S.A.G.E.

Every interview project starts the same way: hours of footage, the same answer given three times, long pauses, and a deadline. Finding the story is the slow part.

S.A.G.E., the Story Assembly Guidance Engine, does that first pass. It reads the timecoded transcript and the brief, works out who is speaking and what is usable, and proposes a story with an opening, a build and an ending. The editor reviews it and directs the changes. Only then does S.A.G.E. write a Premiere Pro timeline that opens ready to refine.

It does the high-volume first pass. Judgement, accuracy and tone stay with the editor.

Hours to minutes

The first pass is the slow part of any interview edit: scrubbing through hours of footage, logging what’s usable, and working out a story. By hand, it can swallow days. S.A.G.E. does it in minutes, and the editor opens a timeline they can start refining the same sitting. It works from the timecoded transcript, not the footage itself, so reading hours of material is fast and light on tokens. The editor’s time goes on the story, not on finding it.

The workflow

• Understand the material. Speakers, takes, timecodes, what exists and what’s usable.
• Apply the brief. Audience, purpose and runtime, so not every line counts the same.
• Build the story. Opening, progression, clarity, ending.
• Review. The editor directs changes before anything is built.
• Rebuild the timeline. An XML edit, ready for cleanup, graphics, captions and finishing.

What it’s been used for

It started as an editing assistant inside a Claude Project for teacher success stories. It now runs recurring learning and development videos, rescued a promotional edit shot without a plan, and is cutting 90-minute construction lectures into short, focused learning videos. It can produce several edit options at once.