Paid in
- The commissioner pays Co Curate
- Co Curate holds the money, as merchant of record, while the work runs
- Nothing moves to anyone mid-project
- Released on delivery
How it works
Two chairs, one room. What each of you does, step for step — and then how the money moves.
The commissioner
You have work that needs making
The co-curator
You make the work
01 Arrive
Write a brief. Eleven short steps: who you are, what you need, the shape of the work, the money, the material, and the people.
Join a crew. Eight short steps: who you are, your crafts, your work, the software you use, and your terms per craft.
02 Match
See six who fit. Co Curate ranks the roster against your brief. Shortlist from the six; they are called onto it the moment you send.
Be called. Nothing to browse — Co Curate does the matching. A brief that fits your crafts lands on your home page as a call.
03 Open the room
The team assembles. A call accepted opens the project room: Team assembled, then the brief, the budget and the contract, each agreed by both of you.
Accept, and read. The brief as the commissioner wrote it, in full. Agree the room or say who is wrong; then the same for the brief, the budget and the contract.
04 Agree, phase by phase
Read what comes back. Treatment, production, review: each round is sent to you to agree, or to answer with an action item that stops the phase until it is resolved.
Send it for review. Your phases are yours until you send them. An action item comes back as a new round; agreeing closes the phase.
05 Money
Pay in, once. A card on file opens the brief. Funding opens the treatment; Co Curate holds the fee, as merchant of record, until Delivery closes. Every allocation is visible.
Nothing worked for free. The treatment opens only once the commission is funded. You are paid on delivery, out of what Co Curate holds, with the split in your favour.
06 Grow the room
Ask for one more. If the job wants another craft, ask Co Curate. They run it through the roster again and offer you three; you pick one.
Bring someone in. When the scope moves, name the craft and the part, choose from the six Co Curate finds. One for a contractor, four for a creative director.
07 Deliver
Sign it off. Review, then delivery. Confirming closes the commission, and the work can be released on a date you set, with your permission.
Close it out. Deliver, confirm, done. Every delivered project raises your level in that craft, and shows on your profile.
08 The share
20% out of the commission. That is Co Curate’s share of work it matched.
You keep 80%. Work you bring yourself — a commission link, your own Studio — carries no share at all.
How the money moves
The structure is simple and it leans, deliberately, toward the people doing the work.
The commissioner’s card is charged in full when the treatment opens, and the money is held by Co Curate until both sides confirm Delivery. Makers are paid by transfer to their own Stripe account, in US dollars, with Co Curate covering the card and payout fees; the full terms are on Terms.
80% to the makers
- 80% into the maker pool
- 20% stays with Co Curate
- Team briefs: the CD and crew
- Singular: the contractor directly
Direction fee
- 30% of the pool, on team briefs
- Fixed, not negotiated per project
- Covers staffing the team
- Owning the treatment
- Carrying delivery
The crew budget
- The remaining 70% of the pool
- Allocated by the CD
- Proctored by Co Curate
- Every allocation visible to the team
- The largest share of the project
Worked example
| Commissioner pays in | $3,500 |
| Co Curate share (20%) | $700 |
| Creative director’s direction fee | $840 |
| Crew budget, allocated by the CD | $1,960 |
Target commissions
| Creative director budgets | $1,000 to $5,000 |
| Independent contractor commissions | $500 to $1,500 |
| Standard platform share, out of the commission | 20% |
| CD direction fee, on team briefs | 30% of pool |
Why the site favours contractors
It’s an incentive for labour-intensive work. The person holding the camera, drawing the poster, or grading the footage takes the larger share, so the best specialists stay and teams staff faster.
Larger partnerships
For entertainment, brand, and corporate marketing teams running recurring work (a festival season, a release slate, a year of campaigns), Co Curate staffs standing teams under a single agreement, with the same split and the same proctored budgets.
Start the conversation →What a partnership covers
| Recurring staffing | Standing CD + rotating specialist bench |
| Event coverage | Full-event teams, same-week delivery |
| Campaign systems | Key art through rollout, one team |
| Proctored budgets | Every allocation visible, every project |
The company behind the platform
Co Curate was founded by Talia Balogun, a multidisciplinary producer and designer. The pro-maker economics come from a founder who does the work herself. The company runs lean: coordinators across systems, talent, partnerships, social, and finance, a freelance art team, and a three-seat executive bench.
| Operations | Creative | Executive |
|---|---|---|
| Systems coordinator | Freelance art team | Chief executive officer |
| Talent recruitment coordinator | Chief technology officer | |
| Partnerships marketing coordinator | Chief financial officer | |
| Social media coordinator | ||
| Finance coordinator |
Ten minutes of your answers
Whichever chair you sit in, your answers decide what gets built here and what gets left out: how work is bought and sold, what has gone wrong, and what would make you trust the other side. No account needed.