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Hire freelance and contract colorists worldwide
YunoJuno connects you with vetted freelance and contract colorists who grade and finish film, video and commercial footage. Onboard, contract and pay them in 165+ countries, with compliance handled for you.
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150,000+
165+
<24 hrs
Why hire a freelance colorist?
Color shapes mood, continuity and polish. A freelance colorist brings a trained eye and the tools to balance shots, build a look and deliver footage that feels finished, in the formats your platforms need.
Freelancers also give you flexibility. Book a colorist for a commercial, a film, a series or a batch of social content, bring in a specialist for HDR or a particular look, or add capacity in post-production. Showreels let you judge style before you book.
One directory for every colorist
Compliant and vetted
Keep up with payments
How does hiring a freelance colorist work on YunoJuno?
Create your brief
Browse and book colorists
Contract, work and pay in one place
What does a freelance colorist do?
A freelance colorist corrects and grades the color of footage in post-production, on a project or contract basis. They balance and match shots, develop a creative look, work with directors and cinematographers, and deliver graded masters for film, television, advertising and online. Typical responsibilities include:
How much does it cost to hire a freelance colorist?
Day rates for freelance colorists vary with format and complexity, seniority, showreel, delivery requirements, whether a suite is needed, and location. Each freelancer's day rate is shown on their YunoJuno profile, so you can compare options against your budget before you get in touch.
Every year, YunoJuno analyzes data from the projects booked through the platform and publishes it in the Contractor Rates Report. Download the latest rates report to benchmark day rates and project trends.
Manage your freelance colorists beyond the hire
Onboarding
Worker classification
Contracts, including IP assignement
Timesheets & approvals
Payments
Reporting & spend visibility
Enterprise teams already seeing results
"YunoJuno is a seamless experience and takes a lot of the stress away. Itreally helps from an agility and productivity perspective, quickly answering the business needs and helping to create a much more diverse and output-focused team. The quick payment of freelancers is a game changer — we have managed to reduce time to hire from a week to a couple of hours."
"There were a few critical results for us. The obvious one was keeping everything housed in one place — payments and keeping track of monthly spending. Perhaps more importantly, we were able to build up a bulletproof directory of talent. This has been super helpful for us as a team and as a business, across our regions."
Frequently asked questions
Hire a freelance colorist when footage needs grading before delivery, when you want a consistent look across a series or campaign, or when your editors lack grading time or skill. They're also useful for HDR work, for matching footage from different cameras, and for peaks in post-production.
Colorists vary by format and style. Some work on feature films and drama, others on commercials, music videos, documentary or social content. Some specialize in HDR or particular cameras and pipelines, and some also offer finishing. Many work remotely with calibrated monitors, others in a suite. If you need cutting and assembly rather than grading, a video editor may fit better, and a motion graphics designer adds animated graphics. Match their showreel to your format and look.
Browse all freelance film and motion professionals on YunoJuno.
Look for a mix of artistic and technical skills:
- A showreel that matches your format and look
- Expertise in tools such as DaVinci Resolve or Baselight
- Understanding of color science, log footage and LUTs
- Experience with HDR and delivery specifications
- Calibrated monitoring, either in a suite or a remote setup
- Ability to interpret creative direction and match shots
- Collaboration with editors, cinematographers and VFX teams
- Reliability and clear communication
Useful questions to ask before you book:
- Can you share graded work in a style similar to ours?
- Which grading software and hardware do you use?
- How do you develop a look from a brief or references?
- Do you work remotely, in a suite, or both?
- Do you handle HDR and different delivery formats?
- How do you match footage from different cameras?
- How do you handle client feedback during a grading session?
- What is your typical turnaround?
The cost of a freelance colorist depends mainly on format and complexity, seniority, showreel, delivery requirements, whether a suite is needed, and location. Freelancers set their own day rates, which you can see on their YunoJuno profile before you make contact.
For benchmarks, see YunoJuno's Contractor Rates Report, built from rates data on projects booked through the platform. For what it costs to use YunoJuno itself, see the pricing page.
Post a brief or search the network, and book a freelance colorist based in or outside your own country. YunoJuno supports payments in 165+ countries and assesses worker classification for every engagement, so you can engage independent talent without managing the compliance work yourself. That includes US contractor compliance for 1099 and W-2 engagements and IR35 status determinations in the UK, as part of YunoJuno's wider global compliance coverage.
It is also fast. Onboarding takes under 5 minutes, worker classification around 15 minutes, and a contract can be in place in under 24 hours. YunoJuno also provides misclassification indemnification, adding protection if a classification is ever challenged.
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