A Genius Director Who Dominates OTT Platforms - Chapter 8

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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 8

* * *

When I was an actor, I used to imagine something like this.

A writer or director of a very promising project would become completely captivated by me.

Even when everyone screamed that unknown actor wouldn’t work, they just couldn’t give up.

Getting cast that way, hard carrying the project so everyone gets a happy ending.

I thought that would be the most dramatic thing an actor could experience.

But the moment I became a producer, I realized.

In reality, you can’t just chase romance.

* * *

Agent Secret.

An 8-member boy group with a secret agent concept.

Their agency is M2M.

I’ve never heard of this place before.

Even googling the group or agency name doesn’t bring up much.

However, one name that comes up in related searches is familiar.

Tune.

He’s an entertainer who recently started being active on variety shows.

So to summarize, it’s like this.

Not even first, second, or third tier, but a truly failed boy group.

Among them, a member with absolutely no popularity to speak of.

That was the Hyeon-tae I saw in the script.

His stage name is…

Unpack.

Why the hell are all these names so terrible?

Anyway, he’s in his 5th year of activity but has never appeared on a solo broadcast, only music shows.

No wait, this year he couldn’t even get booked on music shows.

It seems like their recent single couldn’t even promote properly.

“Sigh.”

This is something I heard from an assistant director I was close with, but directors are surprisingly lenient with idols.

It’s not just because of capitalist logic.

“Hey, in front of the lens, an idol is much better than someone who half-heartedly did theater.”

Idols are people who have lived their entire lives in front of cameras.

They have a sense of how their actions will be output through camera lenses.

In terms of pure acting ability, theater actors would be much superior, but in front of cameras, idols have the advantage.

So I don’t have prejudice against idols either, but…

‘This guy is just a regular person!’

It’s surprising we even met at the cafe in front of the broadcasting station.

He doesn’t even have acting experience.

“Ah, I’m going crazy.”

“What’s driving you so crazy?”

“Ah, shit. You scared me. When did you get here?”

“Just now. I was going to play a prank and snuck in quietly, but you looked sick so I held back.”

Sung Tae-chang appeared out of nowhere, but it was perfect timing.

This guy is way more senior than me in the OTT industry.

“As expected of Sung Tae-chang.”

“What are you pondering?”

If it wasn’t Seong Tae, I would have sugar-coated it, but I just laid it all out as it was.

A failed idol who can’t even get booked on music shows.

But his image fits so perfectly.

His acting is uncertain, but somehow I don’t think he’d be bad at it.

“What do you think?”

“Do you want facts or jokes?”

“Jokes first?”

“Do you like men? Did you develop romantic feelings for him? Hyeonwoo realized that what he felt looking at this unknown failed idol wasn’t simple curiosity?”

“Wow, shit. Your comments are good today?”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Then what are the facts?”

Seong Tae shrugged his shoulders.

“If he was just a regular person? There’d be about 1%, no 3% possibility. You could do step-by-step auditions, camera tests, then decide. Cinderella stories have marketing demand.”

“What if he’s an idol?”

“Absolutely not. What’s really pitiful about failed idols is they don’t get to enjoy popularity, but they receive all the prejudice.”

“You mean they’d misunderstand?”

“Right. They’ll say he was cast because he’s an idol, that his agency invested in production, all sorts of talk will come out. If he doesn’t have the acting skills to overturn that instantly? Even if he acts well, he could be called a bad actor. Especially for something like Accomplice that competes on artistic merit.”

“If they fact-check, they’d know he wasn’t cast for popularity though?”

“Out of 100 reporters, about 5 would fact-check. Of those, 10 would get criticized by the front desk for not being click-worthy.”

5 out of 10.

That’s a number that makes my head spin.

“Do you know what the article headlines would be from then on?”

“What?”

“Shocking. Tivic CE Dohyeon-u’s Forbidden Love with Failed Idol.”

“Hey, shit.”

“Stop the nonsense and don’t skimp on money, cast an A-list actor. You know those handsome actors who think their acting skills are undervalued because of their looks.”

“Kim Raun?”

“Isn’t Kim Raun too S-list?”

“Then Tae-ung or Jeon Su-hyeok?”

“Perfect tier. If you approach actors like that, the possibility might be higher than you think.”

When the script came up, I suddenly got curious.

“Hey, want to read this once?”

“Is this a revision? A draft?”

“No. Final version. Though we could modify some dialogue.”

“Final version?”

Sung Tae-chang made a puzzled expression and started reading the script.

Personally, I think Sung Tae-chang is the best script reader among people I’ve met in the industry.

When he was my manager, we clashed over everything.

I liked narrative perfection, and Sung Tae-chang liked mass appeal.

But now that I’m working at OTT, Seong Tae is absolutely right, isn’t he?

I’m curious about his evaluation.

Seong Tae didn’t read the entire script.

He speed-read through Part 2 at a pace that made me wonder if he was actually reading, then suddenly looked at me.

“Hey, promise me.”

“What.”

“That you’ll cast an A-list, no S-list lead.”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Promise me. Please promise me. Then I’ll use my RCE authority to shove all these achievements right into your mouth.”

