It depends on the footage, so we set it together before I start. Once I've seen what you have, I'll tell you how long the first cut takes, and that's the promise.
What sets the timing:
- How much footage there is. I watch all of it at least once. Three hours of interviews means three hours of watching before the first cut.
- How much needs fixing. Bad audio, mismatched cameras and missing files all add time.
- How much story work there is. Finding the two minutes worth watching in a long interview is slower than tightening a podcast.
The length of the finished video matters less than people expect. A two-minute promo can take longer than a sixty-minute episode.
When the clock starts. I start on the work once the invoice is taken care of. Day and week bookings block real time on my calendar, which is the simplest way to get a big job moving on a fixed schedule.
If something changes, like a missing camera nobody mentioned, I tell you the day I find it, not the day before the cut is due.
I work Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. Email me on a weekday and you'll get a reply the same day. The longer answer is in the post on how long it takes to edit a video.