A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 103

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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 103

* * *

SSK President’s Office.

Gong Seok-jun, who had been looking over documents while wearing thick clothes, turned his head toward the window.

Unlike his attire, the outside world was already filled with the full spirit of spring.

“It’s already spring. Why does time go by so fast?”

“I know. Are you done reviewing?”

“Yes. No problems. This is going to be a web drama of unprecedented scale.”

“Put it there. I’ll check this first and confirm.”

A moment later, after Han Seong-hun signed the documents he was reviewing, Gong Seok-jun spoke up.

“But I’ve felt this since Accomplice – doesn’t Hyeon-u have incredible luck with people?”

“Luck?”

“Don’t you think so, President?”

Gong Seok-jun tilted his head and began counting past events on his fingers.

“Hong Hee-yeong didn’t take any fee, D.P joined for free just when they needed a test run, and on top of that invested 200 million. Surfer Entertainment entrusted Oh Ha-eun to him during a crucial time, and Go Eun-a and Ji Seok-u are also gritting their teeth for a comeback this time, right?”

“Really?”

“Yes. And Kim Tae-yeong? Kim Tae-seong? That guy’s supposed to be talented too. He’s a bit ambiguous in the drama scene, but word is he’ll make it in movies.”

“Hmm.”

President Han Seong-hun nodded, recalling Kim Tae-seong’s appearance.

He was definitely an actor who suited movies more than dramas.

“Of course, this all happened because Hyeon-u does good work and gives people trust… But didn’t luck play a big part too?”

“Manager, could you go to Hong Hee-yeong and propose making a season 2 of push and pull?”

“Of course not. I was going to bet whether it would be salt or water.”

“What if I forced you to? What would you do if I pressured you to go bring Hong Hee-yeong no matter what?”

Gong Seok-jun, who had been thinking deeply, shook his head.

“I don’t know. No matter how much I think about it, all I could say is that we’d pay a lot. To revive the honor that was destroyed by Oxygen Warning, when the thing that destroyed it was Handtip Crawl…”

Han Seong-hun chuckled.

“Right. In my view, there was no luck.”

Of course, this industry is 70% luck, but there are parts where luck doesn’t work.

Namely, people’s hearts.

Hearts can’t be moved by luck.

There must have been something that only Dohyeon-u could do.

“When I heard Hong Writer was taking equity instead of fees, I thought she fell for Hyeon-u at first sight.”

Han Seong-hun chuckled, but actually he didn’t think Hong Writer’s contract itself was strange.

Web drama fees aren’t small, but Hong Writer isn’t someone short on money either.

In that case, she might want 10% equity with the feeling of receiving a large running guarantee.

Even if the fact that she was persuaded is amazing, he thinks the contract conditions themselves are possible.

Rather, what Han Seong-hun found amazing was the contract with D.P Studio.

D.P was overly optimistic.

It’s true that when a studio is newly established, a test run process is needed to coordinate with small projects.

But given President Yun’s personality, he would have hired proper talent with big money, not mediocre people for little money.

In other words, he didn’t need a web drama that required over 20 episodes of filming.

He’d rather film short-form dramas or studio variety shows with D.P actors as fan service.

In other words, President Yun’s true intention wasn’t a test run but securing equity.

If he tried to buy equity with money from the start, Dohyeon-u would have a lot to consider, but he bundled filming and 200 million as an investment.

It was a very good strategy to lower psychological barriers.

Then the conclusion was this.

President Yun had firm belief that Dohyeon-u would succeed.

What did he trust to have such faith?

Why did the Surfer Entertainment president do that?

And why Oh Ha-eun?

Han Seong-hun, who was thinking such thoughts, let out a quiet laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, thinking about it, I don’t think I’m much different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was wondering why people trust Director Do, but we’re the same, aren’t we?”

Han Seong-hun tapped the documents on the table with his index finger.

“Frankly speaking, if we wanted to, we could steal this project, right?”

SSK is a drama production company, and Dohyeon-u is an SSK employee.

In other words, the salary Dohyeon-u receives is money paid to do ‘drama planning and production.’

No matter how much this project was born from Dohyeon-u’s one-man show, if they pursued ‘work-related copyrights’ and ‘violation of concurrent employment prohibition,’ it wouldn’t be difficult for SSK to take it.

Of course, then Hong Hee-yeong and D.P would join the fight to preserve their equity value…

There’s no reason SSK would lose in a legal dispute.

But the fact that he doesn’t even think of doing that – isn’t he also valuing Dohyeon-u as a person more than the small profit in front of him?

Then Gong Seok-jun brought up something unexpected.

“President, that won’t be as easy as you think.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Hyeon-u included a key man clause when he signed contracts with Hong Hee-yeong and D.P.”

“Key man clause?”

“Yes. A clause that voids the joint production if Hyeon-u is dismissed as main producer.”

Han Seong-hun’s eyes widened.

If the joint production fell through, it meant script rights would go to Hong Hee-yeong and video copyright would go to D.P.

“Did Director Do check us?”

“Maybe he assumed the worst case? You know how it is. The more you carry, the more anxious you get. Hong Writer and D.P would have liked having the key man clause too.”

