Picture lock left. The pixels still look like dailies.
The 2026 ping is specific: “make it cinematic,” “just throw a LUT on it,” “match camera A to camera B,” “warm it up for the brand.” They already signed an edit. Talking-head, branded film, event recap — the cut they approved is what that number bought. A look is a different clock: shot matching so skin does not jump, contrast that survives YouTube compression, a LUT you actually sit with instead of dropping one from a pack, Rec.709 out that does not look like log. Bill that clock against the hub floor. Target income, billable-week count, tax buffer you set: those stay on the hub. This page does not copy them, and it is not a 50-state tax engine. Read $360 as 4 × 90 with a dollar sign. Need a different currency on the invoice? Switch it on the hub. Floor still a guess? Build it on how to set a freelance rate.
Color-grade extra = hours you type × hourly floor. Start the clock when the first clip hits the wheels. Stop it when they can post a look that is not the dailies. Four hours is the worked example — match, skin, a LUT pass, Rec.709 out. Eight hours is a longer film with mixed cameras and a night-to-day jump. Two hours is a polish on a short that already sat close. You own the hour count. This card will not gift the look because “color is always 20% of the edit,” will not mint a per-finished-minute price so a 90-second spot looks official, and will not tuck the session inside the cut they already paid.
Worked USD: 4h × $90 = $360
First preset. Grade hours: 4. Floor: $90. Product: 4 × $90 = $360.
That $360 is a look sitting on top of an edit they already bought. It is not another recut of the same timeline after included rounds. It is not a 9:16 of the master. It is not dumping the unedited cards. It is not hours to find a colorist you are not. Send the dollars before Resolve (or Lumetri) opens. “The grade was included” is not a line this card ever wrote.
Second preset keeps the same $90 and stretches the clock to 8 hours. Extra: 8 × $90 = $720. You typed 8. Mixed cameras, a night interior, a LUT you actually sit with still prices as hours × floor, still because they asked after picture lock, still not 20% of the edit, still not a per-minute mill.
Third preset: 2 hours at $90. Extra: 2 × $90 = $180. A short polish is still a grade they asked for after the cut. Short is not free, and it is not a finished-minute ticket.
Four other doors — none of them are a look pass
They want the same file opened again after the included rounds in YOUR quote are gone: recut a beat, bigger type, same picture, same ratio. That is the revision-round card — hours for that pass × floor. Sitting on wheels is not “one more revision.” Two asks, two lines: recut hours there, grade hours here. Do not spend an unused included round on a look they never bought.
They want 9:16 Stories/Reels of a 16:9 or square master they already paid for. That is extra aspect ratios, not a grade. Hours you type × floor on the social-cuts card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360 there too — same arithmetic, different clock. Recrop lives there. Wheels live here. Want both? Cutdown hours there, grade hours here. A vertical of the approved cut is not “make it cinematic.”
They want the unedited cards after the quote was the edit. Dump, label, hand off. That clock is hours × floor on raw-footage (worked 2h × $90 = $180; not 50% of the shoot; not a per-GB mill). Copying CFexpress is not matching skin. Matching skin is not a card dump. Want both? Dump hours there, grade hours here.
They want a colorist you don’t do. Hours you type to find, brief, and review that person live on the specialist card. Worked 3h × $90 = $270. Their invoice sits on expense-markup. Not a 20% markup. Not 15% of the project. Casting someone else is not you sitting on the wheels. You sitting on the wheels is this page. Want both? Hunt hours there, your grade hours here. This card never multiplies their invoice.
They want opens, lower thirds, or end cards on a picture that is already locked. That is type that moves, not a look pass. Hours you type × floor live on the motion-graphics card. Worked 6h × $90 = $540. Not 20% of the edit. Not a per-second mill. Wheels live here. After Effects lives there. Want both? Grade hours here, graphics hours there. A sting is not Rec.709.
Blogs will sell you 20% of the edit. This card will not.
Color Twitter still recites “grade is 20% of the edit,” “$50 a finished minute,” “a LUT is always included.” None of that is a statute. None of it is this math. Log vs Rec.709 vs a pack LUT only names which look they asked for. Dollars = hours you type × floor. No 20%-of-the-edit slice. No per-minute mill.
If they ask for “the usual grade percent,” answer that this card has none. Show $360 from four hours, type 8, or type 2. You own the hour count. Skip the lecture. No confirm, no wheels. The edit they already bought still stands.
