How many revision rounds should a video editor include?

There is no universal number, and figures quoted as an industry standard rarely arrive with a source. What matters is that the count is written down before delivery, that a round is defined as one consolidated list, and that there is a stated path for anything beyond it. AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement handles the overflow by billing out-of-scope changes on a time-and-materials basis and requiring a new signed proposal for substantive ones.

What is the difference between a revision and a new job?

A revision moves the deliverable closer to the brief you both agreed: trims, caption corrections, a supplied font, a line break. A new job changes the brief: a different source moment, an extra aspect ratio after approval, a new creative direction, clips from a video that was never in scope. Put the split in a table in the contract, so the conversation is about which column a request lands in rather than whether you are being difficult.

What happens if the client never responds to the review link?

Decide that in advance with an acceptance window. AIGA's terms give the client five business days from receipt to object in writing, and state that in the absence of such notice the deliverable is deemed accepted. Adapt the window to your engagement, say it in the kickoff message as well as the contract, and send one reminder before it closes.

Should clients approve each clip or the whole batch?

Each clip, against a numbered version. Batch approval hides which cut was actually signed off, and it means one objection stalls nine finished clips. Per-clip decisions also make the handoff record legible later: version, approver, timestamp, one line each.

How do I hand off clips without locking the client into my tools?

Ship the flat files plus something the client's next editor can open. That means approved masters, SRT caption files, and a project interchange file such as FCPXML or EDL. Apple describes its XML documents as plain text with tagged elements, used to move project and clip details into third-party applications, which is precisely the property you want in a handoff.

How do I prove to a client that a delivered clip performed?

Use a source the client can verify independently rather than an image you produced. Everpop issues signed 48-hour and 7-day YouTube Analytics receipts: a link a third party can open showing what the published clip did, including the ones that flopped. It records what happened; it makes no prediction about what the next clip will do.

Video Client Approval Process: The Editor's Guide

August 12, 2026 · Everpop

Hand off clips through one review queue, not an email thread: one link per clip, a single named approver, an approve-or-reject decision recorded against a numbered version, and a written revision policy that says what a round covers. Anything outside the agreed scope becomes a change order, not a free re-edit.

The other version is familiar: finals in a shared folder, link in an email, feedback back as a paragraph, a voice note, and a reply-all from someone who joined the thread on Tuesday. A month later nobody can say which cut was signed off, and round four is still happening.

Why does a Drive link and an email thread cost you a round?

Nothing is wrong with a shared folder; it moves large files. The trouble starts after they land, because an email thread cannot hold the three things a review needs: a frame, a version, a decision.

Feedback not attached to a timecode has to be interpreted, and interpretation is how a round gets spent. Vimeo describes its review links as being for "private, time-coded feedback", so the note lands on the timeline instead of your inbox.

The decision needs the same treatment. Adobe's Workfront documentation lists document statuses including "Needs work", "Approved with changes" and "Approved": a named state, set against a named version, at a known time. "Looks great, ship it" in an email thread is none of those three.

What has to be true before you send the first cut?

Approval is not a mood. It is the event that ends your obligation and starts the invoice clock. AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services defines final deliverables as versions "provided by Designer and accepted by Client". Acceptance is the hinge, so settle three lines in the kickoff message, in writing:

Who approves. One name with authority. Other stakeholders comment; one person decides.
How long they have. AIGA's terms give the client five business days to object in writing, and add that without such notice "the Deliverable shall be deemed accepted".
What a round is. One consolidated list, submitted once, in one place.

What goes in a clip approval checklist?

Paste this into the delivery message, one block per clip. It is short on purpose: a checklist the client will not read is decoration.

Clip name and version — ep14-hook-01 v2. Numbered versions, never "final".
Source reference — the long video and timestamp the clip came from, so context is checkable without a reply.
Destination — the platform and aspect ratio this cut is built for.
Caption spellings — names, brands and product terms, listed once so corrections happen once.
Rights status — music, third-party footage, anyone recognisable on screen.
The decision — Approve, or Request changes with one consolidated list.
The deadline — when the decision is due, and what happens if it passes.
The approver — one name, stated.
Where feedback goes — the review page. Not email, not a voice note, not a corridor.

What counts as a revision, and what counts as a new job?

A revision moves the clip closer to the brief you both agreed. A new job changes the brief. Write that line down before you need it: written mid-argument, it reads as a bill.

