Freelance Video Editor Spreadsheet for Income and Expenses

Video editors often bill by the day or by the finished video, and agencies may pay weeks after delivery. Costs sit in storage, plugins and a fast computer, so the sheet must separate what you have billed from what has actually been paid.

How a video editor gets paid, and what that means for the sheet

Editors usually bill a day rate, an hourly rate, or a flat fee per finished video. Agencies and production companies often pay 30, 45 or 60 days after the invoice, so a project delivered in March can land in May. Rush work and extra revision rounds are commonly billed on top of the agreed fee.

Keep two dates apart: the day you invoice and the day the money lands. Create the invoice in the Invoices tab when you deliver, and add the Income row in the Transactions tab only when payment arrives. For a retainer, log one row per month. A partial payment is one row for the amount received.

One example month, logged

Invented numbers, to show the shape. Each row below is one line on the Transactions tab.

In this example the month ends with $7,200 in, $2,399 out and $4,801 left before you set anything aside for tax.

The P&L tab sorts the same rows by category:

Where a video editor's purchases go

• Equipment: Storage drives, a faster graphics card, a reference display and an editing keyboard are Equipment. Drives wear out, so log each replacement as its own row with the date, and the history shows when and how often it happens.
• Software & subscriptions: Plugins, stock music and footage libraries, cloud backups and the editing suite plan are recurring or per-seat costs. A one-off music license tied to a single client video still goes here, with the client in the Description.
• Contractors: Colorists, sound designers, motion graphics artists and assistant editors are Contractors. Put the freelancer's name in the Client / Vendor column and keep the Description for the project. A lump payment covering two jobs should be split into two rows.
• Home office: Acoustic panels, a desk, a monitor stand and a chair for long edit sessions fit Home office. A receipt that mixes these with a color-reference display should be split, with the display going to Equipment.

Four tracking tips for a video editor

1. Put the payment terms in the Invoice # cell, such as 'Tidewater, net 45', since the Invoices tab has no terms column. Before paying a contractor on an unpaid project, type the expected payment into the Cash Flow tab and check its lowest month.
2. Put the client's project name in the Description of each stock music and footage license. When a client re-releases a video or asks for a version for another channel, you can check which license you used and whether it covers the new use.
3. Log rush fees and weekend turnarounds as their own Income lines, with a Description such as 'Trailer re-cut, rush'. After a few months you can see how often fast jobs come in and keep them separate from standard editing days.
4. When a project gets a dedicated drive, give it its own Equipment row and note the project name. At archive time you can see which delivered projects live on which drive, and the Equipment history stays readable.

Two formulas worth a cell of their own

These use the kit's Transactions tab (Type in column B, Category in C, Client / Vendor in E, Amount in F). Excel and Google Sheets both support SUMIFS.

• Spend in your biggest category, here Equipment: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Expense",Transactions!C:C,"Equipment") returns $1,080 on the example month.
• Income from one client: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Income",Transactions!E:E,"Lumen Studios") returns $2,700 on the example month.

Questions

How do I record an invoice that a production company pays 60 days after delivery?

Create the invoice in the Invoices tab on delivery day. When the money arrives, fill in the Date paid there and add the Income row in the Transactions tab, dated that day, since the tabs are not linked. Until then the invoice counts as money you are owed.

How do I split a project fee between me and the freelancers I hired?

Log the full client payment as Income, then log each colorist, sound designer or motion artist payment as a Contractors expense with the same project name in the Description. The Transactions tab then shows what the client paid and what went out.

The same sheet for other freelancers

• All freelancer spreadsheet guides by profession
• Freelance Consultant Income and Expense Spreadsheet Template
• Freelance Graphic Designer Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Freelance Photographers
• Freelance Social Media Manager Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Freelance Translator Spreadsheet for Per-Word Income and Costs
• Freelance UX Designer Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Freelance Virtual Assistant Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Freelance Voice-Over Artist Income and Expense Spreadsheet
• Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Freelance Web Developers
• Freelance Writer Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Articles
• Online Tutor Income and Expense Spreadsheet for Lesson Payouts

More freelancer finance guides

• Excel or Google Sheets for freelancer finances? What actually differs
• Freelance expense categories for a spreadsheet: a starter list that stays short
• How to build a freelance income and expense tracker in a spreadsheet
• A simple 12-month cash flow forecast for freelancers
• Freelancer profit and loss (P&L) in a spreadsheet: a one-page layout
• Freelancer runway: three spreadsheet formulas for how long your cash lasts
• Freelancer tax set-aside: what goes into the number, and how to track it
• Invoice tracker spreadsheet: formulas for paid, due and overdue
• Budgeting on irregular freelance income: the baseline-pay method
• How to track freelance income by client in a spreadsheet

General information about using spreadsheets, not financial, tax or accounting advice. Example numbers are invented. Categories are for tracking and do not say what is deductible.