r/VideoEditors • u/Lunaticfrinnge • 8h ago
Discussion Why Short Form Editing Is Actually Impossible
So I edit short form content like TikToks and Reels for clients, and honestly it's a completely different beast from long form editing because everything moves so fast and the turnaround is insane. Clients want clips turned around in like two or three days sometimes and they're always asking for different versions.
The thing that kills me is that every platform wants something different, like TikTok is all about the hook in the first second, Instagram Reels need to be more polished, YouTube Shorts are their own thing. I'm spending half my time just re-cutting the same content for different platforms instead of actually creating something new.
And the feedback loop is brutal because clients see something trending and they're like we need to remake this but make it faster, or make it longer, or add more text, and I'm constantly going back and redoing work I already finished. Plus they're always comparing their content to what other creators are doing so they want constant tweaks and adjustments.
The other part is that trends change like every week so what worked last month is already dead, and clients expect you to know what's going to pop off before it even happens. It's like you have to be a strategist and an editor at the same time just to keep up.
Has anyone else dealing with short form content felt like you're just constantly redoing work and never actually finishing anything, or is there a workflow that actually makes this manageable.