How to brief a video editor in five answers.

Most revision rounds don’t start in the edit. They start with a guess.

Footage arrives with a note that says “make something great.” So the editor guesses. Who’s watching? How long should it run? Which quote matters most? Every guess is a coin flip, and every miss costs you a round of notes.

You don’t need a creative brief, a deck or a shot list to fix that. You need five answers. They fit in a short email, and they turn a guess into a plan.

What should the video do?

Give it one job. When someone finishes watching, what should they do, feel or understand?

• Book a call.
• Apply for the open role.
• Know who to ask on their first day.

“Brand awareness” isn’t a job. It’s a hope. Name the one thing you want, and every cut has something to aim at. A video with three jobs usually does none of them well.

If you can’t say what the video is for in one sentence, the edit can’t either.

Who’s watching, and where?

“Everyone” isn’t an audience. Tell your editor three things:

• Who: their job, their stage of life or how they know you. Customers, recruits and your own team each need a different cut.
• Where: LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, your website, a lobby screen, a conference stage.
• What they already know: so the video skips what doesn’t need explaining.

Where it plays changes the edit more than most people expect. A video in a social feed has a few seconds to earn attention, usually with the sound off, so captions carry it. A video on your website plays for someone who chose to press play. Same footage. Different cut.

What should it feel like?

Send two links. One for pacing, one for look. They don’t need to be from your industry, and they don’t need a big budget behind them.

Then add a sentence about each. “I like how fast it opens” tells your editor more than the link alone. So does “the music drops out right before the reveal.”

What you don’t want helps just as much. “No stock footage of people high-fiving.” “Nothing that feels like a commercial.” One line like that can save a whole round.

What has to be in it?

List what’s non-negotiable, then every version you need.

1. Must-haves: logo, end card, web address, legal lines, and names and titles for anyone on camera.
2. Moments that stay: the quote your CEO loves, the product shot, the customer’s laugh 12 minutes into the interview.
3. Every version: a 2-minute main video, three 30-second vertical cutdowns, a 15-second teaser. Lengths, shapes and captions.

Ask for the cutdowns up front. When your editor knows the vertical versions are coming, the main edit gets built with them in mind, and the strongest lines land in clean, quotable pieces. Ask afterward, and someone ends up hunting for moments that happen to fit.

When is it done, and who says so?

Two lines: the date you need the first draft, and the name of the person who approves it.

The date sets the plan. The name protects it. The most expensive note arrives in round three from someone who never saw round one. Get every reviewer’s notes into the first round, combined into one list. When two notes disagree, the approver settles it before it reaches the editor.

What you can skip

You don’t need a script for an interview-led video. The story is already in the footage, and finding it is the editor’s job.

You don’t need to plan every shot or transition, either. Describe the problem, not the fix. “The middle drags, and people stop watching before the offer” gives your editor something to solve. “Add more transitions” gives them a guess.

A brief you can copy

Paste this into an email, write a line for each, and add the footage link:

• Goal: After watching, viewers should…
• Viewer and platform: Who’s watching, where, and whether the sound is on.
• References: Two links, what you like about each, and one thing to avoid.
• Must-haves and versions: Logos, lines and moments that stay. Every length and shape you need.
• Date and approver: When you need the first draft, and who signs off.

Example: a hiring video

• Goal: Get experienced electricians to apply for two open jobs.
• Viewer and platform: Journeyman electricians in Oregon, on Facebook and Instagram, mostly with the sound off.
• References: One link for the quick, honest pace. One for the warm, natural color. Nothing that feels like a corporate ad.
• Must-haves and versions: Logo, careers page address, and the foreman’s line about how nobody works alone. A 90-second main video and three 20-second vertical cutdowns, all captioned.
• Date and approver: First draft by March 6. Dana in HR approves.

That’s the whole brief. It took five minutes to write, and it answers every question the editor would otherwise guess at.

How it works at Cutpoint

Our clients send these five answers through the request form in their portal: the goal, who it’s for, references, deliverables and the date. Brand details like fonts, colors, music and things to avoid are asked once, when you set up your account, so every request starts with them in place.

You still don’t need a perfect brief. A goal and a gut feeling are enough to start. The five answers just get the first cut closer, and when a draft misses, revisions are unlimited on every plan. See how plans and requests work.

Five answers. One clear first cut.