poo poo Fuckasaurus posted:

Hi thread, I've been a shadow editor for a few creators I know for several years and recently badly derailed the PYF Tweets thread answering questions, so I'm going to hang a shingle here in case anyone wants my insights.

For context I've been editing video since 2004 when I was in high school. I did a little paid work for student films in college, but my side hustle in social media videos started when I met a Disney YouTuber at Disney World (I'm Orlando local) in 2017. We hit it off and I ended up having lunch with them, and they mentioned that due to a family emergency the video they were shooting that day wouldn't be published for probably several days, which they were bummed about because it was the first day of Food And Wine. I mentioned that I had experience in Premiere Pro and ended up with their day's raws in my inbox on the mere promise that I would try.

I have a terrible, nonexistent sleep schedule and ADHD, so I edited the video overnight and had a prelim in their inbox by sunrise. The response was great, and after a few edits and a video call I shipped them the final and they published that day. We didn't discuss pay, I was helping a brother out of a jam and their thanks was enough, but they paid me more than fairly and I was thrilled.

I've edited perhaps a dozen videos for them since, as well as a few others who they shared my info with. I also got a job as a Social Media Manager for a branch of a mortgage company in 2019, which was fun and allowed me to learn the demographics and strategies for the different platforms. During that time I did real estate photography and videography for our partners, as well as talking head style videos of my boss which I shot and edited as style parodies of popular movies. Those were good enough to get me a few more creator contacts.

Unfortunately my boss made a $20m whoopsie just at the turn of the pandemic and every salaried employee at the branch was mysteriously terminated during the first quarter of 2020, and then the CEO found out and fired the branch manager too. Beans.

I still do shadow editing for a few channels, but the reality is that my services are only worth it for channels that are large enough to monetize but too small for employees or contract editors. There are a couple marketplaces for these services, but my experience there is that they pay very poorly and tend to be amateurs with unrealistic expectations, like getting a 30 minute edited video out of 35 minutes of raw footage, or paying $30 for four hours of work, so I don't do that.

Right now I'm working full time fixing up a house for sale and working on videos for myself or existing clients in my spare time, but if anyone wants to ask about editing or my limited understanding of the voodoo under the hood, ask away.

poo poo Fuckasaurus posted:

poo poo Fuckasaurus posted:

poo poo Fuckasaurus posted:

Sardonik posted:

Sardonik posted: