A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 19

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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 19

So Dohyeon-u had sent a message to the director.

The best you thought of has already been surpassed by us, so look beyond that.

Otherwise, the direction would end up holding back the acting.

Han Seong-hun had that impression while watching the reading, and felt curious.

What on earth had he done that the moment Dohyeon-u read the stage directions, the actors’ immersion changed?

And how much did Dohyeon-u trust the actors to act like that?

If by any chance the reading resumed and there was no significant difference, it could have seriously damaged his relationship with the director.

“So Manager Gong, go meet Director Jeong and smooth things over. Director Jeong isn’t the type to hold grudges, but you never know.”

“Of course I’ll do that… Was it really that good?”

“Yeah. It didn’t feel like I was watching a reading or actors.”

“Then what?”

“It felt like I was watching the work and the characters. I couldn’t do that kind of casting with unknowns either.”

Manager Gong Seok-jun was slightly surprised.

CEO Han Seong-hun wasn’t stingy with praise, but he wasn’t the type to lavish extreme praise either.

“Then how should we handle the marketing?”

“We saved a tremendous amount on production costs, didn’t we?”

Accomplice was a drama with low production costs.

8 episodes with almost no location shooting.

Most of the story takes place at the Gangwon-do mountain cabin, so the filming location is centralized, and even the flashback scenes are just at school or back alleys.

With total casting fees of 420 million won, it had to be a work with historically low production costs.

It’s even a contest work, so Head Office covers half the production costs.

So.

“Let’s try spending all the money we saved there on marketing.”

* * *

After the reading ended, I offered a sincere apology to Director Jeong Hee-su.

Whatever my intention was, it was wrong for someone who wasn’t the director to interfere in the script reading.

Director Jeong Hee-su didn’t seem to accept my apology very graciously, but he didn’t hold onto it either.

“I wasn’t happy about it, but since the result was good, it doesn’t matter. I also feel like a mistake was prevented.”

“What kind of mistake do you mean?”

“Actually, my expectations weren’t that high. I was quite satisfied with the first one too. But seeing the second reading changed my mind.”

Director Jeong Hee-su, saying this, declined the dinner appointment, saying he needed to review the script.

That spot was filled by the actors and writers.

“Wow, it was really so good.”

“It was beyond what we imagined while writing the script. It was truly moving.”

Since they had such good personalities, writers Gil Sanghun and Go Yeongtae quickly started getting along with the actors.

The age difference wasn’t that big either.

The two writers were both 29 years old, and except for Eum Seong-hyeon, most of the actors were around 30.

After sharing drinks a few times, they were already calling each other hyung and dongsaeng.

The only person left out was Eum Seong-hyeon.

His position was indeed awkward.

At 26, his age was the most awkward, and while everyone else was from theater troupes, he was the only one from an idol background.

But I couldn’t take responsibility for everything.

If Eum Seong-hyeon wanted to continue his acting career, he had to make efforts in these areas himself.

While I was thinking about how to gently convey this, Eum Seong-hyeon approached me first.

“Thank you for your hard work, Director.”

“You worked hard today too, Seong-hyeon.”

“Was I okay today?”

“Of course. You did very well.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Eum Seong-hyeon wasn’t the most outstanding today.

The one who showed the most brilliant acting was actor Park Seong-won.

He’s usually not a confident type, but today he was really amazing.

But the person most similar to the character I witnessed in the script was undoubtedly Eum Seong-hyeon.

When filmed with a camera, Eum Seong-hyeon’s acting would come out most naturally.

This is an unavoidable aspect – theater and drama are definitely different.

Theater delivers ‘lines’ to the live audience, but actors must deliver ‘words’ to viewers.

In that sense, while not the most flashy, the most natural person was Eum Seong-hyeon.

When I conveyed this story, I could feel Eum Seong-hyeon’s face noticeably brighten.

Perhaps the anxiety he felt among experienced actors was somewhat relieved?

Then actor So Jeong-hun joined in.

“Hey, are you talking behind our backs here?”

“Behind your backs? We were talking without being careful at all.”

“Actually, we know too. That theatrical tone comes out when we’re deeply immersed. But we’ve improved a lot, haven’t we?”

“Of course. The director didn’t say anything either.”

So Jeong-hun smiled warmly and led Eum Seong-hyeon and me to the table.

Chae Seo-hui’s cheeks were already flushed from having a few drinks.

As the drinks went around, So Jeong-hun, being the eldest, spoke as the representative.

