Agency partnership
How it works
You lead the client. We cut the video.
This page covers the partnership from the first call to the final export. It includes the service clock, revision rules, brand profiles, how drafts and feedback work, and our written partner policy.
Getting started
- Fit call or email Q&A. 15 minutes, or a few emails if you prefer. We go over volume, footage types, platforms and which plan fits. If we're at capacity, we tell you and offer a start date.
- Conflict check. You list the client brands we'll edit. We check them against our own and our affiliated companies' current client lists and disclose any overlap before work starts. If any of your clients already worked with us or an affiliated company before the partnership, we tell you at this step.
- Terms and first invoice. You review and accept the service terms. You contract with Tandemcut, a registered assumed name (DBA). Its owner also runs a marketing agency, and ownership details are shared on request. Plans are invoiced monthly in advance, on your start date. The pilot is paid by card before work starts.
- Setup. You share a folder with us in your own Google Drive or Dropbox, with a subfolder per client brand, for footage in and drafts out. You also get a shared request board for briefs and feedback.
- Brand profiles. For each client brand, we build a style profile from your assets and reference videos. You approve it before the first short.
- First briefs. Add briefs in your priority order. For each short, the clock starts when we accept its brief.
Each short, step by step
- Submit. Add the brief to the request board and the footage to the brand's folder. The cutoff is 12:00pm CT: anything after noon counts as received the next business day.
- Intake (within 1 business day). We accept the brief or return it with questions, and we confirm how many shorts it counts as. The clock starts at acceptance, not at submission.
- Queue. Accepted shorts join your weekly pace in your priority order.
- Edit. The brand's primary editor cuts the short from the brand profile.
- QA. A second person checks the short against the brief and the brand profile.
- First draft (within 3 business days of entering production). We deliver the draft into your shared folder, with no Tandemcut branding.
- Review and revise. Send one consolidated, timestamped list of notes per round on the request board. Each short includes 2 rounds. Revisions come back within 2 business days (1 for minor fixes).
- Approve and deliver (within 1 business day of approval). Final exports go to your shared folder: one primary aspect ratio plus one more, and project files per your plan.
- Archive. We keep working files for 30 days after approval, then archive them. Archives are deleted 90 days after approval unless you ask us to keep them longer.
The service clock
| Business day | Monday–Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm CT, excluding US federal holidays and Dec 24–Jan 1 |
|---|---|
| Submission cutoff | 12:00pm CT. A brief submitted after noon counts as received the next business day. |
| Intake | We accept the brief or return it with questions within 1 business day. The clock starts at acceptance, not at submission. |
| Queue | Accepted shorts join your weekly pace (3, 6 or 10 per week). Batches bigger than the weekly pace are scheduled across the following weeks, in your priority order. |
| First draft | Within 3 business days of the short entering production. Pilot: all three within 5 business days of acceptance. |
| Revisions | Within 2 business days of receiving consolidated feedback. Minor fixes: 1 business day. |
| Final delivery | Within 1 business day of approval (final exports and files). |
| Rush | First draft the next business day, capacity permitting. Ask before 12:00pm CT. Counts as +1 short. |
| Service credit | If a first draft is more than 2 business days late for reasons within our control, we credit 1 standard short next cycle. The cap is 25% of that month's shorts. |
Important: The 3-day first-draft target applies to each short, within your weekly pace. Submitting 24 shorts at once does not mean 24 drafts in 3 days.
What doesn't count as our delay: late footage, missing brief details and holidays. The service credit is our only remedy for late drafts. There are no cash refunds and no open-ended guarantees.
Example: the latest each step can land (fall 2026)
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 8 · 2:15pm CT | You submit a brief. It's after the noon cutoff, so it counts as received Friday, Oct 9. |
| Tue, Oct 13 | Latest intake answer. Monday, Oct 12 is a federal holiday, so 1 business day after Friday is Tuesday. We accept the brief, and it enters production (it fits your weekly pace). |
| Fri, Oct 16 | Latest first draft: 3 business days after Tuesday. |
| Mon, Oct 19 · 10:00am CT | You send one consolidated list of notes. |
| Wed, Oct 21 | Latest revision: 2 business days later. |
| Thu, Oct 22 | You approve. |
| Fri, Oct 23 | Latest final delivery: 1 business day after approval. |
How the weekly pace works
Your plan sets how many new shorts we start each week: up to 3 on Starter, 6 on Growth and 10 on Scale. It also caps how many are in production at once (3, 6 or 10). The pace is how we plan editor time so each short can meet the 3-business-day first-draft target. A short that counts as 2 uses 2 of the week's starts. Rolled-over and extra shorts follow the same pace.
