Why More Isn’t Better
If I had a dollar for every time a client said, “Can we see a few different versions?”—well, you know the rest. On paper, offering lots of options feels generous, collaborative, even considerate. Here's the thing: it rarely actually helps. We’ve all fallen into the trap, sending five variations on a color grade or three different cuts of the same scene because, hey, maybe they’ll love one. Nine times out of ten, all you get is a slower response, endless hedging, and a little voice in your head screaming, “Do they have any idea what they want at all?”
Put yourself in the client’s shoes. They hired you because you’re the expert. Drowning them in choices is just dumping your indecision onto their plate. Whether it’s edit selects, graphics, music, or even that infamous thumbnail slugfest, the answer isn’t “more.” It’s “better informed.”
A real example: We once cut three different sizzle reels for a Hollywood event sponsor, thinking they’d pick one. Guess what? They wanted to “Frankenstein” their favorite moments across all three, which made the edit a total nightmare. If we’d pushed our single, strongest version, we would have saved a week (and a little bit of our sanity).
Loss Aversion: It’s Real
The psychology is simple. When people see too many options, most won’t make a choice—they’ll delay. Now it’s not just about whether the cut feels right, but what they could lose by not picking those other versions. It’s plain old loss aversion. Instead of loving what you presented, they get stuck second-guessing every detail (sound familiar?).
When we handled a big campaign for a retail client last year, we learned our lesson. Rather than sending three delivered video cuts, we sent one—you know, the one we actually believed in. The feedback came back in a single round, focused on tweaks instead of which version had the “better flow.” The whole team left that review meeting actually smiling.
Whenever I hear someone say, “Clients love choice,” I hear, “We’re afraid to have a take.” Don’t buy it. Clients want confidence backed by experience, not a buffet of indecision. Save the drafts for internal debate, not for the presentation room.
Curating Like a Pro
Here’s where you earn your keep. Your job isn’t to be a menu—it’s to be a guide. When you’re picking music beds, you don’t send a YouTube playlist with ten tracks. You curate. You take the brief, the brand, the mood, and you deliver your single best fit. If you’re lucky, two options, tops, and always with an opinion about which one matches their goals.
Let’s talk interview selects. Stacking up six alternate sound bites might make you feel diligent, but to a frazzled client, it looks like you didn’t care enough to make a choice. At A List Creative, we don’t send a massive Excel grid of “possible takeaways.” We send one streamlined stringout, framed in context: “This is the story. Here’s why we stitched it together like this.” Highly specific, no room for waffling.
If there’s pushback, that’s fine—that’s a conversation. But leading with certainty gets respect. It’s how you cut through the wishy-washy approval loops that kill momentum.
Trust Your Instincts (And The Process)
I’ve seen juniors panic about “guessing wrong” or “blocking client creativity.” Relax. The client will still tell you what’s not working if something's off. But they hired you for your taste. Giving them one thoughtful recommendation isn’t arrogant. It’s professional.
On a recent doc edit, the client wanted a version with all natural sound and another with a gentle music bed. We previewed both internally, agreed one felt stronger, and only sent that. The result? Instant approval. Zero back-and-forth, no over-explaining, and we wrapped the job two days ahead of schedule. That never happens when you present a smorgasbord.
Everyone’s scared of making the “wrong” call—but, spoiler alert, nothing torpedoes a project faster than indecision. It’s better to give your best version, let the client push back if they’re not feeling it, and keep things moving. Bottom line: curation is a superpower in this business, and it’s the only way to actually move projects forward.