Ive been editing on Premiere Pro for probably close to a decade now, and honestly, I usually hate the idea of letting software do the work for me because I like having control over every keyframe and color grade. But lately, my workload has just exploded. Im based in Chicago and picked up this massive project for a local marketing agency that needs thirty short-form clips turned around in like, five days. It is absolute insanity.

So I was thinking maybe I could leverage some AI stuff just to handle the tedious, soul-crushing parts of the process, you know? Like, my logic was to find something that can handle the auto-reframing or maybe decent captioning because doing that manually for thirty videos is gonna kill me. I tried playing around with the built-in AI tools inside Premiere, but they feel kinda clunky and keep lagging my timeline, which is super frustrating when Im on a tight deadline. Ive looked at Descript for the text-based editing, which seems cool, but is it actually worth adding another subscription to my bill when I already pay Adobe an arm and a leg?

I need something that actually speeds up the workflow without making the footage look like a deepfake nightmare. I have a budget of maybe fifty bucks a month if it really saves me that much time. Is there anything out there that doesnt just look like cheap filters? I feel like every time I look at a new tool, it promises the moon but just ends up being a glorified Instagram filter that breaks as soon as I try to push it past a 1080p export. Does anyone actually use this stuff for professional work, or am I just setting myself up for more headaches later? What are you guys actually using that doesnt suck...