How to hire the right video editor
In my previous post I discussed where you should look if you want to find a good video editor. In summary those places are:
Personal referrals
LinkedIn (2nd degree connections)
Staff me Up
Upwork
Fiverr (with some caveats, see previous post)
In this post, I’m going to be covering how you can make sure you hire the right editor for the job. The right video editor isn’t always the one with the best website, the most impressive work history, the best rates or the coolest desk setup. Some editors may not be the most obvious choice for a project, but are in fact the best suited for it.
So I’m going to give you my top tips (as a video editor) on what to look out for, so that you can make sure the next editor you hire is perfect for the job.
Pick me. The end.
Just kidding - here are my top 5 tips.
Be clear about your budget
Everything hinges on the budget. The editor you choose is going to have to be somebody who is willing to work for what you’re able to pay. Although editor rates vary greatly, here’s a ballpark idea of what a beginner, intermediate and professional rate would be:
Beginner: Between $20-$30/hour
Intermediate: Between $30-$60/hour
Professional: Over $60/hour
So your priority, above all else, should be finding an editor whose rate matches your budget. You budget can either be an hourly rate you’re willing to pay (like above) or a flat fee.
When you’re first reaching out to an editor, your budget should be crystal clear from the get-go. You want to ensure that you don’t surprise an editor with a rate that doesn’t work for them once you’ve already gotten further along in the discussion.
Here’s what you do, depending on which outreach method you use:
If you’re posting a job listing (Staff Me Up/Upwork):
Specify your budget in your job listing so that you only attract editors who are willing to work for that.
If you’re personally reaching out to an editor (Referral/LinkedIn):
Specify your budget in your first message to them and ASK them if that works for them. Politely asking if the rate works for them will set the conversation off on the right foot, and if you’re kind and respectful in your messaging, you never know - editors may be willing to reduce their rate a bit for you. Certainly don’t expect this, but kind things can happen to kind people.
If you’re finding an editor on Fiverr:
Since Fiverr editors will have their pricing packages listed, narrow your search to only the editors whose prices match your budget.
Now, your budget is not the ONLY thing you need to include in your initial outreach to potential editors. You need to also make sure they would be able to deliver the project to you by when you need it, which brings me to my second tip.
Be clear about your desired timeline
In your initial outreach, along with the budget, it’s pivotal to also be clear about your desired timeline.
Here are a few things to consider:
Do you have a hard deadline?
This is a deadline by which the project cannot go beyond. If you have a hard deadline, it’s essential that your editor can meet that, irrespective of your budget.
Never have a hard deadline if it’s not necessary, as it can limit your options. Hard deadlines should only be for non-negotiable timelines.
Be aware that if you have a low budget and a fast-approaching hard deadline, it may be more difficult to find an editor who’s able or willing to meet it. So you may need to find a way to either increase your budget, or see if you can remove your deadline, or turn it into a soft deadline - see below.
Do you have a soft deadline?
This is a deadline that acts as a general guideline, but you can push the completion date back if needed. This gives your editor candidates an idea of your completion expectation, while allowing them some breathing room.
Do you have no deadline?
Not having a deadline can be useful if you have a low budget because it allows you to keep your options open, and not turn away editors who may be happy to work for your rate but have busy schedules.
it’s also possible that you could attract an editor who usually works for a higher rate, but if they’re excited about your project, they may be willing to do it for less if they are able to complete it on their own timeframe. Don’t expect this from the editor - let this come from them - but it’s something to keep in mind when deciding on your timeframe.
The important takeaway here is, think realistically about what your project timeline is, and avoid having an unnecessary hard deadline as it will limit your options.
Whether you have a hard, soft or no deadline - always include your timeline in your initial outreach, along with your budget, and one final key piece of information:
describe your project type, subtype and genre
Not all editors are well suited for all projects. You want to make sure that you’re hiring an editor who has the skills to pull off what you need from them.
