"If this continues, everyone will be doomed." South Korea's "Sunday News" reported on February 1 that although it has emerged from the haze of the new crown epidemic, the environment of South Korea's film and television cultural industry has still not escaped from the "Ice Age." Not only are Korean films struggling to break even due to the decrease in the number of viewers, but in terms of drama series, as international platforms such as Netflix have raised the salaries of top Korean actors, major Korean TV stations have begun to "tighten their belts" in the context of soaring costs and falling advertising revenue.
Yonhap News Agency stated that according to the Korean TV Drama Production Enterprises Association on January 28, the number of dramas on Korean TV stations and local video platforms decreased from 135 in 2022 to 125 in 2023, a decrease of about 7.4% in one year. Concerns about the shrinkage of the Korean drama industry began to emerge. According to reports, South Korea’s SBS TV station currently does not broadcast new dramas from Monday to Friday evenings, and MBC TV station’s new dramas on weekday evenings have also begun to go out of schedule. In addition, tvN, which has launched many popular works such as the "Reply" series, did not launch new dramas after the drama "Thieves: Seven Joseon Treasures" ended in May last year, and the drama also encountered negative reviews; another cable TV station, OCN, stopped broadcasting TV dramas on weekdays and weekends in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Regarding other video platforms, TVING released 13 original dramas in 2022, compared with only 6 last year; Wavve only had two dramas last year. In sharp contrast, the number of original Korean dramas released by Netflix and Disney+, the global streaming media platforms with huge capital, increased last year compared with 2022. Netflix also released the latest stills and trailer videos of "Squid Game 2" this month, making the drama one of Netflix's most anticipated blockbuster dramas in 2024.
Bae Dae-sik, secretary-general of the Korean TV Drama Production Enterprises Association, is worried that there will be fewer domestically produced dramas in South Korea this year than last year. There are currently as many as 20 dramas that have been produced but have not been broadcast due to various reasons. The total production cost of these works is about 300 billion won (1,000 won is about 5.4 yuan). The reason for this phenomenon is the skyrocketing cost of Korean drama production. In fact, declining advertising revenue is nothing new, and the “culprit” for rising production costs is believed to be the excessive pay of top actors. A person in charge of a TV station said that the leading actor’s salary per episode has entered the era of one billion won. An official from another production company admitted that most of the investment in the production of Korean dramas was taken away by a small number of actors. After "big investors" such as Netflix and Disney+ entered the Korean drama market, the worth of popular Korean actors has increased significantly, which has made it difficult for small and medium-sized Korean film and television production companies and TV stations to afford it. A source from a Korean production company said that actors who previously earned 4 million won per episode on TV stations can get 15 million won when appearing in streaming platform dramas. It will be difficult for actors to return to the past after a significant increase in pay. In this regard, many people in the Korean film and television industry have called on TV stations, video platforms, the government and actor agencies to openly discuss this issue and come up with solutions.
Taking the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" (released in 2019) and the Netflix series "Squidward" (released in 2021) as starting points, while the Korean film and television industry has attracted attention overseas, more and more people in the local film and television industry are worried that if the various problems currently restricting the development of Korean film and television are not reformed, the international competitiveness of the Korean film and television cultural industry will be hit. Some experts pointed out that the current structure of the film and television cultural industry is "actor-centered", which is a problem in itself. "Especially for romance themes," a person from a TV drama production company said. Actors who are popular in Korea are also popular overseas. From the producer's point of view, they must use this actor. "But overseas platforms have deep pockets, so it is easier to attract popular Korean actors."
The pay of South Korea's top stars has always been controversial. In the late 1990s, the salaries of top star actors stayed at the level of 2 million to 3 million won per episode. However, since then, some popular actors began to sign contracts for 10 million won per episode. This led to a nearly five-fold increase in the salary of Korean actors in just one or two years. In recent years, the salary of international platforms such as Netflix has been considered the "basic standard" for top Korean actors, so the actual amount paid by local Korean film and television producers may be much higher than this standard.
There are also voices in the Korean industry that believe that actors should be boycotted because their pay is too high, and they can refer to China's industry experience. Some Korean media concluded that China's film and television production environment was previously "actor-centered", and some actors were even paid more than 100 million yuan per episode, with the total remuneration exceeding 50% of the production cost. In response to this problem, the China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will standardize the income distribution order including actors' remuneration from 2022, and strictly implement the ratio of "the total remuneration of all actors in each drama shall not exceed 40% of the total production cost, and the remuneration of main actors shall not exceed 70% of the total actors' remuneration". Industry insiders believe that redirecting a considerable portion of the funds previously occupied by actors' remuneration to improve the overall production environment will not only improve the quality of the work, but also ensure reasonable profitability for film and television investors and producers.
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