Global Collaboration for Filmmakers
This the first in a five-part series about the Korean film industry contributed by Mary K. Evjen Olsen, executive director of corporate marketing at Dreamville Entertainment, a media corporation that produces and distributes TV documentaries and various global contents worldwide in collaboration with Discovery Channel, National Geographic, BBC and HBO. The series features the history and development of the local movie industry, focusing on political, economic and social aspects. ― ED.
By Mary K. Evjen Olsen
With investment in production increasingly lacking, the Korean film industry today is suffering a further 20-percent decrease in film production projected for 2008.
The projected decrease is not surprising news, as out of the 108 Korean films which saw the theater in 2006, only 22 broke even, and only 13 out of 112 in 2007, according to the statistics by the Korea Film Council. The overall deficit in the Korean film industry was over 80 percent for the last two years.
Owing greatly to the long-lasting film censorship lifted finally in 1997 by the Kim Dae-jung administration and the film market's full-scale industrialization trend led by conglomerates, the Korean film industry saw enormous success and development both in contents and technology in the late 1990s and the early years of the 21st century.
``Shiri'' (1999) by director Kang Jae-kyu was the very first Korean film to boldly venture into the local version of a blockbuster.
With the formula extracted from the Hollywood suspense thrillers, the film added a uniquely Korean characteristic ― national division ― as well as a melodramatic element where lovers at the end confront each other as enemies of the other's beloved motherland. The move attracted 6.2 million viewers to theaters around the country.
The eye-opening and distinguished success of ``Shiri'' in the Korean film market was followed by ``Friends'' (2001) by Kwak Kyoung-taek, ``Silmido'' (2003) by Kang Woo-seok and ``Taegukki'' (2004) by Kang Jae-kyu. However these movies of a similar genre to ``Shiri,'' also brought with them a few disconcerting and alarming trends to the whole film industry.
One of them was a reckless, monopolistic concentration of venture capital which was poured in by a few conglomerates into every aspect of the film industry; the development of scenario, investment, production, distribution and, finally, securing screens at movie theaters.
The birth of multiplex theaters owned by conglomerates and their absolute control of the screens, in particular, has played a major role in accelerating the crisis in the Korean film industry today.
The small- to medium-sized film production companies that had been producing a great number of artistically sound movies since the early 1990s, contributing to the diversification of genre in Korean films and the nation's export earnings from its cultural contents, have now lost their viability through being denied access to a certain number of screens owned by a few giants.
The sad, merciless reality for the Korean film industry is that the average Korean film production companies are not able to secure a sufficient number of screens in theaters anymore, unless their movies were planned, financed, produced and distributed by one of the ``three giants'' who also own all the screens available in Korea.
This type of monopolistic condition in the film market has resulted in the inundation of Hollywood-want-to-be blockbuster type movies only. Sadly enough, today's Korean film market controlled by a few monopolists is not only undermining and discouraging creativity among talented scriptwriters and moviemakers; it is also denying the 25 million Korean moviegoers the simple pleasure of having a more diverse choice.
Yet the nightmare for Korean filmmakers does not end here. The new Korean screen quota system, stipulated in July 2006 by the previous administration that was politically pressured by the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement (FTA), is limiting the theaters to screen Korean-made films only 73 days a year versus 146 days under the original screen quota system.
To sum up, it is practically impossible today for the average Korean filmmaker, denied by the absolute capitalistic power of conglomerates, to dream of marketing their film on the local market, regardless of the film's artistic quality or commercial potential as a product.
What, then, would be an ideal measure to revive the Korean film industry? Collaborative productions with global filmmakers outside Korea could be one effective solution for the industry that is struggling in the crisis of decadence.
If not capable of securing domestic screens due to the market's structural imbalance anyhow, the only way for the film industry to survive might be to turn its direction to overseas markets with products to which global moviegoers could relate through collaboration with overseas producers.
In fact, such a bold and admirable project was announced a few weeks ago by one of the quality production companies in Korea.
Though it may not be considered one of the very biggest producers in Korea, Hyun Jin Cinema, the successful producer of ``My Wife is a Gangster I,'' ``II'' and ``III'' (2001, 2003, and 2006) and ``Holiday'' (2006) has been boldly pursuing a significant size co-production project, ``Streets of Dreams,'' involving U.S. and Japanese production companies.
Projected to be complete and released worldwide in 2009, the 40-million-dollar project has recruited such Hollywood stars as Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia, together with Korean actor Choi Min-soo, a key tough guy figure in the Korean film world.
Regardless of the announced project's worldwide commercial success or failure ― impossible to predict today ― the Korean production company's bold and pioneering efforts to advance and capture the impregnable English-speaking movie watchers in North America and beyond are something commendable.
Besides, it could be something for other struggling Korean filmmakers to seriously consider in pursuing their company's future profitability and globalization.