Guide
A UGC creator's workflow runs brief, film, edit, feedback, deliver
Updated
Every paid UGC job runs through the same five stages: read the brief, film, edit, take the brand's feedback and deliver the files. Here is each stage from the creator's side, with one example brief worked all the way through.
In short
- A UGC creator's workflow has five stages: read the brief, film, edit, handle the brand's feedback and deliver the files.
- Price and usage rights should be agreed in writing before you film. MakeInfluence, a UGC platform, calls that the costliest step to skip.
- Most UGC agreements include one or two revision rounds for claims and brand accuracy, according to MakeInfluence. A new hook or a new concept usually means a reshoot.
- Brands often ask for the raw footage, one edited base video and at least two alternative openings, as in Insense's brief template.
- Cutroom's Magic Editor takes care of the edit stage: you turn the brief into four short answers, press "Make my video", and type the brand's notes to Jacob, its AI editor, as plain requests.
What does a UGC creator's process look like?
From the creator's side, a UGC job is a short chain of handovers. The brand sends a brief and you agree price and rights. You film and edit, the brand sends notes, and you send back the files.
The table shows each stage, what you do in it and what goes back to the brand.
The five stages of a UGC job, from the creator's side
The stages follow MakeInfluence's brief-to-delivery guide, seen from the creator's chair.
| Stage | What you do | What the brand gets |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brief | Read it, ask questions, agree price and rights in writing | Your yes, and the agreed price and usage |
| 2. Film | Film the product shots first, then yourself talking | Nothing yet |
| 3. Edit | Cut the clip down, add captions, product shots and a call to action | The first edit |
| 4. Feedback | Make the changes the agreed rounds cover | A revised edit |
| 5. Deliver | Send the raw files, the final edit and any extra openings | Everything the brief listed |
Stage: 1. Brief
- What you do
- Read it, ask questions, agree price and rights in writing
- What the brand gets
- Your yes, and the agreed price and usage
Stage: 2. Film
- What you do
- Film the product shots first, then yourself talking
- What the brand gets
- Nothing yet
Stage: 3. Edit
- What you do
- Cut the clip down, add captions, product shots and a call to action
- What the brand gets
- The first edit
Stage: 4. Feedback
- What you do
- Make the changes the agreed rounds cover
- What the brand gets
- A revised edit
Stage: 5. Deliver
- What you do
- Send the raw files, the final edit and any extra openings
- What the brand gets
- Everything the brief listed
From brief to filming
Read the whole brief before you agree to anything. If something is missing, ask before you film, because a missing detail is what turns a small revision into a reshoot.
MakeInfluence's guide says price and rights should be fixed in writing before production starts. That protects you too, because you know where the video will run and for how long.
- A good brief names the product, who it's for and the angle you should take.
- It says what you must mention and what to avoid.
- It gives the length, the format, the files to send and the usage rights.
- Film the product shots before you open or use the product. Influee's b-roll guide gives the reason: half the shot list is gone once the packaging is off.
- Film yourself upright, in a quiet room, saying the brief's main point in your first sentence.
- Don't stop for mistakes. Say the line again and keep going, because the ums and repeats get cut in the edit.
- Check the length. Insense's brief template asks for 15 to 30 seconds for the base edit, so a clip of a minute or two gives you enough to cut from.
- If you edit in Cutroom, keep the clip under 3 minutes. It accepts MP4, MOV, WebM.
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
From raw clip to first edit
The edit is where most of a creator's hours go. You cut the slow start and the ums, add captions and show the product. Then you end on the brand's call to action.
In Cutroom's Magic Editor, you upload the clip, pick a style and add the product photos. You answer four short questions from the brief and press "Make my video". Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit, and an email tells you when it's ready.
- The product in the brief goes into "What are you selling or showing?", for example "A physical product" and its name.
- The audience in the brief goes into "Who is it for?".
- The brand's call to action goes into "What should people do after watching?", and it becomes the ending.
- Where the ad will run goes into "Where and when will it run?", for example "Paid ads".
- It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready. You can close the page while Jacob works. Your video keeps going.
