The usual handoff to a freelance editor is a long call. The producer shares the screen and goes through the brief, the client’s notes, the server folder and the deadline, while the editor scribbles.
On day three the editor asks which logo is the current one, because that part never made it into the notes. The next freelancer gets the same call, told a little differently.
Writing the handoff down takes about as long as one of those calls, and you only do it once. This post starts after you’ve picked the editor. Finding one is covered in our post on hiring a freelance video editor.
In short
- Put what the editor needs on a one-page job sheet, with your internal review date and a list of what’s already approved.
- Send one folder link, the latest script and a list of the client’s notes with your decisions, not the email thread.
- Agree on export settings, file names and one place for versions, and ask for a short note with each version.
- Set the rules on day one: no talking to the client, no changing approved parts, nothing sent without your review.
- When the job ends, collect the project before the last payment and take access back.
The one-page job sheet
What the editor needs to start fits on one page. Anything longer, like a brand manual or a shot list, goes in the job folder and gets a line on the sheet. Copy this and fill it in for each video:
JOB SHEET
Client: Acme
Video: ACM_014 Launch teaser
Length: 0:45, max 0:48
Formats: 16:9 master, 9:16 cut
Audience: current customers
Message: new plan, same price
Our review: Tue 14, 2 pm
Client date: Thu 16
Rounds included: 2
Approved, don't change:
- interview selects from v2
- music track
Script: latest version only
References: list in folder
Footage: Acme/2026_launch
Export: H.264, 1080p, stereo
Name: ACM_014_teaser_v01.mp4
Upload to: review folder
Questions to: Ana, same day
Client contact: only via Ana
Two lines on that sheet do most of the work.
The first is the date. Give the editor the date of your internal review, not the client’s date. The days in between are for your review, the fixes it brings and the time it takes to send.
An editor who only knows the client’s date will deliver v1 the night before.
The second is the list of what’s already approved. By round three the client has signed off on the interview selects and the music, and an editor who doesn’t know that may well “improve” them. Name the approved parts one by one, and if the cut is locked, use that word (what picture lock means).
Files, script and the client’s notes in one place
Send one link, to the job’s folder, set up the same way as every other job in the studio (a folder structure you can copy). The editor shouldn’t need to ask where the fonts are or which of three logos is current. Delete the old logo instead of leaving it next to the right one.
The script goes in its latest version only. If the client has already commented on an earlier cut, don’t forward the email thread.
Send what the editor will act on: each thing the client asked for, what you decided to do about it, and what you’re leaving out and why. A forwarded thread leaves the editor to sort out what the client meant, which is your job.
References need a timecode and a reason. “The pacing from 0:12 to 0:30, not the color grade” tells the editor what to take from it. A bare link tends to get copied whole.
Check access the day before. Can the editor open the folder, play the footage, install the fonts and open the script? Sorting that out takes five minutes the day before and a whole morning once the job has started.
How versions come back and notes go out
Put the export settings in writing, with codec, resolution, frame rate and audio channels. For review copies, a light H.264 file is enough.
Give the file name pattern too, with the video’s code at the start and the version at the end, following a naming convention like this one. Version numbers keep counting through internal and client rounds.
Name one place for versions and keep it for the whole job. A file sent by WeTransfer on Monday, by Drive on Tuesday and on WhatsApp on Wednesday is three files to go and find.
Ask for two or three lines with each version saying what changed and what wasn’t done. “All six notes from v2 are in. I didn’t shorten the intro because it breaks the music at 0:08.” That note becomes your checklist when you review the cut.
Notes go back from one person, on the frame, with the client’s and the studio’s merged into one list and must-fix notes kept apart from preferences (how to give video feedback an editor can use). If two people at the studio review the cut, decide which of them sends the list.
Ask the editor to answer each note, either as done or with a question, since a single “on it” for the whole list doesn’t tell you what was skipped.
What the editor shouldn’t do
Agree on these on day one, in the first message or at the bottom of the sheet:
- Talk to the client, unless you’ve agreed otherwise and written down who and about what. Replying in the client’s comment thread on a review link counts, because the client reads it. Questions about a client note come to you.
- Change something that’s approved. If the editor sees a problem in an approved part, they flag it and wait for your answer.
- Send anything to the client. Every version goes through your review first.
- Rename or move media after import, or put client footage on a personal cloud account.
- Sit on a problem. A missing file or a doubt goes out the same day, not attached to v1.
The first week
Set check-ins with dates, so nobody has to chase anybody.
On day one the editor confirms that everything opens and sends their questions in a single message. Answer them that day.
On day two, ask for thirty seconds with graphics and music in place, or a rough assembly of the first section. It’s the cheapest moment to catch the wrong font, an old logo or a pace that doesn’t match the reference.
Before v1 goes to the client, review it internally and check the fixes. After the first client round, tell the editor what worked as well as what didn’t, and add to the template whatever you had to explain by message that week.
When the job ends
Collect the project before the last payment: the project file, the media it uses, graphics, fonts, music with its licenses and the final exports. Open it on one of your machines and check that it relinks.
Then take access back. Keep a list of everything you gave on day one (folders, shared drives, the review tool, the chat group with the client) and go down it. Open tasks and notes still under the editor’s name go to whoever picks up the job.
How this works in RecReview
In RecReview the job sheet can live on the task.
Every video is a task with a code like ACM_014, and its panel holds a description, the script as a file or a Google Drive or OneDrive link, attachments (files up to 50 MB, or links), an internal deadline that can’t fall after the client’s due date, and the person it’s assigned to. Assign the task and the editor gets a notification.
Invite the editor by email with the Freelancer role. By default a Freelancer can’t approve a version internally, send it to the client or request changes, and can’t delete tasks.
They do see the workspace’s clients, projects and tasks like any other member. If an editor shouldn’t see your other clients’ work, send review links instead of a seat in the workspace and upload their versions yourself.
When a file’s name starts with the task’s code, the upload window picks that task, and the watch folder in the Mac app uploads each finished render as the task’s next version. Versions are numbered in the order they arrive, and whoever uploaded one is notified of new comments on it.
Notes marked team only never show up on the client’s link or portal, and the editor can export the notes as markers for Premiere or DaVinci Resolve.
When the job ends, suspend the editor if you’ll work together again. They lose access, a timer left running stops, and you reactivate them for the next job.
When it’s over for good, archive them. RecReview lists their open tasks, subtasks and assigned comments to hand to someone else, and delivered tasks keep their name as the record of who did the work. More on tasks and deadlines on the project management page.
