How to Edit According to Script in Just a Few Clicks

Introduction

Whether you want your final video to strictly follow the script or just loosely align with it, Cutback's AI Assistant (available as an Adobe Premiere Pro plugin) helps you do it in minutes. Paste your script into our chat UI, choose how closely you want to follow it, and the AI will automatically trim or select clips to match. With script-based editing, there’s no more manual scrubbing or timeline editing; your script becomes the edit guide. You can also specify keywords to focus on for keyword-based editing of your video.

🔽 In this guide:

✅ How to edit to match the script

✅ Features that make rough cutting easier and automate workflow

✅ Frequently asked questions and answers

Getting Started - How To Edit Video With AI-Powered Editing

Step 1. Open a new Premiere Pro project and load your audio and video files into a sequence.

Step 2. Go to [Window] > [Extensions] > [Cutback] from the top menu to launch Cutback.

Step 3. Select the [Auto Rough Cut] option to access AI-powered trimming features.

Step 4. Configure the following recognition settings:

1. Range Selection:

   • All: Generate subtitles for all tracks in the sequence.

   • In/Out: Use the in/out points set in Premiere Pro.

   • Clip: Generate subtitles only for selected clips.

2. Language Selection: Choose the language of the video (one language per session).

3. Preview On/Off: Enable preview to see a draft before applying changes.

   • Note: Preview requires encoding. For faster performance, turn it off.

4. Number of Speakers:

   • If each speaker has a separate mic/audio track, assign names per track.

   • If all speech is on a single track, input the number of speakers. AI will identify them by voice.

5. Video Tracks: Assign video tracks per speaker if needed.

Step 5. Click [Transcribe video for auto rough cut] to begin, and the AI video editing assistant will produce a speech-to-text transcription to use for text-based video editing.

Edit Your Video to Match the Script with the AI Editing Assistant

Step 1. Click the Assistant button at the top right.

Step 2. In the chat window, select [Edit according to script] or type the command manually.

Step 3. Paste your script into the input box and choose how you want the edit to be applied:

• Stick to the script: The video will be trimmed to exactly match the script. Any parts not included in the script may be removed.

• Use as rough guideline: The video will be loosely edited based on the script. Some unscripted parts may be kept if they’re relevant or natural.

Step 4. Based on your selection, the Cutback AI assistant will generate a draft edit. Click [Select best cut] to review repeated or similar takes and choose which parts to keep. It will give you a best takes selection to choose from.

Step 5. Review the draft and click [Save] to apply changes to the original video. You can then continue refining the edit using text-based editing or caption editing.

• Note: If you click [Discard], the video will revert to its original unedited state.

Step 6. Click [Apply to sequence] to finalize the changes in your Premiere Pro sequence.

• Create new sequence: Saves the changes in a new sequence while keeping the original untouched.

• Apply to current sequence: Updates the existing sequence with the changes.

Note

• Segments marked for deletion by AI will appear in gray. These edits will not be applied until you click [Apply to sequence].

• Any changes not applied to the sequence will not be saved. Make sure to click [Apply to sequence] to preserve your edits.

Explore More Smart Video Editing Tools And Cutback Features To Utilize

Aside from editing your video according to a script, you can also utilize other repetitive tasks automation tools such as our silence remover, object animation features, auto multi-cam editing, translate captions, among others, to enhance video editing productivity.

1. Top Menu Features:

   • Undo/Redo: Use buttons or keyboard shortcuts u (undo) and r (redo).

   • Time Machine: Revert to the state before you applied changes.

   • Find/Replace: Search and replace words in subtitles (f key).

   • Export Subtitles: Export to .txt or .srt, or copy chapters + timestamps for YouTube.

2. Keyboard Shortcuts:

   • Move between words: w a s d

   • Cut at word: k

   • Cut at sentence: l

   • Faster preview: > (Shift + .)

   • Slower preview: < (Shift + ,)

   • View all shortcuts via the keyboard icon (top-right of Cutback window)

3. Smart Summary Tips:

   • Click a summary to jump to that chapter.

   • Edit chapters directly with the Assistant via chapter titles.

This array of time-saving editing tools will give you more time for creative video editing and reduce the amount of time you spend on frame-by-frame editing in turn.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Video Editing Using Cutback

Q: How many times can I use Auto Rough Cut per month?

A: Currently in open beta, Auto Rough Cut has no usage limit. This may change after the official release.

Q: Can I load previously created subtitles?

A: Yes. If you've already generated subtitles in a sequence, you can reload them using [Import] in the Subtitle Generation & Edit menu or open them via [Check Subtitle File] > [Open Previous Work].

⚠️ Caution: Clicking [Generate New Subtitle] will overwrite previous subtitle files.

Q: I clicked [Apply to Sequence] and received a message saying the subtitle track prevents cuts.

A: Delete all subtitle tracks (i.e., 'Captions' in Premiere). Check inside nested sequences for hidden subtitle tracks.

Q: I don’t like the edit the Assistant created.

A: Feel free to try another prompt, give clearer instructions, or revert using Time Machine.

Q: Line breaks don’t work when I try to edit subtitles.

A: Use Subtitle Edit Mode to change subtitles. Cut Edit Mode only supports cuts, not line breaks.