Usually this means finding an editor who has experience editing the same type of video that you’re looking for. Here’s a rundown of video types that come to mind, though this is by no means an exhaustive list - it’s just to help give you an idea of different video types:
Narrative Film:
Subtypes: Short form / long form
Narrative TV:
Subtypes: Episodic / Serialized / Procedural / Soap Opera
Documentary:
Subtypes: Short form / Long form
Docuseries:
Subtypes: Short form / Long form
Reality TV:
Subtypes: Competition shows / Dating shows / Makeover shows / Self help / Celebrity lives
Vertical Social Media:
Sub Types: Instagram / TikTok/ Snapchat / Youtube Shorts
Youtube:
Subtypes: Education / Product reviews / Unboxing / Tutorials / Vlogs / Video game - this list is endless
Commercials:
Subtypes: Infomercials / Product Videos / Testimonials / Lifestyle
Brand Videos:
Subtypes: Product Videos/ Testimonials / Behind-the-scenes
Podcast
Subtypes: Video / Audio only
Corporate Videos
Subtypes: Training videos / Tutorial videos / Internal communication videos / Company culture videos / Recruitment videos
Just looking at this list, and again there are many more, but you can see that there are a lot of different video types that each have their own subtypes.
Ideally, the editor you find has experience editing a video that has the same type and subtype as your project. For example, if you’re looking for an editor for a long-form narrative film - an editor who only has short-form narrative experience may not have the full skill set required to nail it, because the difference in runtime requires different pacing, structure, organization, etc.
Not only that, but aside from the video types and subtypes, there are also different genres that come into play. Take a look at the below list of genres:
Comedy
Drama
Horror
Thriller
Sci-fi
Action
Adventure
Crime
Educational
Motivational
Experimental
Many projects will not only have a specific video type and subtype, but they will also have one or more of the above genres.
In a perfect dream-world, you can find an editor whose experience matches your project type, subtype and genre. This is certainly easier when you have a bigger budget as you’re able to cast a wide net and be selective with who you choose.
However, if you have a beginner or intermediate budget, you may not have the luxury of picking this dream triple box checker. However, it’s always worth a shot. Here’s what you can do:
If you’re posting a job listing (Staff Me Up/Upwork):
List your project type, subtype and genre along with your budget and timeline and see who applies. If somebody with experience in your project type/subtype/genre applies to you, then bingo, they should be a top contestant. There are still a few more things to look into, which I’ll go over soon but for now, flag them in your favorites.
If you don’t get any submissions from a candidate who has experience in all three, do not despair! This is likely. See if there’s a candidate that at least has experience working in your main type of video, as this is the most crucial box to tick.
But what if there’s a candidate that ticks none of the boxes but may be a really good editor and nail it? This is certainly possible, especially if you have a lower rate as your pool of candidates is likely smaller. In this case, review the work of all your applicants and pick the ones whose quality of work you like the most (more on this in the next section). Then reach out to them, and ask if they would feel comfortable working in your project type, subtype and genre.
Here’s an example of what you could say - for this example I used “documentary” as the main type and “short form” / “crime” as the subtype and genre:
Hi [applicant]. Thank you so much for your interest in this project! I reviewed your work and am very impressed. However, you don’t seem to have experience editing documentaries. I wanted to check in with you to confirm that you would feel comfortable editing a documentary, specifically a short-form crime documentary. If so, I would love to setup a time to chat further.
Obviously, just because they say they would be comfortable, doesn’t mean they would do a good job. That’s why it’s crucial that you only reach out to candidates whose overall quality of work you like, and you feel has the potential to be a good fit. This still isn’t a guarantee, but you need to work with your available options.
If you’re personally reaching out to an editor (Referral, Linkedin):
First, see if you can find their website or portfolio online and look through their work to see if they have experience working in your project type. If they don’t, send then a message similar to the above, making sure you also specify the project budget and timeline. Here’s an example:
Hi [xxxxx] my name is [your name] and I was given your information by [friend’s name], who highly recommended you. I am currently looking for an editor for a short-form crime documentary, and I was wondering if this is something you would feel comfortable editing? I’m able to pay [your budget], and I have a soft deadline of [enter soft deadline]. Let me know if this would work for you, and if you would be interested! If so, we can set up a time to chat further. Looking forward to hearing from you.
This way, you put the ball in their court and they will let you know whether or not they’re up for the task.
Once you’ve selected your top candidate(s), there are still a few more things to consider before making your choice.
Pay close attention to the quality of their work
No matter whether your top candidates check all three, or none of the boxes, you need to do your due diligence and thoroughly look through their available portfolio. This doesn’t mean only reading about what they’ve worked on - it means physically watching through some of their work. If an editor has a website, which is more likely than not, an editor will usually have a demo reel of their work (a compilation of select works) as well as full-length edits they’ve worked on.
Demo reels can always be helpful to get an initial understanding of the scope of their work: how many projects they’ve worked on, the different project types they’ve worked on, the caliber of their previous projects, etc. However, it would be helpful to go a step further, if full samples of their work are available online.
