Company 3 LA Senior Colorist Sean Coleman recently spoke with postPerspective about shaping the color and workflow for HBO’s new miniseries DTF St. Louis. The dark comedy, loosely inspired by real events, follows a St. Louis weatherman, his on-air ASL translator, and the translator’s wife, whose unusual relationship unfolds through a series of provocative encounters. Early in the show, it becomes clear that these events may have led to a mysterious death.

Coleman describes the series’ visual approach, saying, “It’s the lighting, it’s the aesthetic, everything. The story lives in a cool, moody place, but at no point does it have a really high contrast or dark and murky look. It’s also sharp and soft in a way. A great camera, great lenses, and then we soften the image through the [color grading] process, so it plays like film.”

Drawing inspiration from a late-’60s photograph of Sharon Tate at Les Deux Magots in Paris, which cinematographer James Whitaker, ASC, long admired, Coleman built a custom LUT to capture “the feeling of the photograph… its vibe, color temperature, contrast, realness, and understated quality,” forming the foundation of the show’s aesthetic.

Collaboration between Whitaker and Coleman was key from the outset. Whitaker praised Coleman’s understanding of silver retention, noting, “Not everybody really understood how to work with it. It was just a great collaboration from the start.” Shot on the ARRI Alexa 265 with ARRI Prime DNA lenses, the series’ distinctive look was refined in DaVinci Resolve through a combination of technical precision and subtle artistry.

Highlights and shadows were carefully adjusted, saturation was dialed back to create a soft “electricity,” and digital sharpness was tempered. Coleman layered film emulation tools, halation, and grain alongside traditional grading techniques to achieve a cohesive finish that feels both modern and timeless.

Read postPerspective’s full feature: DP and Colorist on HBO’s DTF St. Louis Talk Look and Workflow.

DTF St. Louis is now streaming on HBO.