Hiring a freelance video editor in Portugal

More companies in Portugal now hire a freelance video editor instead of building a video team or going through a production company. If you're looking for one, here's what it involves and what to check.

Working remotely is the normal way

Editing doesn't need anyone in the same room. Footage arrives through a transfer link or a shared drive, cuts go back as private review links, and notes come in with timecodes. Whether you're in Porto, Madrid, London or New York makes very little difference. Portugal shares the UK's time zone and is an hour behind Spain, and mornings on the US East Coast overlap with afternoons here, so there's always part of the working day in common.

Languages

Many companies in Portugal need the same video in Portuguese and English, and often in Spanish for the neighboring market. I work in all three, so subtitles and full language versions are made by the person who cut the film rather than sent somewhere else afterwards.

What to check before you hire

• A portfolio with work like yours. Corporate, social, documentary and advertising are different skills.
• A clear quote, with what's included: rounds of changes, versions, music.
• Licensed music and stock. Ask where it comes from, because unlicensed music is what gets videos taken down.
• The formats you'll get. 16:9 for your website, vertical for Reels, square for feeds, subtitles burned in or as files.
• How feedback works. One review link and one set of notes per round keeps things moving.

Freelancer or production company

A production company makes sense when there's a shoot to organize, with crew, locations and equipment. If the footage already exists, or the video can be built from stock and material the company already has, a freelance editor is usually faster and costs less, because you're paying for the edit rather than the structure around it. Plenty of agencies work with freelance editors for exactly that reason.

Cost and timing

The price depends on the footage, what has to be built and how many versions you need, not on where the editor lives. I've written separately about what moves the cost of a video edit. On timing, the edit itself is rarely the slow part. Feedback is, so agreeing before you start on who gives notes, and how quickly, makes more difference than anything else.

Next step

Whether you're in Portugal or abroad and looking for an editor here, tell me about the project and I'll come back with what it would take. If you're at an agency, this page explains how I work with teams.