In Summary Final Cut Pro can transcribe speech into captions, but it has no text-based editing mode. You cannot select a paragraph and get a cut. Eddie adds that step outside Final Cut: drag your clips from the event into Eddie, cut from the transcript by prompt or by hand, and send an FCPXML back. Your own multicam clips return switchable, and the export can write Favorites, keywords and transcript markers onto the clips in your browser.

The short answer

Interview editors on Final Cut have watched Premiere editors cut from a transcript for a while. Final Cut Pro transcribes for captions, but it does not let you edit by text. The transcript is not a cutting surface in Final Cut.

Eddie is an AI video editor that makes it one. It transcribes every clip with word-level timing, marks the speakers, and lets you cut in two ways: ask for the edit in plain language, or drag transcript lines into an edit by hand. The result goes back to Final Cut as an FCPXML that relinks to your original files. The full route is on the Final Cut Pro workflow page. This article is the step-by-step version.

What you need

  • Final Cut Pro, with the event that holds your clips.
  • The Eddie AI desktop app for Mac. The desktop route is what makes the export point at your original files instead of proxies.
  • An Eddie account. A new account starts with free credits; see pricing.

Step 1: Drag the clips from your event into Eddie

Open your Final Cut event. Select the clips, multicam clips or the project you want to cut from, and drag them into Eddie together, as one batch.

Two rules:

  • Bring everything in one import. Adding more media from Final Cut to the same project later is not supported yet. Select every clip you need before you import.
  • Keep Final Cut multicam clips and projects apart from standalone files. Do not mix them with loose .mp4 or .mov files in one project.

An import costs 250 credits for each hour of footage, billed in 15-minute blocks. That price includes the first transcript of every file. If a file cannot be imported, Eddie names it, says why, and refunds its credits.

Step 2: Read the transcript, not the footage

During import Eddie transcribes every clip. Every word carries a time-stamp, so a cut lands between words. Speaker changes are marked, which is what makes a prompt such as "keep only the guest's answers" possible. Eddie transcribes more than 100 languages and detects the language itself.

A multicam clip you built in Final Cut arrives as one clip. Eddie keeps your alignment and does not switch angles inside it. Cameras you drag in separately are synced by audio into a multicam group that Eddie can cut between.

Names and product terms: attach a Backgrounder with the right spellings before you import. Eddie hands them to the transcription engine as a dictionary.

Step 3: Cut from the transcript, two ways

By prompt. Open Prompt Eddie and say what the video is for and how long it should be:

Build a rough cut from these interviews. Pull the strongest soundbites from each speaker and put them in an order that tells a clear story. Aim for about 8 minutes.

Then steer it, one change at a time: "start on the second question", "drop the pricing section", "remove filler words and long pauses".

By hand. Set the Chat / Pro switch to Pro and open the paper edit. The transcript sits in one column and your edit in the other. Drag a line from the transcript into the edit, in the order you want. One drag carries one line. This is text-based editing in the plain sense: you choose the words, the cut follows.

You can mix the two. Ask Eddie for the assembly, then move lines by hand.

Step 4: Send the edit back to Final Cut

Open the edit, open Export, and choose Final Cut Pro. Eddie writes an FCPXML. Because the clips came from your event through the desktop app, the file references your original media by file name and path, and Final Cut relinks to it.

Three options are on by default in the Final Cut export:

  • Favorites & rejects. A clip or transcript passage you bookmarked becomes a Favorite range. A rejected b-roll clip, or a transcript passage you deleted, becomes a Reject range.
  • Labels as keywords. Each label on a clip or transcript passage becomes a keyword range in the browser.
  • Transcript markers. Each transcript passage becomes a marker, with the speaker in its note.

If the edit uses a multicam clip from Final Cut, the FCPXML puts your own multicam clip back on the timeline at Eddie's cut points. You keep switching angles in Final Cut. A multicam group that Eddie synced also comes back as a real multicam clip, on the angle Eddie chose at each cut.

Review comments pinned to the edit become timeline markers, named after the comment. A timeline export costs 100 credits, the same for every format, and nothing is charged if the file fails to build.

The marks you get before you cut

You do not need an edit to get Favorites into your browser.

  • A stringout with Favorites. Ask Eddie to find the best moments across your clips and build them into one timeline, then ask for the FCPXML with every clip marked as a Favorite. Eddie marks each clip's in and out point as a Favorite range on the source clip.
  • The B-roll log. From a project with no edit yet, open Export and choose the B-roll log as FCPXML. The clips in your browser get keywords for shot type, for each group Eddie made and for each topic, plus Favorite ranges for the good moments.

A footage-log export costs 100 credits.

If Final Cut shows missing files

An FCPXML does not embed your video. If Final Cut cannot find a file at the recorded path, the clip shows offline. Select the offline clips, choose File → Relink Files…, and point Final Cut at the top-level folder that holds your originals. Final Cut matches files by name and searches subfolders.

If you see "Param element ignored… interpolation attribute", Final Cut is skipping a keyframe type from Eddie's automatic cinematic motion. The clip still works; only that motion detail is dropped.

What it will not do

  • It will not colour, mix or finish. That stays in Final Cut.
  • It does not switch angles inside a multicam clip you built in Final Cut. It cuts that clip as one source and hands it back switchable.
  • It does not write ratings you set in the chat into Final Cut. To get a mark into the browser, bookmark the moment or label the clip, then export with the options above.
  • It does not swap web proxies for your originals. If you uploaded in a browser instead of dragging from your event, the FCPXML points at Eddie's proxies, and Final Cut may refuse to relink them to camera files whose frame rate or length differs. Import from the event when you want the export to relink to originals.

FAQ

Does Final Cut Pro have text-based editing? Final Cut Pro can transcribe speech to captions. It does not have a mode where you select transcript text and get a cut. Eddie provides that step and returns an FCPXML.

Can I cut by hand instead of by prompt? Yes. The paper edit puts the transcript beside the edit, and you drag the lines you want into place.

Do my Final Cut multicam clips survive the round trip? Yes, when they come from your event through the desktop app. The FCPXML puts your multicam clip back at Eddie's cut points, and you keep switching angles in Final Cut.

Can Eddie mark clips as Favorites in Final Cut? Yes. Ask for a stringout of the best moments and export it as FCPXML with Favorites. The Export menu and the B-roll log also write Favorites into the browser.

What does it cost? Import is 250 credits per hour of footage. A timeline export is 100 credits. A new account starts free, and credit packs never expire. See pricing.

Ready to cut from the transcript? Start a project for free, or read the Final Cut Pro workflow first.