-style brand film want different people. Say in the brief which of these you need so the quote covers them.

What goes in the editing brief

• What was shot: camera, format, how much footage, whether there is separate sound.
• Deliverables: number of cuts, lengths, aspect ratios (16:9, 9:16, 1:1), captions, platform specs.
• Reference: one or two pieces whose pacing and tone you want.
• Assets: logo files, brand fonts and colours, music licence or a brief for one, any graphics.
• Who approves, and how many revision rounds are included.
• Turnaround, with the real deadline, not the hoped-for one.

How to hand off footage

Send everything, organised: footage by camera and day, separate audio, a document that says which takes the director or client liked, and the assets above. A clean handoff saves the editor a day of sorting that you would otherwise pay for. Agree the delivery format for the final files too, so the last step is not a surprise.

Revision rounds and what a locked cut means

Most editing quotes include a set number of revision rounds, commonly two or three. A round is one consolidated set of notes, not a stream of messages. Once you approve the picture ("picture lock"), colour, sound and graphics are finished on that cut; changing the structure after that costs more because the finishing has to be redone. Agree the rounds and the lock point in writing.

How to judge an editor's reel

Watch for pacing and for restraint: do the cuts land on the beat, do interviews breathe, is the graphics work clean rather than busy? Then look for work on your platform; an editor whose reel is all cinematic 16:9 may not have cut a vertical series. Open full pieces, not just the montage, and ask what their role was: editor, or editor plus graphics, colour and mix.

Your editor does not need to be local

Editing is remote work. Footage moves by transfer, reviews happen on links, and the best editor for the job may be in another city. Spexster lists verified editors by city because some clients want to sit in the room for the final session, but most projects never need it. Where the editor should be close to the shoot is when the same person is cutting on location for a same-day deliverable.