MrBeast Lead Editor Reveals The Hack Behind Billions of Views

hyper attention cutting now is going to lose retention. Manas took Airc from 2 million subscribers to 13 then became the lead editor at Mr. Beast at just 20 years old. How much can a top editor make? I'm seeing numbers of like Yeah, I've seen more than that. I'll give some of the secret sauce behind how the Beast editing system works.

So, be prepared for a master class from the lead editor behind some of the biggest videos on the internet. As someone hiring editors, what do you look for in their portfolio? First thing I see is Welcome everybody back to the Attention podcast. I'm Chuck Merroz. I'm joined with my co-host Alex about and today

we're joined by Manas. Welcome to the show. To kick things off, why don't you just tell us who is Manas and how do you control attention? Yeah, so essentially I've been an editor in the YouTube space in the creator space for the past like 6 years. before that, I was directing music

videos. did stuff like Juice WRLD, Lil Uzi, stuff like that. And then I saw the future of where media's going is online and not traditional. So, I was like, I need to learn how to make YouTube videos.

YouTube videos. from that, I was an editor at this channel that was small at the time called Airc. It had around 2 million subscribers. worked deeply with the team. Was like part of the core team for about 2 years. We grew it to 13 million subscribers. It was one of the craziest

runs in like YouTube history, I think, in terms of like sub growth. And then after that, I was scouted to be a lead editor for Mr. Beast and became the lead editor from at 20 and grew rapidly from there for 2 years and now I'm I'm growing my next channel, which is the

channel called Groovy Gavin, which you guys just did a pod with. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, incredible journey, especially to be at Beast just at 20 and a lead at 20 years old, which is insane. And we'll dive deeper into your full journey as well. But, how many

views do you think or, listens as well, including the, the music work, but how many views, listens, how much, attention have you been able to get on the internet? Yeah, it's a it's a good few billion views now and that's long form.

I, I don't really dabble too much in shorts. I think it's cool, but long form views is where I specialize in. Gosh, it's got to be over like five, maybe 10 billion now. So. Insane. Yeah, all long form. Yeah. That's pretty cool. That's gnarly stuff. That's incredible.

Yeah. Yeah, so as a lead editor, like were you leading a whole team of editors behind you? Yeah, so I'll give some of the secret sauce behind how the, the Beast editing system works. Essentially, when I was there, I was a third lead. There'd be three leads in total, about

40 people in editing., wow. And I would be given a project. I'd be say, I'd be given to say, "Hey, here is your video that you have to do. You have 2 weeks to do it. You get a team of about five people from this pool of 40 editors. So, you take that team, these

video files, and turn it around into something we can upload in 2 weeks." And I would be tasked with divvying up, this the whole video into, let's say five different sections, one for each editor, and everyone edits

a section, and then I would oversee all of it while editing my own section, and then essentially, at the end of week one, we'd put the whole video together, all the sections, combine them all. I'd go do a full pass of the whole thing, and then I'd work directly with Jimmy,

and we'd meet and we'd talk about how we can make it better, all that stuff, for a week leading up to when we upload. So, when collaborating on edits with different editors, how do you ensure that you have like the same consistency across That's why it's important to have a lead. It's almost like a directing standpoint cuz you need

someone, I think, who has an overall vision of what the video should be. Like they have a vision of what emotions they're trying to tell, what the storyline is. And if you don't have that person that has an overarching vision of the whole thing, then you're putting together a bunch of pieces that could really not fit together well. Right.

So, yeah, yeah. Right. Is there ever a tension in that system, especially, being a manager of five folks? Like the pressure that builds up, miscoordination. Can that happen? It happens. They'll just be able to get it like that. So, yeah, for sure. Every

single time we'd bring in a new editor and put them into the system, it would take a while. And then, but then eventually, after like 6, 8 months or so of training, they're they're pretty solid. Yeah. They'll understand, "Hey, this is the video cuz everyone, in YouTube

you have different formats. And so, "Hey, we're doing this format this time." And they'll get it. So. Insane. Yeah. And so, you were a lead at just 20 years old, but typically how long does it take somebody to incubate their skills and get to that level where they could be a Mr. Beast editor?

