A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Director Who Dominates OTT

Episode 100

Action 13. Work

Even though it’s where I work, the video content industry has so many unfair aspects.

To become a drama writer, you have to suffer for years as an assistant writer earning peanuts, and to become a main director, you have to start as an FD and dedicate at least ten years.

Meanwhile, countless injustices pour down, and if you can’t endure it, you get replaced in an instant.

This culture took root because the money required to produce video content is enormous.

Without money, you can’t even start, so those who hold the money have seized cultural hegemony.

Independent films and web dramas were born to fight against this.

But pouring billions of won into such web dramas to aim for visuals rivaling terrestrial broadcasts?

Gathering former stars and rising stars to complete luxurious casting?

This was corrupt behavior that shook and contaminated the very existence value of web dramas.

“Got it? You corrupt bastard?”

“No, you’re crazy. What are you talking about! You’re the one who suggested filming this!”

“But you’re the one who makes it reality, hyung.”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

I looked around the set where filming preparations were in full swing, laughing at the corrupt Kim Seong-tae who was stubbornly arguing.

It’s definitely not a size you could call a web drama set.

In a way, it’s natural since if we convert our drama to 16 episodes, the production cost would exceed 7 billion won.

It’s not a blockbuster drama, but it’s not an extremely tight budget either.

Handtip Crawl was under 12 billion won after all.

While I was thinking about that, Sung Tae-chang, who had now become the general manager of D.P Studio, approached and spoke.

“Just watch. I’m going to make this a hit and get stock options.”

“What? Hyung, did you change jobs after getting a promise of stock options?”

“Of course. I’m a former Tivic general manager.”

“How many percent?”

“5%.”

“Wow, really?”

I was surprised as soon as I heard it, but thinking about it, it seems natural.

No matter how much Seong Tae hyung likes President Yun, there can’t be no business judgment.

To transfer from Tivic to D.P Studio, there should be that much merit.

“But why bring up stock options all of a sudden?”

“…”

“Are you still envious of my incentive?”

“Shut up…”

There’s something Seong Tae hyung doesn’t know – my money went into this drama too.

If it becomes a hit, I’ll earn more, right?

I should tell him this later.

“How are the D.P Studio people?”

“They’re all fine. President Yun picked people well. Once we start working in sync, it’ll turn out as much as Director Lee Eun-su wants.”

“Check if there are people who don’t get along with the production team the director brought. Discord starts from places like that.”

“Oh? You sound like a senior?”

“Do you think I became a hit maker for nothing?”

“What’s with this arrogance?”

While we were joking around, Seong Tae hyung suddenly looked at one side of the set and shouted.

“That doesn’t go there! What are you doing!”

Then he ran toward the set.

He told me I sound like a senior, but he already acts like a studio general manager.

Still, it feels good to be on set with Seong Tae hyung after a long time.

When I was an actor and he was a manager, it was always like this.

We did a lot of stupid things together to kill time during filming breaks.

We even went into filming with stiff necks after betting on who could throw a tree branch farther.

While thinking about that, I looked at the actors huddled together on one side.

The first person who caught my eye was Oh Ha-eun.

For the most famous person on set today, she looked quite nervous, but there’s no particular worry.

She’s strangely the type who acts well when she’s nervous.

Next to her was Kim Tae-seong.

The actor I was struck by like lightning after seeing his profile and YouTube videos.

The Kim Tae-seong casting process itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy.

I kept suspecting he might be a scammer, so we had a video call?

As soon as he saw my face, it was harder to stop him from wanting to come see me right away.

After signing the appearance contract like that, he was flustered to learn he was the sub male lead, but he also burned with motivation.

His acting… I don’t know yet.

Of course, he did well during practice.

He showed me what I was hoping for too.

But considering how the Accomplice actors froze at the reading even after months of practice, I needed to keep paying attention.

The other regular supporting actors were all glancing at the filming equipment on set.

They seemed flustered because the filming scale was bigger than they had thought.

But to be honest, Oh Ha-eun, Kim Tae-seong, and the regular supporting actors aren’t the people who drive this drama’s success.

When the drama succeeds, they can add to ‘how successful it will be,’ but they’re not closely related to the drama’s success itself.

The people who cross the threshold of success were the protagonists of the original work.

Go Eun-a. Ji Seok-u.

People think I cast those two around the time I cast Oh Ha-eun, but that’s not it at all.

Casting Go Eun-a and Ji Seok-u happened a few days after meeting with writer Hong Hee-yeong.

