Tick the quotes. Your AI builds the cut.
Prewatch transcribes every clip on your Mac. You tick the lines worth using and put them in order, the way you would mark up a paper edit, and Claude or ChatGPT builds that cut in DaVinci Resolve.
14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.
Tick the lines worth using in any clip's transcript. Each speaker has a name.
Every pick in the folder, in one list. Drag them into the order of the story.
From transcripts to a timeline
Your picks are the plan. The assistant reads them in your order, with the seconds to cut on, and does the assembling in Resolve while you decide what the story is.
- [01]
Index
Prewatch transcribes every clip in the folder on your Mac, tells the speakers apart and recognizes the same voice across clips, so each line has a name, a clip and its seconds.
- [02]
Tick
Read the transcripts and tick the lines you want. Any clip, any speaker, as many as you like: a tick is a pick, and nothing else changes.
- [03]
Order
The Picks tab lists every line you ticked across the folder. Drag them into the order of the story, or leave them as they fell.
- [04]
Ask
Tell Claude or ChatGPT what to make: “string out my picks in my order”, “a two-minute version”, “cover the jump cuts with b-roll from the same scene”.
- [05]
Refine
The timeline appears in your open Resolve project. Tick more lines, reorder, and ask again in the same conversation.
| clip | in | out | # | who | text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A014_C006 | 47.2 | 50.1 | 1 | Anna | three days of hiking to see this |
| A021_C003 | 12.8 | 19.4 | 2 | Anna | we nearly turned back on day two |
| A011_C014 | 4.0 | 9.6 | 3 | Mikko | the weather here changes every hour |
Same craft, none of the retyping
Editors mark up transcripts because the story lives in what people say. Prewatch keeps that step and removes the busywork around it: finding the timecode, rebuilding the order, and laying the quotes on a timeline.
| On paper | With Prewatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the quotes are marked | A printed transcript and a highlighter | Checkboxes in the transcript, in the app |
| Finding the line in the footage | Look up the timecode, scrub to it | Every pick is the clip's own seconds and source timecode |
| Across a whole shoot | One stack of paper per interview | One list of picks for the whole folder, every speaker named |
| Story order | Scissors and tape, or a document | Drag the picks into order |
| From paper to timeline | Rebuild it by hand in the edit | Your AI builds it in Resolve, in your order |
| Sharing with the team | Email the document | Picks are saved next to the footage, in the Prewatch folder |
What is a paper edit?
A paper edit (also called a radio cut or string-out) is the story told in quotes before any picture is cut: you read the interview transcripts, mark the lines worth using and put them in order. Documentary, corporate and podcast editors use it to agree on the story before they spend days in the timeline.
Does my AI keep the order I set?
Yes. Prewatch gives the assistant your picks in your order, with each line's clip, in and out points and speaker, and the assistant cannot change them. It builds from that list, and you can ask for anything on top: shorter, another opening, b-roll over the cuts.
Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio?
To have the assistant build the timeline, yes: it does that through the MCP server in DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later. With the free version you still tick and order picks, and your AI still plans the cut and gives you every clip with its in and out points to place yourself.
Can a producer tick the quotes and the editor cut them?
Yes. Picks are saved in the Prewatch folder next to the footage, so on a shared drive a producer can tick and order lines on one Mac, and the editor's Claude or ChatGPT reads the same picks on another.
Is the audio uploaded for transcription?
No. Transcription and speaker recognition run on your Mac with on-device models. Voiceprints stay on the Mac that made them; names and picks are plain files in the Prewatch folder.
Tick the quotes. Get the cut.
14-day free trial, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month.