“Seong-hyeon, you act well, so have confidence. We definitely couldn’t do that at your age.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

“It’s funny for me to say this when I almost ruined the reading by struggling with pressure, but if you don’t carry too much burden, you’ll do well.”

Eum Seong-hyeon doesn’t know, but the actors say something about him.

That he’s comfortable to act with.

No matter what style of dialogue they deliver, he receives it all like Hyeon-tae.

Of course, Eum Seong-hyeon is a bit slower to immerse compared to other actors.

But once he’s immersed, he doesn’t easily come out of it.

I’ve seen him spend an entire day completely immersed as Hyeon-tae.

When I shared this story, it seemed to open the floodgates as the actors also praised Eum Seong-hyeon.

Eum Seong-hyeon’s face gradually relaxed too.

And so the real company dinner began.

I’ve been to many filming sets, but Accomplice has an incredibly good atmosphere.

Just the fact that the actors don’t compete with each other is already half the battle, and here there’s a bond formed from being in similar situations.

Thanks to that, we drank tremendously…

“Hyeon-woo, are you crazy? How could you stop the script reading?! The director might hate you!”

I learned about Chae Seo-hui’s drunk habit.

Nagging.

After hearing the same thing about ten times, it feels like my ears are bleeding.

Today’s status window shows Self-control -10.

* * *

Based on Korea, only about 10 exclusive original works are released on OTT each year.

Tivic, being a latecomer, is making bold investments so it has more works, but even then it’s under 15.

Among them, SSK produced 3-4 each year, so from Tivic’s perspective, it was a quite important affiliate.

But 2028 could be called SSK’s year with so many works waiting.

6 confirmed works.

Maybe it could be 7.

There’s one work that hasn’t decided whether to launch in December this year or January next year.

This rush of SSK works wasn’t really intentional – it was coincidental.

From the script planning stage to the actual production stage takes anywhere from 1 year at the shortest to 5 years at the longest, and those timelines happened to overlap.

And Gyeongseong Bakery, which was the first released work of 2028…

[Too shallow for a period drama, too childish for a heroic tale, too outdated for a youth story, and too dry for a romance.]

[1.5 / 5]

With harsh criticism from critics.

[Kang Ji-hun is handsome and Lee An is pretty, but the story is ugly and the production company are suckers.]

[0.00001 / 1000000]

It spectacularly failed amid ridicule from viewers.

I had similar thoughts while watching the work.

I couldn’t tell if it was a story about bakers, a story of resistance during the Japanese colonial period, or a love story blooming within that context.

Honestly, I couldn’t even watch it to the end.

I watched 4 out of 16 episodes and turned it off.

But I didn’t voice those thoughts.

“Uuuuhhhhh…”

Because Chae Seo-hui was the assistant CE on set for this work.

Actually, Accomplice is the unusual one – normally assistant CEs barely participate in production.

They just relay the direction agreed upon by senior CEs and CEs to the set.

So strictly speaking, there’s no responsibility on Chae Seo-hui’s part, but…

“Ahhhhhuuuuhhhhh!”

It wouldn’t feel good when a work you followed around on set, sacrificing your weekends, fails.

Given this situation, there was worry within SSK that this year’s harvest was starting with consecutive failures.

Because the very next work was Accomplice.

There was a time gap between February and June, but anyway, we were the follow-up to Gyeongseong Bakery.

Around that time, Kim Ra-un’s next project was revealed to the media.

[Kim Ra-un announces return to home screens with SBX’s ‘0% Algorithm’]

[‘0% Algorithm’ chosen by top star Kim Ra-un is? An office romance set in an AI startup]

[‘0% Algorithm’ promises to be the biggest hit of the first half of 2028!]

What happened between Kim Ra-un and me hadn’t been revealed to the public yet.

But with a probability that could be called certain, it would be revealed someday.

Director Jang is someone who creates buzz even from non-existent stories, so there’s no way he wouldn’t use a real story.

He’s probably considering when and how to use it.

But well, it didn’t really matter.

I have my own thoughts about everything.

I was planning strategies based on how Director Jang moves, and more importantly, making a good drama was what mattered most.

Time passed like that, and after discussions with the director, we finalized the script.

Unlike terrestrial broadcasters who don’t hesitate to shoot with partial scripts, OTT almost always goes into filming once the script is fixed.

Since even slight changes mess up the filming schedule and production costs, scene numbers rarely change unless absolutely necessary.

After that, the sets were completed, call sheets were finalized, and…

The first day of filming approached.

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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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