Send a Final Cut Pro cut to your producer without the media

Sharing from Final Cut gives your producer a video to watch. A review cut lets them change it. Your producer rearranges and shortens the shots on the video you rendered, without Final Cut and without your media, and you import the version you accept back as FCPXML with their notes on the timeline.

What your producer does

They open a link with your render and the shots in a row. They can move a shot, shorten it, remove it, comment at a moment, or add a text card such as "shot of dog" where footage is missing. They press Send when they're done. They can't reach footage you didn't render; if they need more, they add a card.

What you do

1. Export XML. In Final Cut Pro, select the project and choose File > Export XML. A .fcpxmld bundle works too.
2. Run the free check. Open the editor, add the .fcpxml and run the check. It lists what the review cut can edit and what stays untouched.
3. Share it with your render. Share the project, upload the review video you rendered from it (it must match the timeline's frame count and rate, up to 250 MiB and ten minutes), and invite your producer as a commenter.
4. Compare and accept. Compare your producer's version with your cut and merge what you want.
5. Import the result. Export the edited FCPXML and choose File > Import > XML. Final Cut adds it as a new project, so your original stays as it was.

What comes back

Your storyline with the accepted cuts, still pointing at your media, and the producer's comments as markers on the clips at their frames. Final Cut keeps one marker per frame on a clip, so two notes on the same frame arrive together in one marker ("2 review notes"). We checked that with Final Cut Pro 11.2: it imported and re-exported the combined marker with both notes intact. A text card becomes a gap of its length with a marker; one after the last shot becomes a real gap at the end.

What it won't write back yet

Titles typed in the browser that are not centred (centred titles come back as Basic Titles), adaptive-layout audio inserted from the browser, speed changes through effects, ramps or nested connected clips, and sources longer than ten minutes. The free check names these before you pay.

FAQ

Why are two notes combined into one marker? Final Cut keeps one marker per frame on a clip. When two notes land on the same frame, they arrive together in one marker so neither is lost.

What about a text card after the last shot? It becomes a real gap of the card's length with a marker carrying the text.

Can I keep browser titles? Not yet. Final Cut keeps captions from the browser, and titles typed there are refused before export.