If you weren't in the room when the footage was shot, the edit brief is doing twice the work. The editor isn't just figuring out the cut; they're figuring out what the moment even was. A good brief closes that gap fast. A vague brief means the editor guesses, and you spend the revision round explaining what you meant.
Pro tip: One well-chosen example link replaces three paragraphs of description.
Lead with story goal, audience, and distribution platform
Before the editor knows what to cut, they need to know what the cut is for. Open the brief with three lines: the story goal (what should the viewer take away), the target audience (who's watching this), and the distribution platform (LinkedIn, YouTube, internal channel, sales follow-up). These three answers shape every editorial decision downstream. Skip them and the editor defaults to "general," which is the wrong answer for any specific use.
Name the format because landscape vs. portrait changes the cut
A landscape LinkedIn cut is a different edit from a 9:16 TikTok cut from the same footage. Different in-points, different out-points, different cropping decisions, different lower-third placement. Name the format up front. If you need both a landscape and a portrait version, say so and explicitly ask for both as separate exports in the same request. Asking the editor to "figure out the right format" is asking for a revision.
Use one example link instead of paragraphs of description
"I want it to feel like this video" with a link to a real reference does more than three paragraphs of adjectives. Pick a link that matches the pace, the tone, and the cut style you're after. The editor watches it once and now knows what you're picturing. One link is sometimes enough to skip the description section entirely.
Call out what to keep, what to cut, and how clean to make it
Specifics save rounds. Say which moments to keep, which to cut, whether to leave the ums and ahs (sometimes you want them, for authenticity) or strip them. Flag off-message tangents to remove. If the deliverable is multiple clips from one recording, list them with timestamps. Specificity proportional to what you need: a quick social cut needs less direction than a polished customer story.
Try it this week
Before your next edit request on footage you didn't shoot, write three lines (story goal, audience, platform), pick one reference link, and list what to keep and what to cut with timestamps. Submit it in MarketScale and watch how much closer V1 lands to what you actually wanted.