“I haven’t decided.”

“Ah, I’ll really make Ju Yeong-hun eat shit properly, you know?”

“I don’t like that.”

“Right. You hate Ju Yeong-hun.”

“What matters more than disliking the senior is making the work succeed.”

“If you want it to succeed, you need to attach an S-class actor even more! There are so many OTT platforms – do you think there will be few viewers following actors?”

Sung Tae-chang pressed like a Japanese colonial police officer, but I didn’t give him a definitive answer.

It’s not that I don’t want to cast an S-class actor.

But I still haven’t given up on…

Ah, his real name.

I still haven’t given up on Hyeon-tae from the script.

The appearance I saw at the cafe was exactly the Hyeon-tae I had been searching for.

In the end, my stubbornness won.

“Stubborn bastard. Then say you view S-class actors 51% more positively! Say it!”

“Ah, what exactly are you trying to do that makes you so obsessed?”

* * *

Ju Yeong-hun, summoned by the Korean Branch, entered the building with a stiff expression.

It was really a place he didn’t want to come to.

The one who called him was that bastard Kim Seong-tae he wanted to devour.

But since a director from head office would also be present, he couldn’t refuse.

‘What could it be about?’

Could it be that bastard Dohyeon-u blabbed about everything?

No, that’s not it.

A head office director wouldn’t mobilize over some gossip.

Though he entered the meeting with all sorts of thoughts, surprisingly the meeting content was ordinary.

It was a session to discuss SSK CL 3 Team’s performance and future plans.

However, he wondered why they called him instead of the representative or Team 1 leader…

“Sorry, Senior Joo. I thought you were still at the Korean Branch.”

It was simply the American director’s mistake.

The Korean general manager the director had called was Ju Yeong-hun, and the current Korean general manager was Kim Seong-tae.

“How did you end up going to the field?”

“There came a moment when I missed the production site.”

“Oh, that was a romantic decision.”

Since Ju Yeong-hun’s dismissal was a Korean Branch matter that didn’t reach head office, the director’s kind words were nothing special.

As the past year’s performance was reported, Ju Yeong-hun’s shoulders straightened with pride.

CL 3 Team was achieving flawless results.

Though sales were low due to few productions, in terms of net profit margin alone, they were top among production label teams.

Then, the topic of Criminal Community came up.

“Criminal Community. It’s a contest work, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Head office wanted filming to begin within this year…”

“We’ll finish setting up this year and definitely begin early next year. An employee specially dispatched by the general manager here is handling it exclusively.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. For rapid progress, we’re receiving reports after taking field-level measures first.”

“Good.”

Ju Yeong-hun glanced at Kim Seong-tae.

Though his face looked the same as usual, there was a strangely bitter smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

As if he had expected him to act this way.

Though he didn’t like the know-it-all attitude, it didn’t feel pleasant.

He’s probably worried too.

After landing that blow, the meeting ended, but Kim Seong-tae approached him.

“Senior Ju Yeong-hun.”

“What?”

“Is giving full authority to a newly hired assistant CE a normal judgment? Isn’t it a political judgment?”

“How do you know about that? Do you contact each other often?”

“Don’t deflect.”

“What about inserting a high school graduate parachute hire who isn’t even a college graduate?”

“While Tivic and SSK’s hiring conditions include a 4-year college degree, CL teams are exceptions. They’re teams for creativity.”

“Written law isn’t the only law. Customary law is also law.”

Kim Seong-tae looked at Ju Yeong-hun and said.

“Dohyeon-u, that guy is extremely capable. Keep him close. Otherwise, the results produced by CE Dohyeon-u will become unrelated to Senior Ju Yeong-hun.”

“Why don’t you just create a 4th team and seat him as senior? Weren’t you the type to see things through to the end no matter what? See the employment corruption through to the end too.”

“…Watch your words. All branch meetings are video recorded.”

“Do you think I’m saying this without knowing?”

“Fine. If that’s what you want, you wouldn’t mind if I designate that project to CE Dohyeon-u as F.E.M., would you?”

Ju Yeong-hun flinched.

Fully Exclusive Mandate.

Exclusive full authority.

For a moment, he thought there might be something about Criminal Community and that he had made a mistake.

But no matter how much he thought about it, there wasn’t.

More than a few CEs had touched it, and more than a few CEs had sought his advice.

Though there were 4 official handlers, many more CEs had tried working on it.

In conclusion, Criminal Community was a work that even Ju Yeong-hun couldn’t find an answer to in the end.

‘It’s a bluff.’

The answer that came from Ju Yeong-hun’s mouth was simple.

“Do as you please. However, if it’s recorded as a loss despite receiving exclusive authority, I’ll immediately correct the employment corruption. With contract termination.”

When Dohyeon-u’s contract termination was mentioned, he could feel Kim Seong-tae’s eyes waver.

* * *

In the spot where Ju Yeong-hun had left, Kim Seong-tae muttered.

“This bastard… Just try casting some nobody.”

But soon Kim Seong-tae’s face melted like snow on a spring day.

The script he had read completely through episode 8 last night was too perfect.

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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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