How to Turn Long Videos Into Shorts With Claude

Long-form to shorts · A practical guide

I have a skill that scans my long-form videos and turns them into short-form content. One video in, a week of shorts out. Here's how to do it with Claude, and the trial reel trick that gives every clip more shots at going viral.

By Torsten Roscoe · Video editor and entrepreneur

Watch: How I edit my videos using Claude

Watch the full video on YouTube

Sound familiar?

You're the only shooter and the only editor.
You're getting backlogged on videos and you just need help with the edits.
You record a great podcast, and the best moments never get posted.
You're short on time. You just need somewhere to start.

Cutting shorts by hand means rewatching the whole thing, finding every good part, cutting the pauses, making it vertical, then captioning it. For a one-hour podcast that's your whole day. Claude does it while you're out living.

How Claude turns one video into shorts

1. It listens to the whole thing

Claude writes down every word you said, with the exact time you said it.

2. It finds the moments that work on their own

It looks for 20 to 60 second parts that make sense without the rest of the video and open with a strong first line. If a clip needs the whole video to make sense, it won't work as a short.

3. It shows you the best ones first

You get a ranked list of the best moments and what each one is about. You pick which ones to make.

4. It cuts them tight

Every pause, every “umm”, every repeated start comes out. Zero dead space.

5. It makes them vertical and edits them in your style

Each clip becomes a 9:16 video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, with your captions, sound effects and look on top.

Here's the message I'd send:

Yo, here's my podcast. Find the best moments that work on their own, show me the top 10, then turn the ones I pick into shorts using my (your name) editing style skill.

6. Give notes with timestamps

Watch each short, then send every note in one message. Exact time, what's wrong, what you want instead. “On clip 3, at 0:04, start one sentence later.”

The trial reel trick

You know trial reels on Instagram? You post a reel, and it only goes to people who don't follow you. If it does well, you share it to your followers.

So here's what I do. I take one short and post it in five different styles, all as trial reels. Same words. Same cut. Five completely different looks. One video gets five shots at going viral instead of one.

But it only works if they really look different. I tried just changing the hook, ten versions. Instagram saw them as the same video, and they got zero views. Every version needs its own look. New colours, new layout, new everything. With Claude, that's just a different skill name in your message.

What works best

Podcasts and interviews. Lots of strong opinions and stories, so lots of clips.
Talking-head YouTube videos. Every tip can be its own short.
Webinars and livestreams. Hours of footage, a few gold moments.

Your shorts checklist

Does each clip make sense on its own?
Does it open with a strong first line?
Is it 20 to 60 seconds with zero dead space?
Is it vertical, with captions in my style?
Did I post it as trial reels in different looks?

You can build all of this yourself

Everything in this guide works. But you still have to build the skill that finds the clips, teach it your style, give it notes, and fix the same mistakes, again and again, until it finally edits like you. That takes months.

And most of you don't have months, right? You're shooting, editing, running a business, all at once.

Just like Nijah. She's a solopreneur, running a business with a full-time job on top. Here's what she left in her review:

“As a solopreneur and with a full time job, it's hard managing social media and video creation, so having an easier workflow is principal.”
Nijah, solopreneur

Well, look what she says now:

“Now it will be a no brainer to video edit, because I can just talk to Claude and make changes with voice dictation. Voila. Let it cook.”
Nijah, solopreneur

That's the AI Editing Bundle

The same skills and rule books behind every video I post, including the one that turns my long-form into shorts and every style I use for trial reels. And it's super easy to set up. Claude installs it all for you, and you can start editing today.

Here's what Mark left in his review, right after he got it:

“Awesome stuff. Right out the box, edited a solid usable video!”
Mark R.

If that sounds like you, go grab the AI Editing Bundle.

Get the AI Editing Bundle

If not, no stress. Build your own with the steps above.

About Torsten

I've been in the content game for over 2 years and edited over a thousand videos. My editing packs are used by the editors behind creators like Jake Paul and Kevin O'Leary. Now Claude edits my videos, and I teach other creators to do the same on YouTube and Instagram.

Questions people ask

How many shorts can I get from one video?

It depends on the video. A strong one-hour podcast often has 10 or more moments worth posting.

Does Claude pick the clips for me?

Claude ranks the best moments and you pick which ones to make. You can also tell it exactly which part you want.

Do I need Premiere or CapCut?

No. Claude makes the finished vertical videos itself.

Why did my trial reels get no views?

If the versions look too similar, Instagram treats them as the same video. Give every version its own look.

More Claude editing guides

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.