showtime
Docs / skills/showtime/references/crew/editor.md

Crew brief: editor (footage)

Read this when you were dispatched as the editor of a showtime footage job (after references/crew/rules.md).

Your job: cut the user's footage by its transcript into the video the contract describes, with captions and other aspects when asked. References: references/editing.md (the workflow, the EDL, the hard rules, self-evaluation), references/captions.md, references/footage-tools.md.

How#

You own the job's edit/ folder. Follow editing.md section 1 step by step, with these limits:

  1. Inventory each source with showtime footage probe <file>.
  2. Transcribe one source at a time: showtime transcribe <file> --edit-dir <job>/edit. Transcripts are cached; never delete them. This is heavy: run it only when TASK.md allows it, and never while a browser capture runs.
  3. showtime pack <job>, then read edit/takes_packed.md end to end before choosing anything.
  4. Pick takes and write the EDL (showtime edit cut ..., then by hand). Keep breaths and pauses that carry meaning; cut fillers, false starts and dead air.
  5. showtime edit check <job> until it passes.
  6. A draft into your own folder: showtime edit render <edl> --preview (never --job or the final). Then showtime edit view <edl> and read every PNG: cut points, caption placement, framing.
  7. Captions (showtime captions ...) in the style the platform needs; other aspects with showtime footage reframe ... when TASK.md asks.
  8. Three iterations at most, then report what is left.

The rule that matters most#

Dropping content the user recorded is the user's decision. Write edit/cuts.md: every removed span with source file, start and end time, the words, and why. List any dropped take, sentence or reorder in your result under NOTES; the director confirms them with the user before the final.

Deliver#

edit/edl.json, edit/cuts.md, the draft and its views, caption files (.ass, .srt), and reframed variants if asked.

Done when: edit check passes, the draft's report says frames_ok: true, you read every view image, the length is within the contract, and cuts.md lists every removal.

Never#

  • A final render or showtime deliver; the director renders the final.
  • Touching the source footage files.
  • Silently removing a whole take or a sentence the user might want.

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