Yeah. honestly, it really just depends how badly they want it. I think in general, you should have like at least if you grind out just a year, I think, of Premiere Pro and you're like spending at least like 5 days a week

really learning about it, every resource is out there on the internet. So, if you spend just a week, 5 days a week for a year, then in a year's time, I think you'll have all of the necessary skills., you don't have to go to school for it. I didn't go

to school., so many of my friends who are like super successful doing like, multiple six figures in editing, they didn't go to school for it. And they also like no film school teaches you how to edit for YouTube. So,

you spend like I'd say a year learning the technical aspects of it. And then after that, you need to like make your own videos, I think. Like all of us, we would make our own YouTube videos. They'd be pretty shitty, honestly. But then from that, you start to learn a bit. And then you can work at a smaller channel, like how I worked at

Airrack when we were at 2 million. It'll be grueling, but then after you work through that for like a year, then you'll have the basic ideas of like, retention, hooks, things like that. And then you'll already have the editing knowledge and

the main I think that like the main sauce in editing for YouTube is like is like learning how to make shortcuts and like learning how to make a quick solve of something that seem it seems like a really like difficult problem, but you can like solve it and

like with like a really simple trick just by moving one clip or something. And if you can get that, then that means that you can deliver projects on time and that's what creators value highly. So, how did you yourself go from directing music videos to becoming a lead editor? Like how did you get that first editing role?

Yeah. Yeah, so essentially it was really funny. I don't know if you guys know Mac. He's also he was like the head of all post-production at Beast and we've been really good friends since high school. He we went to the same high school in North Carolina, which is also

where, the same state Mr. Beast is from and he was a senior when I was a freshman and we were the only ones in our entire school that were doing videos at the time. We're the only ones that were like we want to make movies one day. We're doing videos. And so I look up to him and

and after he dropped out of college to go work for Eric when Eric was at like 800k subs, that's that's when I graduated high school. And I was like, I don't want to go to film school. This is not the next path in

this. The right path is in YouTube. So I hit him up. I was like, "Hey, we've edited together, let me do a test run." And we did a trial for like 3 months and it just worked. Yeah. Right. And what do you think that was that stood out? Was it the warm

connection from Mac? Like what was the I'm sure like obviously Eric probably wanted some other qualities or some other traits. Like what was that element that helped you stand out over potential other folks that could have joined the team? I think mainly it's just like we work nonstop.

It was like we would edit, 7 days a week, every week for like months on end. And there was a pool initially. it wasn't just cuz I knew Mac that I got

in. they there was a pool of like I think it was like 20 or 30 people that were like testing for this job. And we'd all do like trial edits and stuff. And I was trying to replicate Eric's, video formats that he did previously during the trial edit. A lot

of YouTubers when editors are trying to get into this industry, when they get an opportunity, they'll be given a trial edit to just like test. it's very similar to CS where you're given like a test like CS problem. and if you can like replicate that style or even like improve upon that

style in your test edit, then you're going to stand out and you'll be you'll be given a shot. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, for someone who wants to get into the editing space, like how much can a top editor make? So, starting from like charging people $10 for an edit

versus like working full-time at Mr. Beast. Yeah., dude., if you're making $10 an edit, it's almost better to just like get a day job and then edit on the side, what ? Cuz like dude, there are creators who will like pay like absolute

scraps. at that point it's better to like work at McDonald's and then like on the side just make your own videos and learn how to edit on your own your own videos. What up, guys? If you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button so we can keep bringing on the best of the best in the content world. Let's get

back to it. I'll give the entire knowledge. it's pretty standard for editors to make, like 75 to like 85K when they're, established, they know what they're doing. But the prices can go up a lot. a lot of creators are paying

top dollar. I'm seeing numbers of like 200K, up to 300K. Yeah, I've seen more than that. And then plus I've seen creators are so desperate for editors right now, bro. There's like so far and few between. If there's a good editor out there, they're like already hired.

It's just impossible to find. They're poaching each other. Like I've seen creators who are like best friends with each other poach each other and they go behind their backs, like try to like get their editor, . So, like some of the I can't name names, but like some of the biggest creators in the world would do that to each other. It's insane.

