A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 104

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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 104

The drama’s beginning was ordinary.

Two men and women who had such beautiful, passionate love that looking back, it seemed like it might have been a dream.

Through the protagonists’ narration as they prepare for work, it’s conveyed that 10 years have passed since they broke up and lived ordinary lives.

‘I think that’s right?’

It wasn’t like flashback scenes or specific content from Push and Pull came out.

The protagonists’ names weren’t even mentioned.

But Hong Hee-yeong wrote it, Ji Seok-u and Go Eun-a appeared in it, and 10 years have passed since their beautiful, passionate love.

If this isn’t Push and Pull, what else could it be?

No doubt about it.

However, Yu Hye-seon felt something strange watching Ji Seok-u and Go Eun-a.

She couldn’t see the young, beautiful appearances of Destiny and U-yeon that she remembered.

Of course, they still had outstanding looks and youthful faces compared to ordinary people, but they didn’t look like people who lived in a fairy tale.

‘I must have aged that much too…’

With that thought, she followed the drama.

-Kim Manager. Come here.

U-yeon’s surname is Kim. Kim Woo-yeon.

So Kim Manager makes sense.

-Jeong Deputy Manager! What is this?!

Destiny’s surname is Jeong. Jeong Pil-yeon.

Jeong Deputy Manager is definitely right.

While watching the drama, she realized.

This is probably a promotional video for Push and Pull Season 2.

The reason the running time is only 21 minutes is probably because it’s a preview video.

First of all, the quality doesn’t look like a web drama, right?

It had quality that wouldn’t be out of place if uploaded to an OTT platform right away.

The title being 【Changed Between】 might be like a subtitle?

【Push and Pull Season 2: Changed Between】

That fits well, doesn’t it?

As the drama progressed, the two people somewhat unexpectedly encounter each other at a business partner.

‘This is the taste.’

Push and Pull’s direction was originally like this.

Like the drama’s logline ‘coincidence or destiny,’ it was a style that developed suddenly without much preliminary work.

The drama changes rapidly with the two people’s meeting.

-Let’s just work.

-Right.

They turned away calmly and dryly, but they keep getting entangled and embarrassing situations arise.

Scenes that fit perfectly with the romantic comedy genre where you could giggle or feel butterflies.

But then, a new employee named ‘Seon-u’ joins U-yeon’s company, and a new employee named ‘Ha-yeon’ joins Destiny’s company…

They begin to get entangled, whether by coincidence or destiny.

-Manager, don’t you date?

-Me? I’m already forty. What dating.

-I start from nine.

-What?

-I said I start from a nine-year age gap.

The moment younger man Seon-u makes a direct move on U-yeon, the drama’s OST played.

The promotional EP.1 had already ended.

“Haah…”

Yu Hye-seon sighed in disappointment.

She can already see the angle.

U-yeon and Destiny who met after 10 years.

And the sub male and female protagonists.

This time it’s not about job seekers but an office romance.

‘But why is there no launch information?’

Because after the drama ended, there was no content about 【Push and Pull】 in the cast information that came out.

Even when she scrolled down the YouTube screen to look for production information, nothing was visible.

Except for the channel name ‘D.P Entertainment Studio.’

At that moment, something unexpected happened.

“Huh?”

【Changed Between EP.2】 auto-played.

Another 21-minute episode.

‘What. There was a next episode?’

She didn’t know what was what, but thinking it was a great deal, she watched EP.2, and it seemed even more crazy.

While U-yeon and Destiny form a confusing relationship where it’s unclear if they’re in a some relationship or not, the sub male and female protagonists boldly make direct moves.

The pace is tremendous.

Content that ordinary dramas would drag out for 30 minutes pours out in 10 minutes.

Yet they didn’t miss a single scene essential for romantic comedy.

Yu Hye-seon, who was hurriedly playing EP 3, suddenly had a question.

‘Did the protagonists’ names ever come up even once?’

U-yeon and Destiny don’t call each other’s names.

As if saying those names would make them return to those days.

The sub male and female protagonists don’t call names either.

They’ve already noticed the relationship between U-yeon and Destiny and want to form new relationships.

