I edit almost exclusively with FCP X....but I don't use too many plug ins.

I'm wondering what folks favorite plug ins are? I'd love to discover new stuff I don't know.

For reference, this is an old film that was projected onto a screen and recorded (convoluted, I know, but it's what I'm working with).

Long-time FCP editor here. I learned on FCP 7 and made the jump to X back when half the internet swore they never would. These days I direct and edit client work, mostly interview-driven docs and brand pieces.

How I get to a first cut has changed a lot this year, so I figured I'd share the actual setup. I'm also curious how the rest of you are handling this stuff.

The setup: two monitors. Final Cut on one, Claude Code on the other.

1. Every project gets a folder, and the folder gets read

Brief, goals, brand guide, fonts, colors, client samples, the names of everyone we interviewed. It's the same folder I've always kept. The difference is that Claude Code reads it, so when I ask for a lower third it's already in the client's typeface and the right blue. I never re-explain the client.

2. Motion graphics come out of a conversation

I use Claude Code with Opus 5.5 to build the graphics for every project now. Because it's read the brand guide and samples, everything comes back on brand. I ask for a ton of options at once: ten lower thirds, six ways to animate a chart, three end cards. Then I pick the winners the way I'd pick selects. Iterating is plain English: "slower, and draw the line on instead of fading it." That used to be a lost weekend or a subcontractor, and I'd see two options, not twenty.

3. Read the interviews before I watch them

Every interview gets transcribed before I scrub a single clip. Speakers labeled, then I read for the throughline and pull selects, and the selects go back into Final Cut as a stringout. Use whatever transcription tool you like. The habit matters more than the tool. Read first, then watch.

4. MCP, if you're into that

MCP is basically a standard plug that lets an AI assistant read from an app on your Mac, with your permission. So I can ask Claude Code "read the A02 interview and give me three ways to open this film" and it's working from the real transcript with real timecodes, not something I pasted. Copy and paste works fine too. I did it that way for months.

5. Then I actually edit

This is still where the job is. Pacing, flow, which line opens the film and which one you hold for the end, the music coming in a beat later than you'd expect. When the middle sags, I ask the AI that's read every transcript for a better soundbite for that turn, or just ask what I'm missing. I'm back in the timeline in a few minutes instead of an afternoon.

What actually changed for me

I feel more like a director than an editor now. Not because I cut less. The hours I used to spend scrubbing go into the only question that ever mattered: what is this film about, and does every cut serve it? I'm taking on more work, and I'm pickier about which work.

For the skeptics (honestly, I get it)

No generated b-roll, no synthetic interviews. Everything on screen was shot by people who were in the room. The AI part just gets me to a first cut I'm proud of faster.

And the tools have always changed. FCP 7 to X, Premiere, Resolve, people making genuinely good stuff in CapCut on their phones. Nobody in the audience has ever asked me which NLE I used. They felt something or they didn't. Story has always been the point. I'm just trying to keep up with the tools around it.

So, curious: is anyone else bringing Claude, ChatGPT or similar into their FCP workflow? What's actually working for you, and what's been a waste of time?