Example: the Growth month from our home page
Illustrative example — not a real agency or real clients
| Week | Brand A · taqueria (fictional) | Brand B · hotel bar (fictional) | Brand C · smoothie chain (fictional) | Brand D · taproom (fictional) | Started |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 standard | 2 standard | Master promo (1) | 1 standard | 6 |
| 2 | 2 standard | 1 standard | 1 standard | Founder story, 3 cameras (2) | 6 |
| 3 | 2 standard | 2 standard | 6 location end cards, two sets of 3 (2) | — | 6 |
| 4 | 2 standard | 1 standard | 1 standard | 2 standard | 6 |
| Total | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 24 |
The location end cards start in week 3 because variations are cut from an approved master.
Revision or change?
Here's how we tell a revision from a new request.
| What you ask for | What it means | How it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Fixing our error | A typo, caption mistake, wrong logo, missed brief instruction or technical export defect. We strayed from the brief or brand profile. | Free. Doesn't use a revision round. |
| A revision within the brief | Adjusting pacing, swapping a shot, trimming, reordering, swapping the music track (from tracks you supply), tweaking text. | Uses 1 of the 2 rounds for that short. Send all notes for a round as one consolidated list. |
| A brief change | A new direction, a different message or CTA, or new footage added after editing starts. | Treated as a new request: 1 short (or 2 if higher-complexity). |
| A new creative concept | A different video from the same footage. | A new short. |
| A new hook version | An alternate opening or end card on an approved short. | Per the conversion table: 1 per set of up to 3. |
| An additional aspect ratio | A ratio beyond the 2 included. | $15 add-on. |
| A re-edit after approval | Changes after you've marked the short approved. | A new short (1). Our errors found after approval are still free. |
| Reopening an archived project | Changes after the project is archived (30 days after approval). | A new short. We can restore files only if we still hold the archive. |
| A third round of revisions | More than 2 rounds on the same short. | Counts as 1 additional short. |
Brand profiles
Every client brand gets a style profile before its first short. Editors work from it, and QA checks against it.
What a profile covers
- Logo files and where the logo bug sits
- Fonts and text styles for captions, titles and callouts
- Color values
- Caption style: case, words per line, animation and highlight rules
- Platform safe zones and default aspect ratios
- Music direction, and anything off-limits
- End card and CTA wording
- A do-and-don't list: words, shots and topics to use or avoid
- 2–3 reference videos
- File naming for deliveries
How profiles are kept
- Setup is included for every brand in your plan. Brands beyond your plan are $50 per brand per month, which covers profile upkeep.
- Each profile lives in its brand's folder, so everyone on the team works from the same rules.
- Each brand has a primary editor. If that editor is out, another editor works from the same profile, and QA checks against it. On Scale, a backup editor is named for each brand in advance.
- When a client's look changes, tell us and we'll update the profile before the next short.
Drafts and feedback
- Every draft is delivered into your agency's own shared folder (your Google Drive or Dropbox). The files carry no Tandemcut name or logo, so anything your client sees comes from you.
- Share a draft with your client however you like: from your own folder, or by sending the file.
- Send feedback as one consolidated list per round on the request board, with a timestamp for each note (for example, "0:12: swap this shot for the close-up").
- If your client comments, please gather their notes with yours and send us one consolidated list per round. We take notes from your team only.
- Final files go to the same shared folder, named the way the brand profile says.
Partner policy
Tandemcut is a registered assumed name (DBA). Its owner also runs a marketing agency, and our editors already edit short-form content every week, including food & beverage brands. You should know that before you trust us with your clients' footage. These commitments cover Tandemcut and every affiliated company. They are how we keep Tandemcut work separate from our affiliated companies' business, and they are part of our service terms.
