HDR-First: Impact on Initial Grade & Client Reviews?

Hey everyone,

I'm Ben Castillo, a stunt coordinator, and lately, the post-production side of things has been throwing a new curveball. We just wrapped a commercial with some pretty intense fight choreography, shot predominantly on an AMIRA with a few tight shots on a KOMODO-X. Client definitely wants simultaneous HDR and SDR deliverables.

Now, I've always understood the 'HDR-first' workflow is the best practice for a reason, but honestly, implementing it cleanly has been a learning curve. Historically, my initial grade and client review sessions were very SDR-centric. We'd get it looking stellar for that, then maybe QC an HDR pass later. But with the demand for both right out of the gate, it feels like I'm having to make a lot more concessions upfront or spending double the time finessing two distinct looks simultaneously.

For those of you who've really embraced the HDR-first mandate for simultaneous deliverables, how has this actually changed your approach to initial grading sessions? More importantly, how are you structuring client review sessions when you're essentially presenting two versions of the same material? Are you reviewing HDR first, then SDR? Or does it vary by client?