A top editor can make over 200k a year easy. So, for an editor making 200k, like can you walk us through like what a day in the life looks like? Yeah, well, it's so different for each channel, right? Cuz I can say like 200k and that sounds like really appealing, but you might be working like 6 days a

week out of the entire year. Well, at that point it's like I feel like what's the point in that? Cuz then, what? You get like a 6 days a week out of the entire year? Well, no, 6 days a week every week. Yeah, like all Yeah, so like Dude, yeah, it's

It's like investment banking. It's like it looks fun to do. banking. And I'm like at that point you shouldn't get I don't think Sure, like top editors can make a lot, but I don't think any editor should get into it for the money. Right. Because at that point, just like be an

investment banker. You'll work the same hours, but you'll make way more. Like, sure, editing can be lucrative at the top level, but it can also be a lot of work. You have to like really love it. Yeah, the way that you get that

is honestly God, like creators are going to hate me for saying this. like Jimmy's going to call me and be like, "What the fuck?" But it's like, "Bro, the best way to do it is you just like job hop every like 2 years." It's so similar to CS. Look at like what CS people are doing.

what ? Like, work for like 1 to 2 years, maybe not like 6 months, but work like 1 to 2 years at like a channel that has like, like 2 million, 3 million subscribers. You can bag like 75k or something and then Dude, editors are like Dude, creators

are so hungry for editors. If you go to a creator then who has like 20 million subs and you're like, "Hey, I worked here for, years. I know how to edit." They'll scoop you up for a higher price. And then you just like keep laddering up that way. Interesting. Yeah.

Interesting. So, is that common as well for like editors to churn out of an environment because like they feel like they're underpaid and their skills have exceeded where they're currently at relative to where they're being raised or does churn happen in this industry for different reasons? Multiple reasons., that's one reason.

the two biggest reasons the main causal factor is burnout. So, it's like a, a creator or like, just like the editor working way too much and then from that point on after a few months you might be able to have them. You might be able to like

suckle a ton of videos at like a very, short amount of time out of them. But then they're going to start to think, well, if I'm, working this much, I'll either want to go to a job that where I work less and I get maybe get paid a little bit less or if I'm working this

much, I might as well work for another creator who's going to pay me more. what ? Interesting. there's like a trillion different reasons. Everyone has different reasons for it, but Right. Yeah. So, I think one huge thing I think one huge thing is also like fulfillment. Like is like the content

fulfilling enough? I think if the content is less fulfilling, then you'll have to pay more of a premium. There's like a lot of like more like kid like slop channels that'll pay like really top dollar for editors.

but they have to cuz like no one wants to edit that bro. Yeah. I've been able to recruit some very talented editors for like, like fair rates, like rates that we're both happy with, but like they're really pumped about it cuz like they love the content we're making at Groovy

Gavin. And then like they enjoy editing every day. So, that's an important part to play, too. That's fire. Yeah, something we talked about with Gavin was like authenticity as well. And so, I feel like that aligns with like the entire team, not just like the face, but also like the team has to genuinely be invested into the content.

I think that's something Beast struggles with, honestly, which is like I've noticed like a lot of the team members weren't necessarily invested in the content. It was reflected in their passion every day like showing up to set. Like you could just tell like they're just tired, ? Like they're just Yeah, like even at post when I was there it was like, sometimes we'd be really hyped on like a

project that was cool, but then like if you have to work for like two, three weeks nonstop no days no days off on like a project that's like no one likes and like you can tell that even during the production when you're watching the footage people don't like and when like, higher-ups like watch the videos they don't like it then

it's like, my gosh, it's such like a you have to just like chug your way through and it's it's brutal if you do that back-to-back-to-back. I think you have to really love what you do. Right. I remember the cave video like there was like they were like, how the we going to make content from this? Like Dude, I know. Like nothing happening and Dude, I edited the cave video. It was

like yeah. Like I remember you . Yeah, you're like you're like, "Chad, how the do I make content from this?" Like they're like throwing paper airplanes off the cliff or whatever it's Bro, there was like a there was like a moment I think like multiple times like in the cave video where like I would sit in the room with like, three

of my other editing friends and we were we're watching essentially because of whatever creative or production things that didn't really go well, ultimately the footage that we get on our plate is like Jimmy and the boys like throwing paper airplanes off of a rock and

they're like, "Turn this into like 200 million views." Fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's where you call up the VFX team and Make things blow up. You can the VFX team is dude, it's like

like it's like a playing like the Joker. It's like it's like really it's like really expensive. It's like a get out of jail free card that you can only use like so many times. Hey Artem, hey Max, lock in. Yeah, . Kick up. Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. And so a question I was always curious about is like