Studios grow by adding freelancers, and each one costs a producer an hour of context — what the client wants, what was already rejected, where the script is, when it is due. Do that four times a month and you have hired someone to explain things.
Everything in that hour is already a field on the task, which gives you a test for whether your process works: can a new editor start from the task alone?
The handover, as a checklist
- Invite them and give the right role. Roles control what someone can do, including whether they can send work to the client. Set it deliberately: see Team roles and permissions.
- Point them at the task rather than at a folder. The brief in the description, the script attached, the deadline, the estimated hours and the phase are all on one screen.
- Let them read the last round. Previous versions keep their own comments, so the notes that shaped the current cut are still there, including the ones you resolved.
- Leave the direction as a team-only comment. “The client hates hard cuts on faces” belongs on the timeline where the next person will find it, rather than in a DM that leaves with your phone.
- Tell them to start the timer. It is the one habit that will not survive being mentioned later.
Keep the client side yours
A freelancer working inside the task never needs to email the client. Deliveries go out with Send to client, from a role that has permission to use it, and the notes come back to the same timeline. The client keeps one contact and one channel however many people touch the edit.
Two things that make the next handover cheaper
The activity log records who changed what and when, so “why is this in review already?” is a question the task answers by itself.
Team-only comments work as institutional memory. Every internal note you leave on the timeline is one paragraph of the onboarding call you will not have to repeat.
Tip: Onboard your first freelancer this way and watch what they ask you anyway. Each question points at a field somebody left empty.