It meant I had secured those two people from the project’s starting stage.

Actually, it wasn’t difficult.

Both of them were in desperate need of roles.

Actor Go Eun-a hadn’t been active for over two years, and actor Ji Seok-u was only taking ambiguous roles between supporting and minor supporting.

The reason was simple.

When Push and Pull did well, they had excessive confidence.

They wouldn’t even look at scripts unless they were the protagonist, then consecutively ruined 2-3 projects and their status dropped.

Even so, they couldn’t admit they were one-hit wonders and just shook their heads, wasting precious time.

Honestly, even when I had meetings with those two people, I wasn’t determined to cast them.

If they still had the attitude of ‘I’m the one!’, I was thinking of casting other actors with similar images to ‘Destiny’ and ‘U-yeon’.

But the reactions of the two people I met separately at different places were exactly the same as if planned.

“Thinking about it, it’s really funny. Being a one-hit wonder isn’t particularly shameful, but why did I hate those words so much back then?”

“Because I was obsessed with that, my acting became forced, and after ruining a few projects and people gossiping, I became more desperate to prove myself…”

“At that young and promising age, filled only with stubbornness and obstinacy.”

“Thinking about it, there were so many good works and roles I could have done.”

I decided to cast them because I felt sincerity in their words and eyes.

“This easily?”

“If you’re being cautious because of your career, there’s no need. We can do a camera audition too.”

Rather, the two people were flustered watching me make decisions on the spot.

But I thought there was no need to check their acting skills.

There’s no way their basics wouldn’t be solid, so the important thing isn’t acting.

The conditions I presented were exactly two.

Don’t drink a single sip of alcohol until filming begins.

Do more than 1 hour of cardio exercise every day.

That was all.

I offered 5 million won per episode as a condition for putting that in the contract.

Actually, if it’s 500 for a 20-minute show, that means these people would get 1,500 per episode for a 60-minute show, which is ridiculous.

At most, maybe 1,000 per episode?

No, even that seems unlikely.

Ji Seok-u would probably be around 800, and Go Eun-a around 500.

The SBX Director thinking their web drama appearance fees were 5-600 was something he said without knowing the exact situation.

After that day, the two who had no agency directly filmed their workout records and sent them to me.

I’m not sure about the drinking.

They said they didn’t drink a single sip, but they might have secretly had a few sips.

But that wasn’t really what mattered.

But why don’t I see those two?

There’s less than an hour left until filming starts?

Just as I was thinking that, I saw actors Go Eun-a and Ji Seok-u entering the set.

I don’t know how they ended up coming together, but both their eyes were filled with identical anxiety.

Full of doubt and uncertainty about whether they could do well.

It was what I had expected.

The memories of the past few years wouldn’t disappear all at once.

So whether our drama succeeds or not depends on how those two’s eyes change today.

Creating that change was my role.

* * *

The storyline of 【Push and Pull】 Season 2 was ordinary.

–

Nine years after Destiny and U-yeon, who loved each other hotly like a midsummer dream, broke up.

They often thought of each other, but didn’t think fate would bring them together again.

Rather, they were a bit confused.

Was our love really that passionate?

Was I someone capable of being that passionate?

Or maybe…

Were the memories just idealized?

Such ordinary time passed.

During that time, both got stable jobs, had casual relationships, and gradually grew older.

Then one day.

The two people who attended a new client meeting at their company encounter each other like destiny, or perhaps by chance.

Since they were representatives of their respective companies, they couldn’t ignore each other.

However, they were only slightly surprised, not greatly flustered.

They were no longer at an age where they cried over love.

“Let’s just focus on work.”

“Right.”

However, the longer they spend in the same space and time, the more they feel their hearts heading toward that midsummer dream again.

But this time the situation was different.

U-yeon pulls toward Destiny, but Destiny has no choice but to push U-yeon away.

Meanwhile, Seon-u and Ha-yeon appear, exactly like U-yeon and Destiny when they loved each other, shaking their hearts…

–

The plot itself is a story with nothing special about it.

But writer Hong Hee-yeong’s writing skills are special.

She creates unexpected comedy in predictable situations, and creates unexpected excitement in situations that make you laugh.

The content where sub-male lead Seon-u and sub-female lead Ha-yeon pursue U-yeon and Destiny directly is also very interesting.

Writer Hong Hee-yeong’s greatest strength, character show, felt like it was exploding within the short 20-minute format.

The problem was.

“Okay. Good, it’s good but…”

The most important chemistry between U-yeon and Destiny was lacking.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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