Seon-u keeps giving U-yeon ridiculous nicknames, and Ha-yeon only calls Destiny ‘senior.’

Company colleagues call them by surname with job titles attached, but…

‘Specific names never came up even once.’

That’s not all.

There were definitely many lines that would remind you of Push and Pull Season 1 situations.

-When we were trapped in that narrow place back then…

-I’ll ask first. Was it really narrow?

-What?

-Was it narrow? Or was it close?

This is definitely talking about when they were trapped in the elevator.

But the word ‘elevator’ never comes up even once.

Everything is just handled with pronouns.

‘Why did they do it this way? To draw in viewers who didn’t watch Season 1?’

Yu Hye-seon watched EP.3 and EP.4 with that question.

And when she tried to watch EP 5…

“Huh, it’s not there?”

They’re cutting it off at this timing?

When U-yeon has decided to pull Destiny?!

When the complete opposite situation from Season 1 is about to unfold deliciously?!

As she was getting angry like that, a screen that had never been there before appeared.

【Hong Hee-yeong’s hot new work, ‘Changed Between’. Watch it on Netflix right now!】

She really doesn’t understand what’s what at all.

But what’s certain is.

“What was my Netflix ID again?”

It was time to revive Netflix, which she had canceled her subscription to because there was nothing to watch after ‘My Name Is’ and ‘Handtip Crawl.’

* * *

-Wait, so is this Push and Pull? Or not?

-The content is Push and Pull, but they’re calling it an original web drama?

-I haven’t watched Push and Pull, but this shows the story of Kim Manager and Jeong Deputy Manager dating 10 years ago?

-That’s right, but… how do they go through the entire drama without mentioning their names once?

-Shut upㅠㅠㅠ Woo-yeon and Pil-yeon are meant to be togetherㅠㅠㅠ Those looks and expressions are only shown when Woo-yeon and Pil-yeon gaze at each otherㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-What’s really amazing is that in Part 1, Uyeon and Pillyeon looked a bit old, right? But from Part 3, their appearance came back;

-The youth left behind in beautiful memories, hiding in shame, returns with the flower’s fragrance, and though the heart remains in that place, what does the passing time matter?

-Wow, what’s that.

-Someone who’s learned/educated ㄷㄷ

-No no, we can make the actors look younger with CG.

-Science majors are kinda fucked

-Should we just send science majors to prison?

-I’m a current video director. That’s not VFX. There are some retouched scenes, but very few.

-Good science major;

-Should we release science majors from prison?

-Damn, so you were acting young then?

-Seon-u acted out being handsome.

-Ah, Seon-u is really charming. Who’s that actor?

-Kim Tae-seong. I looked up his filmography and he’s really unknown among unknowns. He’s only done 2 indie films, the rest are all theater.

-How did such an actor join Push and Pull?

-The drama gives you the answer right at the start. Dohyeon-u.

-Do Hyun-woo is seriously a god at casting unknowns. I thought he screwed up with “Complicit,” but he elevated Kang Min-sik and Oh Ha-eun to A-list status, and now even Kim Tae-sung ㄷㄷ

-Hey, Oh Ha-eun acted really well. She’s completely different from the Promotions Team Leader character.

-No, I’m telling you the drama is fucking amazing?

-I’m also binge-watching season 1 of Push and Pull while waiting for the next episode haha

-Evil bastards. It’s 12 episodes of 20 minutes each, but they only uploaded up to episode 8?

-How am I supposed to wait until next week ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Isn’t this Hong Hee-yeong getting pissed that SBX wouldn’t sell the rights, so she wrote the drama with pronouns?

-Oh?

-That sounds plausible?

-Well, SBX also said they’re making Push and Pull Season 2.

-So Hong Hee-yeong wanted to do it first but SBX got greedy… wait, something’s weird? Why is Dohyeon-u involved?

-Whether it’s push and pull or not, who cares when it’s this fun lol

-Right lol

-One thing’s for sure, if SBX had done it, it would’ve been way more boring than this lolololol

-I never knew web dramas could be this interesting. There’s not a single moment where it drags.