A protein bar brief, from raw clip to first edit and the brand's note
The brief's answers go into the goal questions, Jacob makes a Verdict edit, and the brand's note "less music" becomes one chat request and a second version.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 45-second phone video of a creator in her kitchen holding a protein bar, filmed for a brand's brief
“Okay, um, so I eat one of these after the gym … (pause) and it keeps me full until lunch. It's, it's It's soft, and it doesn't taste like chalk.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Verdict style
“I eat one of these after the gym and it keeps me full until lunch. It's soft, and it doesn't taste like chalk.”
- On “full”: the word set big in your accent colour
- On “these”: your product photo bar.jpg on a laptop screen, with you in a small card
- On “soft”: your close-up photo bar-split.jpg of the bar broken in half
- Under the whole video: calm music under your voice
- On “chalk”: after this last word, the brand's call to action typed out and a follow card
window: bar.jpg
Then you ask Jacob
- “Turn the music down a bit”v2v2: the same edit with the music quieter under the voice, ready to send back to the brand
Feedback rounds and delivery
Agree the number of revision rounds in the brief, not after you deliver. MakeInfluence says most UGC agreements include one or two rounds, limited to claims and brand accuracy.
A wrong product name or new caption wording is a revision. A completely new hook or concept usually means a reshoot, which is normally paid extra.
- In the Magic Editor, a brand's note becomes a request you type to Jacob. "Less music" becomes "Turn the music down a bit", and "start faster" becomes "Cut the first sentence".
- A new call to action becomes something like "Change the call to action to Try it free". Every change Jacob makes is a new version. The earlier versions stay, and going back to one is free.
- A chat message that changes the video costs 40 credits. Fixing a misheard caption word is a free tap on the word.
- If you're not sure what a note means for the edit, ask Jacob first, for example "What would make this video better?". A question that changes nothing is free.
- Deliver what the brief lists. Insense's template asks for the raw footage, one edited base video, two alternative openings and one alternative call to action, sorted into /raw, /hooks and /b-roll folders.
- Cutroom exports a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920, 30 frames a second, with the sound levelled. If the brief also asks for 4:5 or 16:9, that copy needs another editor.
- Cutroom doesn't post or send files for you. You download each MP4 and share it through your usual folder or transfer link.
Where an AI editor fits in a UGC creator's week
Filming a UGC clip is quick. Editing it, then editing it again after notes, is what limits how many jobs a creator can take.
That editing is the part Cutroom's Magic Editor takes off your hands. You still read the brief, agree the rights, film well and check the edit before you send it.
- The first edit costs 250 credits, and each export costs 30 credits per started minute of the finished video.
- Free exports carry a Cutroom mark across the middle. Lite at $19.99 a month removes it, which you need before you deliver paid brand work.
- Jacob can't remove background noise, move a sentence to another place or record new lines for you, so a clean, quiet clip still matters.
Questions people ask
- What is a UGC creator workflow?
- It's the set of steps a creator follows on a paid job: read the brief, agree price and rights, film, edit, handle the brand's feedback and deliver the files the brief asks for.
- How many revisions should a UGC creator offer?
- One or two rounds is common. MakeInfluence says most UGC agreements include one or two revision rounds, limited to claims and brand accuracy. Put the number in the brief before you film.
- What is the difference between a revision and a reshoot?
- A revision changes the edit; a reshoot needs new footage. A wrong product name or new caption wording is a revision. A completely new hook or concept usually means filming again, which is normally paid extra.
- What should a UGC creator deliver?
- Whatever the brief lists. A common set, as in Insense's brief template, is the raw footage, one edited base video, two alternative openings and one alternative call to action.
- Should I agree usage rights before filming?
- Yes. MakeInfluence's guide says price and usage rights should be fixed in writing before production starts, so both sides know where the video will run and for how long.
- Can AI edit UGC videos for creators?
- Yes. Cutroom's Magic Editor turns one clip of you talking into a finished vertical video: Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit, and you change it by asking in a chat. It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready.
Take your next brief, film the clip in one go and let Jacob make the first edit. Your first video is free.