Paste the line before the first clip hits the wheels
Name the hours. Name the floor. Name $360, or whatever the card shows. Name that it sits on top of an edit they already bought. Copy from this card so the email dollars match the screen dollars.
- 4h × $90. Color-grade extra: 4 hours I type for a look pass on the locked cut × $90.00/hr = $360.00. The quote was the edit. A separate grade is hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $360.00 before I open the grade.
- 8h longer look. Color-grade extra: 8 hours I type for a look pass on the locked cut × $90.00/hr = $720.00. The quote was the edit. A separate grade is hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $720.00 before I open the grade.
- 2h polish. Color-grade extra: 2 hours I type for a look pass on the locked cut × $90.00/hr = $180.00. The quote was the edit. A separate grade is hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $180.00 before I open the grade.
Skip guilt and “everyone knows grade is 20% of the edit.” That speech turns a look pass into a fight. This page has no official edit percent and no per-minute mill. No confirmed fee, no wheels session. Same-file recut after included rounds: revision-round. Extra aspect ratios of a shipped master: social-cuts. Unedited cards: raw-footage. Opens / lower thirds / end cards on a locked picture: motion-graphics. A colorist you don’t do: specialist. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this grade extra.
Planning arithmetic — not a grade contract
Educational numbers. Not legal, tax, or collections advice. Not a color-finish agreement. No 20%-of-the-edit rule, no law that prices a finished minute, no LUT mill, no 50-state tax engine. Keep the paper you already signed. Need a clause that survives a fight? Counsel where you work writes it before the first clip hits the wheels. Filling these fields is not that clause and does not certify a Rec.709 file.
Inputs: hours you type for the grade pass, plus the hourly floor. Output: the extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars on this card are labeled USD. Live currency and any tax buffer stay on the hub. A colorist you don’t do is a hunt on specialist, not an hour here.
Rate calculator Same file, another recut 9:16 cutdowns, not a grade Opens / lower thirds, not a look Hunt a colorist you don’t do Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks moved? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the look. This page names a separate grade after the quote was the edit — hours × floor, not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill. Same-file rework after included rounds: revision-round. Extra aspect ratios of a shipped master: social-cuts. Unedited cards after the cut: raw-footage. Opens, lower thirds, or end cards on a locked picture: motion-graphics — 6h × $90 = $540, not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill. A colorist you don’t do: specialist — 3h × $90 = $270 to find, brief, and review them; their invoice sits on expense-markup. Floor still a placeholder? Begin on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I charge for a color grade after the freelance quote was the edit?
Type the hours the look pass will take — shot match, skin, contrast, a LUT you actually sit with, Rec.709 out. Multiply by your hourly floor. That product is the color-grade extra. The signed number already paid for the cut. A grade is a second clock. 4 × $90 reads $360 because those are the numbers in the worked example — change them. Planning only. This is not 20% of the edit and not a per-finished-minute mill.
Should I charge 20% of the edit fee, or a dollar amount per finished minute, for color grading?
No. This hub does not sell a 20%-of-the-edit slice and does not hang a price on each finished minute. Hours you type × floor is the only product. If four hours is wrong for your wheels session, type a different hour count.
Is a color grade the same as a revision round, 9:16 cuts, a raw-card dump, or hiring a colorist I don’t do?
Four different doors. Revision-round reopens the SAME file after included rounds in YOUR quote — recut, logo bigger, same picture. Social-cuts exports extra aspect ratios of a master they already paid for. Raw-footage dumps, labels, and hands off unedited cards. Specialist is hours to find, brief, and review a colorist you are not. This card is YOUR hours sitting on the look of a locked cut.
What if they only wanted the edit they already paid for, not a look pass?
Leave the timeline in Rec.709 as shipped. Type 0 hours. Extra is $0. The cut they already bought still stands. The grade stays unstarted until they confirm hours × floor.
Does filling this color-grade card create a contract or run a 50-state tax engine?
No. $360 is 4 times 90 labeled USD so you can read it. Currency and any tax buffer live on the hub calculator. Typing here does not write a grade clause, does not lock a LUT, and does not run a 50-state tax engine. If they want a colorist you don’t do, that hunt sits on specialist — this page is your hours on the grade.