* * *

Looking at the SBX Director, I kept wondering.

This person talks as if he’s holding something very important…

Writers, actors, directors.

What they create together.

Isn’t that a work of art?

* * *

“The viewing duration for 【Push and Pull】 is… unusually high.”

“Because it was well made. Wasn’t it the drama with 25% ratings that swept all the awards that year?”

“That’s correct.”

“And people aren’t just watching the drama. They’re also seeing themselves from that era when they watched the drama.”

“Do you think it will become a trend?”

At his subordinate’s question, Netflix’s Cha Seong-u, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke up.

“Probably. How are the new subscribers?”

“New subscribers generated because of 【Push and Pull】 aren’t that numerous. However, the number of people reactivating cancelled subscriptions is high.”

“What about new subscribers from Season 2, or rather 【Changed Between】?”

“They’re being counted quite high. Specifically…”

While listening to his subordinate’s report, Cha Seong-u recalled his meeting with Dohyeon-u from about two months ago.

He had been expecting it inwardly.

Having received information that relations with SBX had soured, Netflix with its SVOD would be the only white knight.

He would probably propose joint investment in IP.

If not that, then he’d sell broadcasting rights.

But Dohyeon-u’s proposal was neither.

It was completely unexpected.

“We’ll just set running guarantee conditions and give you the broadcasting rights for free.”

“You’ll give broadcasting rights for free? When you’re spending billions to shoot it?”

“Yes. We’re not in a position to push and pull. We absolutely must put this on Netflix.”

“What are the conditions?”

“Legal consultation and help with content so that SBX absolutely cannot file a lawsuit. That’s all we need.”

At first he couldn’t understand what was meant, but after hearing the explanation, he burst into laughter.

Dohyeon-u was indeed making Season 2 of ‘Push and Pull’.

But legally, he wasn’t.

With Netflix’s thorough help, he wouldn’t use any proper nouns, specific nouns, special narratives, or names.

So that even if SBX assembled a prosecution team of 100 lawyers with government connections, they absolutely couldn’t get recognition for plagiarism or infringement of derivative work creation rights.

It could be called a kind of spiritual sequel?

Moreover, in this situation, it would be difficult for SBX to stubbornly persist.

The act of persisting itself would be marketing that advertises 【Changed Between】 as a sequel to Push and Pull, and would be disrespectful to Netflix.

So Dohyeon-u was boldly giving up broadcasting rights in exchange for taking only the profits generated from IP.

It was a path that could never be chosen without tremendous confidence in the work.

Of course, Netflix had no reason to refuse either.

It was good to get broadcasting rights for free, and if the web drama did well, SVOD profits from Season 1 would be generated.

A perfect win-win strategy.

However, Dohyeon-u didn’t stop there.

“There’s also a second proposal.”

“I’m curious. What is it?”

“We’ll give you 25% of our IP shares. Please give us 7% of 【Push and Pull】 SVOD profits.”

“That’s really interesting. Can you decide that on your own?”

“I hold 50% of this work. I’m proposing to exchange half of my shares.”

“President Han Seong-hun was generous? Is that why you refused the scout offer?”

It was a smart proposal.

If 【Changed Between】 really did well, Netflix holding 25% of the shares would have no reason to just sit still.

They’d naturally have to do marketing.

Cha Seong-u thought Dohyeon-u was taking a financial loss to gain marketing benefits.

But that wasn’t it.

As the binge-watching craze for Push and Pull blew up along with Changed Between…

“We took a loss.”

Because Netflix took a loss.

Well, it’s not really something to call a loss.

It’s more like they ended up sharing quite a bit of profit that wouldn’t have occurred without Dohyeon-u.

“Han Manager.”

“Yes.”

“When you click on our works, DNA recommended works appear, right?”

“Yes. It’s a system where AI automatically analyzes and recommends the 6 most similar works.”

“What’s the maximum percentage for that?”

“I understand it’s 98%. Since works can’t be completely identical.”

“During the change, only display Push and Pull in the recommendation tab. Set the DNA percentage to 100%.”

“100%?”

“Yeah. Let’s ride this wave and go up refreshingly for once.”

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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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