Guide
Client content approval process: approve scripts first, one approver, one round of notes
Updated
Content schedules usually slip while the agency waits for client feedback, not while it edits. The fix is sign-off on the script first, from one named person, by a fixed date.
In short
- A good client approval process gets sign-off on the script before filming, from one named person, in one round of notes.
- Waiting for client replies usually takes days, while editing the video takes hours.
- A change in the script costs about a minute, while the same change after editing can mean a reshoot.
- Every review should have a date agreed in advance and a written rule for what happens if the date passes.
- Approvals can go by email, a shared document or a review tool, as long as the written yes is saved.
- Agencies that rarely or only sometimes charge for out-of-scope work, Ignition 2025
- 78%
- Agencies losing $1,000 to $5,000 a month to out-of-scope work, Ignition 2025
- 57%
The client approval process, step by step
The formal sign-off happens at the script stage. The finished video then gets one review, on a date agreed in advance.
- Approving four scripts in one sitting replaces four separate waits for a reply.
- Every review date is agreed in advance and written into the schedule.
- The review of the finished video only checks for mistakes and compliance, because the message was already approved.
One month of content, one approval cycle
Write the month's scripts
All of them at once
Client approves the scripts
One sitting, one named approver
Film them
Several videos in one session
Edit
Usually a few hours per video
One round of notes
On a date agreed in advance
Schedule the posts
Before next month's scripts are due
Where to collect approvals
Collect every approval in one place, so the final yes is easy to find later.
- Email is enough for small clients. Send the scripts or a link to the video and ask for a written yes.
- A shared document, such as a Google Doc, suits scripts, because the approver can comment next to each line.
- A review tool, such as Frame.io, lets the client leave a comment at an exact moment in the video.
- Whatever you use, save the written yes with its date, because it settles later questions about what was approved.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
What the client checks at each stage
Give the approver a short checklist, so each review looks at the right things.
Approval checklist
| Stage | What the client checks |
|---|---|
| Script | The message, the offer, every claim, and names, prices and dates |
| Legal or compliance review, if the client needs one | Claims and required wording, at the script stage |
| Finished video | Spelling in the captions, text hidden under the app's buttons, sound and the call to action |
Stage: Script
- What the client checks
- The message, the offer, every claim, and names, prices and dates
Stage: Legal or compliance review, if the client needs one
- What the client checks
- Claims and required wording, at the script stage
Stage: Finished video
- What the client checks
- Spelling in the captions, text hidden under the app's buttons, sound and the call to action
Why client approvals slow content down
Making a short video takes hours. Waiting for feedback on it often takes days, and timesheets do not show the wait.
- The approver is often busy with other work and reviews videos only when they find the time.
- Notes then arrive from two people who disagree, and the video waits again.
- A late reviewer, often a founder or the legal team, can ask for big changes in the last round.
- Each extra round is work nobody planned, and Ignition's 2025 report found 78% of agencies rarely or only sometimes charge for out-of-scope work.
Why the client should approve the script first
A change costs more at every step, so the main sign-off belongs where changes are cheap.
- The person whose opinion is final approves the script in writing.
- Your scope of work should say that after script approval, a new message means a new video, not a revision.
- If a client cannot picture a video from text, send an example video in the same format with the script.
What changing one sentence costs
| When the change comes | What it costs |
|---|---|
| In the script | About a minute |
| After filming | A reshoot |
| After editing | A reshoot plus a new edit |
When the change comes: In the script
- What it costs
- About a minute
When the change comes: After filming
- What it costs
- A reshoot
When the change comes: After editing
- What it costs
- A reshoot plus a new edit
How many revision rounds to allow
One round of notes is the usual default. How you define a round matters more than the number.
- A round is one set of notes, from one named person, in one message.
- The contract says what happens when a review date passes: the video counts as approved, or it moves to next month.
- A second round has a price, and you quote it the first time a client asks for one.
- You can put it in the scope of work like this: "Each video includes one round of notes, sent in one message by [approver]. Further rounds cost [price] each."
Who should approve content on the client side?
One named person whose yes is final. Everyone else sends their notes through that person.
- The scope of work names the approver by role and by name.
- Because notes go through one person, the client settles internal disagreements before the notes reach you.
- At kickoff, ask: "Who else will want to see this? Does legal or compliance need to look?"
- For regulated clients, the legal review happens at the script stage, because text is quicker to check than video.
Where Cutroom fits
Faster editing helps less than faster approvals, because the waiting takes longer. Cutroom turns one clip of someone talking into a finished 9:16 video in about a minute.
- Because the edit comes back in about a minute, you can send the video for review on the day you film it.
- Cutroom transcribes the clip, writes a hook, and adds b-roll and captions in one of 40 caption styles. On the Punch and Native styles, it also removes the ums and uhs in the transcript.
- It only takes clips up to 3 minutes and only exports 9:16 MP4.
- Cutroom has no approval tool, so clients keep approving where they do now, for example by email, in a shared document or in a review tool.
- A 30-second video costs 110 credits: 100 to edit, plus 20 per minute of export. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits.
- Your first video is free, with no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite removes it.
Questions people ask
- What should a client content approval process look like?
- The client approves a month of scripts in one sitting, you film once, and the finished videos get one review on a date agreed in advance. One named person approves, notes arrive in one message, and a written rule covers a missed date.
- What tool should an agency use for client approvals?
- Any tool that keeps the written yes in one place. Email is enough for small clients, a shared document suits scripts, and a review tool such as Frame.io lets clients comment at an exact moment in the video.
- How many revision rounds should be in the contract?
- One round of notes is the usual default, and two is generous. Define a round in writing as one set of notes from one named person in one message. Without that definition, one round can turn into days of scattered comments.
- Who should approve content on the client side?
- One person, named in the scope of work, whose yes is final. Everyone else sends notes through them, so the client settles disagreements before the notes reach you.
- How do you stop client approvals from dragging on?
- Give every review a date agreed in advance, and write down what happens when it passes: the video counts as approved or moves to next month. Reviewing a month of scripts at once also means one wait instead of several.
- Should clients approve the script or the finished video?
- Both, but the script first. A change there costs about a minute, not a new edit. The finished video is then reviewed for mistakes and compliance only. If a client cannot picture a video from text, send an example video in the same format.
Once the script is approved, upload one clip and get the finished video back in about a minute. Your first video is free.