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Editors and agency workflows
Review a client short-form video with six QA passes: brief, opening, story, captions, placement, and approval. Includes owners and a handoff template.
Before sending a client cut, review six things: whether it meets the brief, makes an understandable opening promise, delivers that promise accurately, has usable captions and audio, fits the intended placement, and includes a clear approval record. Give each unresolved item an owner and a decision.
The point is to make the deliverable reviewable. This checklist cannot forecast reach, certify a claim's legality, or guarantee fewer revision rounds. It can prevent a vague "looks good" from standing in for checks nobody actually completed.
Record the client, campaign, file version, platform placement, intended audience, objective, and reviewer. Link the approved brief and identify who can approve the final cut.
Choose statuses that describe work: Ready, Revise, Decision needed, and Not applicable. Do not turn these into a numerical quality score or a probability of performance.
| Check | Suggested owner | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Brief and claim accuracy | Producer and client subject owner | Approved brief, claim source, decision note |
| Story and comprehension | Editorial reviewer | Timestamped observations and proposed changes |
| Caption and audio accuracy | Assigned QA reviewer | Reviewed export and corrected transcript |
| Placement and destination | Publisher or channel owner | Preview check and verified route |
| Final approval | Named client approver | Approved file version and date |
One person may own several checks in a small team. The important distinction is between an assigned check and an assumption that somebody else handled it.
State what the video is supposed to accomplish. An interview highlight, a product demonstration, and a paid offer need different evidence and next actions. A clip can meet an entertainment brief without introducing a sales offer.
For a product cut, check whether the intended customer can identify the task and what is actually demonstrated. For an interview, check the speaker, context, qualifications, and meaning after editing. Verify prices, dates, numbers, comparisons, and client terminology with the responsible owner.
Mark a claim Decision needed when support is unavailable. Do not make the claim more emphatic to solve an unclear opening. The demo and destination worksheet helps separate a structural concern from a conversion question that needs further measurement.
Ask an unfamiliar reviewer to name the subject and say what they expect next. Capture the answer before explaining the brief.
Check the first visible image, opening speech, text, and first action together. Do they identify the same subject? Is an important person, object, or task obscured? Does the clip eventually deliver what the opening leads the reviewer to expect?
Do not automatically force the product behind a "pain" sequence or remove every logo. The right order depends on what the viewer needs to understand and what the brief requires. Record the missing information and the proposed remedy.
The hook review worksheet gives a repeatable sequence without presenting a reviewer's impression as audience research.
Watch the whole export at normal speed. Mark repeated information, unexplained transitions, obscured evidence, or an unfulfilled promise. Rewatch each interval with its surrounding context before cutting it.
In an interview, verify that rearranging a sentence has not changed its referent or removed a condition. In a demonstration, check that the edit does not suggest an action or result the product did not perform. In a creative montage, preserve pauses or reactions that are doing deliberate work.
Use a revision note with a timestamp, observation, proposed change, reason, and what to preserve. The editor feedback template provides examples. Avoid asking for "more energy" unless you can name the interval and the intended change.
Read all captions against the audio. Review names, numbers, technical terms, speaker identity, and meaningful non-speech sounds. Check the complete export rather than a sample of its first lines.
Accessibility captions should remain synchronized. A separate opening headline may supply advance context, but it should not replace or move the transcript. W3C's caption guidance explains this role; the caption timing checklist covers the practical review.
On a phone, confirm that text can be read at normal speed, does not cover essential evidence, and does not collide with other text layers. Listen for clipped words, abrupt edits, sudden level changes, and music that masks the message. If automatic captions were used, mark the human review separately from generation.
Review the intended publishing preview. Check crop, controls, overlays, cover behavior, and the exact versions needed for each agreed placement. Do not assume an organic Reel, a Short, a TikTok post, and a paid placement share identical requirements.
Confirm who checked footage, music, images, fonts, participant permissions, and private information. Record unresolved rights questions for the responsible person; this checklist does not decide ownership or provide legal clearance.
If there is a CTA, follow its actual route. Can a viewer find the destination and complete the promised step? For example, YouTube states that URLs in Shorts descriptions and comments are not clickable. A handoff should specify the supported route instead of saying "link added" without checking its behavior.
Supply the exact file to approve and a short note explaining any decisions the client needs to make. Separate required corrections, optional alternatives, and new work. Check the contract or marketplace order for revision scope; do not assume the phrase "one round" has the same meaning to everyone.
| Handoff field | Example |
|---|---|
| Deliverable | Invoice comparison, vertical export v06 |
| Intended purpose | Show the comparison task to first-time product viewers |
| Completed change | Enlarged selected invoice labels at 0:04-0:07 |
| Preserved | Continuous demonstration and supported-format qualification |
| Open decision | Client to approve the displayed plan name before release |
| Approval requested | Approve v06 or provide one consolidated response |
| Publication owner | Named channel owner after approval |
Fiverr's revision-process guidance is a useful reminder to use the agreed order process where applicable. Your particular scope, approver, deadlines, and change requests still need to be explicit.
After revisions, replay the final file and confirm the named fixes and preserved elements are present. Store the approved version and decision record together. Approval of v05 does not silently transfer to a materially changed v06.
ViralJury's sample structural reports can show how timestamped observations and preservation notes are presented. Treat any suggested edit as something for your team to verify against the footage, brief, and claims. A structural report does not replace the client approver or prove what the audience will do.
Working with editors and clients
Turning a reaction into a timestamp, a brief, or a decision someone else can act on.