As Han Seong-hun fell into thought, Gong Seok-jun continued.

“But on the other hand, there’s also a clause for us.”

“…Right of first refusal?”

“Exactly right. This cute guy gave SSK the right of first refusal for the work.”

Han Seong-hun chuckled.

In a way, you could see it as him suspecting SSK, but it’s not something to feel bad about.

Seniors are supposed to consider all worst-case scenarios anyway.

“What should we do about equity? Should we go with 30% as Hyeon-u proposed?”

“Yeah. How much did President Yun put in for 10%?”

“It was calculated as 700 million? 500 million in filming costs, 200 million additional investment.”

“Then we’ll put in 2.1 billion too.”

Gong Seok-jun was surprised.

“The same valuation? Wouldn’t it be better to cut it to about 1.5 billion? After all, it was an extension of work…”

“Then D.P would feel bad. Proceed as is. Director Do invested a lot of his own money too, so there’s justification.”

Gong Seok-jun realized this ‘justification’ was directed at SSK employees, not D.P.

Does he want other teams to work as proactively as Dohyeon-u?

Not just reviewing incoming scripts?

But that’s not an easy thing to do.

“Then Hyeon-u will hold 50%.”

“That’s how it’ll be.”

Now SSK’s money will be used for actor guarantees, unpaid location fees, and post-production costs.

But even excluding that, there’s nearly 1 billion in marketing costs.

Considering that usually about 10% of production costs are calculated as promotional expenses, this is a 10 billion won drama.

Realizing this, Gong Seok-jun let out an exclamation.

“Wow, what kind of web drama volume is this.”

Of course, this 1 billion exactly matches the amount Dohyeon-u saved thanks to writer Hong Hee-yeong and D.P.

In other words, Dohyeon-u made the web drama for 2 billion as he had originally calculated.

He had simply secured 1 billion in marketing costs and a 50% stake through his own abilities alone.

* * *

The SBX drama manager, who had started his round early in the morning, finished the front 9 holes and sat down in the shade house.

Perhaps because March 1st was awkwardly sandwiched between weekdays, the golf course was quiet despite being a holiday.

“Oh my, Manager. When did you practice so much?”

“What practice? It’s just luck!”

The manager, who had been chatting noisily with his companions, took out his smartphone while drinking water.

“Hm?”

There were a bunch of missed calls.

The caller was all CP Nam Yeong-su.

Wondering what it was about, he called back, and the phone connected as if the signal hadn’t even gone through.

“What? Is something wrong?”

-Manager! Why couldn’t I reach you!

“I was in the middle of a round. What’s the matter?”

-That crazy bastard, that crazy bastard uploaded it!

The manager frowned.

“What are you talking about? Speak so I can understand. Who’s the crazy bastard?”

-Dohyeon-u!

“Dohyeon-u? What did he upload?”

-The web drama!

The manager jumped up from his seat and searched the entertainment news section on his smartphone.

It took only an instant to realize what CP Nam’s scream meant.

“That crazy son of a bitch…!”

* * *

‘Long live Korean independence…’

Office worker Yu Hye-seon, who had slept in lazily on March 1st, headed to her studio apartment living room.

After having a meal with leftover delivery food from the evening before, it was already 12 o’clock.

“Oh!”

Unable to waste this precious red day, she quickly pulled herself together and headed to the internet world.

She watched a few fancams of her favorite idol, who was both the reason she earned money and her source of vitality, snooped on her friends’ updates on social media, and was watching interesting videos on YouTube when…

‘Is this a web drama?’

Without much thought, she clicked on a video titled 【Switched Places EP.1】.

There wasn’t any particular reason, except that she saw an actress from Handtip Crawl, a drama she had enjoyed watching, in the thumbnail.

‘Was it Oh Ha-eun?’

The actors next to her were also very familiar faces.

It’s not like she had high expectations though.

She would probably watch a bit of the beginning and then move on to another video.

But then.

[Planning: Dohyeon-u]

[Script: Hong Hee-yeong]

[Production: D.P Entertainment Studio]

[Direction: Lee Eun-su]

The names appearing with the drama title were violent.

Enough to cause a momentary brain freeze.

Dohyeon-u from Handtip Crawl?

Hong Hee-yeong from Oxygen Warning?

D.P Entertainment with Choi Jae-hyeok, Seo Jae-yeon, and Kim Ra-un?

Lee Eun-su seemed like a name she’d heard somewhere, but she couldn’t quite place it.

But there was no need to add Lee Eun-su to the mix.

‘What the hell is this combination?’

However, the actors’ names that appeared next were also extraordinary.

[Starring: Ji Seok-u, Go Eun-a]

The moment she saw that, she suddenly realized who Lee Eun-su was.

“Push and Pull!”

The director of 【Push and Pull】.

While it’s usually not easy to remember the director’s name from old dramas, Yu Hye-seon was an exception.

Push and Pull was her favorite drama that she still binge-watched about once a year.

‘Then is this Push and Pull Season 2? But this is YouTube? Why is the title different?’

Under Yu Hye-seon’s gaze full of questions, the drama began.

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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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