You own the client relationship. We don't contact your clients unless you ask us to in writing, and we copy you on any such contact.
No solicitation. Neither Tandemcut nor any affiliated company will pitch, accept work from, or market to your clients during the partnership and for 12 months after it ends. This covers the clients you identify to us and any we learn about through the work. Clients who already worked with us or an affiliated company before the partnership are disclosed during onboarding.
A conflict check at onboarding. You list the client brands we'll edit. We check them against our own and our affiliated companies' current client lists and disclose any overlap before work starts.
Information stays in the work. Information we receive through Tandemcut work is used only to deliver that work. It is not shared with any affiliated company's sales or marketing.
Separation by agency and by brand. Each agency and each client brand has its own folders, brand profile and permissions. On our side, access is limited to the assigned editors and QA.
No portfolio use without permission. We don't show your work publicly without your written permission.
A registered business name. Tandemcut is a registered assumed name (DBA). Its owner also runs a marketing agency. Ownership details are shared on request.
Confidentiality, and approved subcontractors only. Any freelance editor we use signs the same confidentiality terms. We'll tell you who works on your account if you ask.
No Tandemcut branding. We never put Tandemcut branding on drafts or deliverables.
Files, rights and security
Rights
- You (or your client) supply the footage and confirm you have the rights to it. We use supplied materials only to deliver your work.
- Once paid for, final deliverables belong to your agency, or to your client if your contract with them says so.
- Project files come per your plan: $25 per project on Starter, included on request on Growth and Scale. They may reference fonts, music and stock that need your own licences.
Music
- The music bed uses a licensed track your agency supplies. Or we leave it empty, so you can add a sound in the app when you post.
- Your licence needs to cover your client's use, including paid ads if the short runs as an ad.
- We don't use CapCut's music library for client work (its music is for personal, non-commercial use), and we don't cut in audio downloaded from social apps.
Access
- Each agency works from its own shared folder, with a subfolder per client brand.
- On our side, only the editors and QA assigned to your account have access to your folders.
- Any freelance editor signs the same confidentiality terms. We'll tell you who works on your account if you ask.
Retention
- Working files are kept for 30 days after approval, then archived.
- Archives are deleted 90 days after approval, unless you ask us to keep them longer.
- If you cancel, we export any files you request within 10 business days, then delete them.
What we ask of you
- Send only footage you or your client have the rights to use.
- Use your shared folder for footage, not email attachments.
Editing tools
- We edit in CapCut desktop, with project files stored locally. We don't use CapCut's cloud storage, templates, stock or music library for client work.
- Project files are CapCut desktop projects. Briefs, feedback and scheduling run on our request board.
Holidays
We're closed on US federal holidays and from Dec 24 to Jan 1. These days don't count as business days on the service clock.
2026 (remaining)
- Mon, Oct 12Columbus Day
- Wed, Nov 11Veterans Day
- Thu, Nov 26Thanksgiving Day
- Thu, Dec 24 – Fri, Jan 1, 2027Year-end closure (includes Christmas Day and New Year's Day)
2027
- Mon, Jan 18Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Mon, Feb 15Washington's Birthday
- Mon, May 31Memorial Day
- Fri, Jun 18Juneteenth (observed)
- Mon, Jul 5Independence Day (observed)
- Mon, Sep 6Labor Day
- Mon, Oct 11Columbus Day
- Thu, Nov 11Veterans Day
- Thu, Nov 25Thanksgiving Day
- Fri, Dec 24 – Sat, Jan 1, 2028Year-end closure (includes Christmas Day and New Year's Day)
Planning a holiday promo? Build our closures into your deadlines. Anything submitted on a closed day counts as received the next business day.
Support and communication
- Service hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm CT.
- Every plan: Email, a shared request board and a weekly status note.
- Growth: Adds a monthly 20-minute planning call.
- Scale: Adds a monthly call and a named backup editor for each brand.
- Briefs: We answer within 1 business day of receipt.
See it on your own footage.
Start with 3 standard shorts for 1 client brand, for $199.