For example, watch through an entire short film they edited. Then ask yourself, does the quality of their work match your expectations for your own project? And when I say “quality” I don’t mean production value - I’m not talking about how good the project looks visually - because that’s not their job. I’m strictly talking about the editing. Does the project flow nicely? Is the editing seamless or was there anything jarring? Did it have the desired emotional effect on you? Think about the qualities you’ll want your edit to have, and see if they’re reflected in any of their works.
Now of course, if an editor has worked on some high-caliber projects in the past, the materials may not be easily available online. For example, if they edited episodes of a network TV show - it may be harder to find the full episodes online. In this case, you can certainly watch a trailer of the project to get a sense of the overall style and tone of it - but in most circumstances, if they’re editing a project of that nature, it’s usually a safe bet that they’re a high quality editor. You can also of course watch any full samples that are available on their website, to decide for yourself.
Editing, like most art forms, can be subjective - so you need to trust your instincts and choose the editor whose work you feel would best translate to your project. Once you have one or a few editors who are willing to work for your budget, are able to meet your timeline requirements and whose skill set and quality of work matches your expectations - then it’s time to set up a time to chat one-on-one with your potential candidates, to make sure they’re going to be a good personality fit.
Make sure they’re a good personality fit
An editor can fulfill all the above requirements, but if they’re not a good personality fit for you, it will dampen your experience and potentially affect the quality of the final work. When I say personality fit, I don’t mean they need to be your best friend - but they need to be somebody who you would enjoy working with.
Here are some things to consider to help you determine if an editor would be a good personality fit:
Do they seem to be kind, polite and respectful?
This is key. If an editor seems to be rude or dismissive, just don’t go with them. I don’t care how good they seem to be, if they’re unkind you’re going to have a bad experience. And more often than not, those who are rude are not the ones with the most impressive work. When you hire an editor, you’re not just hiring for this project. You’re hopefully hiring somebody who you can work with on future projects - so why waste your time with a shitty person, when you could be building a fruitful collaboration with an editor who you’ll want to hire again and again.
Are they enthusiastic about the project?
You want an editor who cares about the project. Somebody who’s excited to get their hands on it, not somebody who you sense feels to be “above” it or simply there for the payday. Enthusiasm is hard to describe, it’s just something you can recognize when you see it. My fiancé was looking to hire a freelancer for a project once, and she reached out to someone online. This person had an excellent website and work history, but when they started texting to set up a time to chat - something ticked her off. She texted him “are you available next Tuesday at 10am?” And his response was “Mmhmm.” She felt weird about that response, and I agree - it immediately felt like this person thought they were better than the project, because that’s not a professional response. She then clarified “does that mean yes?” And he responded “yep.” There’s a lack of professionalism here that bothered her, that indicated that he wasn’t going to bring the energy or passion she would have liked. Pick somebody who seems to be excited about the opportunity, it will only benefit the project.
Does their workflow and communication style work for you?
Editors will all have their own way of working. Some like to be given an assignment and then not communicate with you until they have an edit for you to review. Some prefer to send you regular updates throughout their process. Some would like the entire collaboration process to happen remotely, others prefer in-person review sessions. Some like to communicate over email, others prefer text, phone calls, Slack or another messaging platform. The list of preferences goes on, so the important thing is to make sure you ask your editor what their preferred workflow and communication style is, and see if that works for you. For instance, if you don’t have a preference, then defer to whatever your favorite candidate prefers. However, if you feel strongly that you want to be there for in-person review sessions, make sure to communicate that and see if they would be willing to accommodate. If not, then it might be in your best interest to find an alternate candidate who is happy to work that way. Because, once again, in an ideal world, you’re not only hiring an editor for this particular project, but you’re looking to find an editor with whom you can develop a positive and fruitful long-term working relationship.
summary
In order to make sure you hire the right video editor for your project you need to be clear about your budget, timeline and project type/subtype/genre when you conduct your initial outreach to make sure you don’t waste your time on candidates who are out of your price range, unable to meet your timeline or unqualified for the job. Then, review full samples of their work to ensure that the quality of their previous work matches your expectations for the quality of your project. Once you have your top candidate(s), set aside some time to chat so that you can make sure they’re a good personality fit, and then go with whoever you feel would lead to the most positive, effective and enriching collaboration - that can hopefully continue throughout future projects.