Request	Revision round	Change order
Trim the first two seconds	Included
Fix a misspelled name in the captions	Included
Swap to the brand font supplied in the brief	Included
Re-cut the clip from a different moment		New job
Clips from a video that was not in the brief		New job
A second aspect ratio, requested after approval		New job
"Let's try a different hook" in round three		New job
New brand guidelines issued mid-project		New job

AIGA's terms split it into two tiers worth copying. General changes outside the scope of the services are billed on a time-and-materials basis at a stated hourly rate. Substantive changes — a revision at or near a set percentage of the time, value or scope — entitle the designer to submit a new proposal, and the sequence is blunt: "Work shall not begin on the revised services until a fully signed revised Proposal" — plus any additional retainer — has been received. The guidance notes accompanying it describe a change order as a document acknowledging a request outside the original scope, and put it plainly: "It is essentially a mini-proposal." They also suggest defining a substantive change as one exceeding a percentage of the original schedule or budget, such as 10 percent, or a dollar amount, such as $1,000, whichever is greater. Your thresholds are yours; the point is that one exists.

Mechanical fixes are a separate category, worth absorbing rather than litigating: a caption typo, a two-second trim, a supplied font. Price them in. Everpop includes three free re-renders per clip on the same instinct.

How do you record an approval so nobody re-litigates it?

Three fields: who, which version, when. The record lives wherever your review link and checklist already live, and the client should be able to see it: a decision the client cannot find is one you will defend twice.

Keep a second gate on your own side, because a recorded sign-off and a published clip are not the same event. Everpop is review-first: nothing posts until the account holder taps approve, so the last check before a clip leaves is yours, against the cut the client signed off. No Everpop login is needed on the client's side — see how the gate works.

What does a clean handoff look like at the end?

The end of an engagement is a deliverables list, not a warm feeling.

Approved masters, named to the version that was approved.
Caption files as SRT, for destinations that accept an uploaded caption track.
A project interchange file, so another editor can rebuild the timeline. Apple describes XML documents as "plain ASCII text files with tagged elements" used to move library, event, project and clip details into third-party applications.
The approval record — version, approver, timestamp.
Access removed. If you were reading a shared finals folder, unshare it. Access that outlives the engagement is a liability on both sides.

Everpop's editor handoff export writes FCPXML, EDL and SRT for this reason, so the client keeps the timeline as well as the file — what each format carries.

Then comes the question a week later: did it work. A signed 48-hour and 7-day YouTube Analytics receipt answers it with a link a third party can open, showing what the published clip did — flops included. It documents outcomes rather than predicting them — a sturdier basis for the next contract than a cropped screenshot. More on that in proving results with receipts.

What should a revision clause actually say?

A drafting starting point, not legal advice — have your own counsel read anything you sign.

Revisions. This project includes [N] rounds of revisions per clip. A round is one consolidated list of changes, submitted through the review link within [five] business days of delivery. Changes outside the agreed brief — a different source moment, an added platform or aspect ratio, a new creative direction — are quoted as a change order and begin after written approval. Clips not returned within the review window are treated as approved.

The clause is not there to win the argument. It is there so the argument never starts.

Frequently asked questions

How many revision rounds should a video editor include?: There is no universal number, and figures quoted as an industry standard rarely arrive with a source. What matters is that the count is written down before delivery, that a round is defined as one consolidated list, and that there is a stated path for anything beyond it. AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement handles the overflow by billing out-of-scope changes on a time-and-materials basis and requiring a new signed proposal for substantive ones.
What is the difference between a revision and a new job?: A revision moves the deliverable closer to the brief you both agreed: trims, caption corrections, a supplied font, a line break. A new job changes the brief: a different source moment, an extra aspect ratio after approval, a new creative direction, clips from a video that was never in scope. Put the split in a table in the contract, so the conversation is about which column a request lands in rather than whether you are being difficult.
What happens if the client never responds to the review link?: Decide that in advance with an acceptance window. AIGA's terms give the client five business days from receipt to object in writing, and state that in the absence of such notice the deliverable is deemed accepted. Adapt the window to your engagement, say it in the kickoff message as well as the contract, and send one reminder before it closes.
Should clients approve each clip or the whole batch?: Each clip, against a numbered version. Batch approval hides which cut was actually signed off, and it means one objection stalls nine finished clips. Per-clip decisions also make the handoff record legible later: version, approver, timestamp, one line each.
How do I hand off clips without locking the client into my tools?: Ship the flat files plus something the client's next editor can open. That means approved masters, SRT caption files, and a project interchange file such as FCPXML or EDL. Apple describes its XML documents as plain text with tagged elements, used to move project and clip details into third-party applications, which is precisely the property you want in a handoff.
How do I prove to a client that a delivered clip performed?: Use a source the client can verify independently rather than an image you produced. Everpop issues signed 48-hour and 7-day YouTube Analytics receipts: a link a third party can open showing what the published clip did, including the ones that flopped. It records what happened; it makes no prediction about what the next clip will do.