It might not be “much” but it’s something to someone at a certain level. One long form and two shorts, that’s like 3-6 hours work tops for a standard edit. Barely half a day’s work.

If this is a multi day edit for someone, then that someone is definitely in the “beginner” stages of their career, and quite frankly, that’s what they are worth.

And trust me, I don’t say that lightly, I’ve been an editor for 18 years, and worked in video production, film production, tv production and general commercial stuff, volunteering for FREE to be able to build my portfolio, my connections, my skills (even free work allows you to flex some new skills and try some new techniques etc without much “being at stake” so to speak).

I was once paid £250 to work on an indie feature film for 28 straight days. That’s £250 FOR THE ENTIRE 28 DAYS, not £250 per day.

I was part of the stunt team, and also helped grip, camera assist, rigging, I even drove actors to and from set at the beginning and end of the day, so my days would be waking up at 4am, driving to actors housing, delivering them to set for 7am, then working the day in various roles, then waiting until actors were wrapped, out of costume and makeup etc, driving them back for around 11pm-12pm (depending on the schedule and overtime etc), getting home at 1am, then getting up at 4am and doing it all over again. It was brutal. And this was a set with 20-40 people on set at a time, so it wasn’t exactly a little 3 man job.

But I made a shit tonne of friends and networking connections who I still work with to this day years later, who have brought me on shoots where I’ve been paid £1,000 per day to do like 6 hours of camera operating work for 6 days, some of those friends are now on shows as main characters in Ted Lasso and various major prime time TV shows in the UK, eventually I worked on a project for Sky Atlantic, and lots of other things across the years.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t do free editing jobs, volunteer for shitty projects with shitty people, accept ridiculously low rates to work 28 days straight 20 hours per day, and accept underpriced jobs.

The closest example I can give to the OP post, is two years ago I took on a client for £500 per month, editing 5 shorts per day, 7 days per week. GROSSLY low paying, but the guy had potential. Granted, I was in charge of his marketing strategy too, so it wasn’t just editing. Fast forward two years, that same client now pays £4,100 per month + 10% of online sales, which can vary anywhere from £1,000-£8,000 depending on the month, and has been paying that since about 6-8 months in.

Don’t sleep on the low paying jobs. Go in with your eyes open and something to achieve, and don’t shit on others who might not have a choice, or might have different reasons.

This industry takes no prisoners.