Mentoring program for artists launched
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Kim Eun-hee, screenwriter of tvN’s drama “Signal,” speaks at the Korea Creative Content Agency ceremony at the Blue Square Samsung Card Hall, central Seoul, on May 31. / Yonhap
By Park Jin-hai
The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), which promotes Korea’s cultural content overseas, has started its annual project to nurture creative content developers.
This year, hundreds of mentors, including screenwriter Kim Eun-hee, famous for tvN’s crime drama “Signal,” and webtoonist Yoon Tae-ho, whose works “Misaeng” and “The Insiders” have been made into a TV drama and a movie, are participating.
KOCCA, an agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has been running the training program since 2012. It selects talented artists in eight categories, including movies, media, performance and webtoon, and matches them with established artists who will work as their mentors for nine months.
“This project has been designed to produce killer content and foster young artists,” said Song Sung-gak, president of KOCCA, during the launch at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall in Yongsan, central Seoul, Tuesday. “I will do my best so that these artists can grow into global talent, leading a new hallyu.”
Over the past four years, 845 people have benefited from the training program. During the period, 1,373 art projects have been pushed ahead.
Jang Jae-hyun, director of the thriller “The Priests (2015),” starring Kang Dong-won, says he has been one of the program’s biggest beneficiaries.
Jang participated in the training as a young director in 2013 and with the help of mentor Hwang Byeong-guk finally made his first commercial movie, “The Priests.” The movie has fared well at the box office, drawing 5.4 million viewers last year.
“Hwang told me about his past mishaps in the film industry, so that I will not repeat the same mistakes he did,” Jang said. “That was most useful. My mentor taught me what the commercial movie director should prepare and help set my career course. By asking me what abilities I have over others, it was also a precious time to learn more about myself.”
Webtoonist Yoon said: “Many people want to learn webtoon, thinking that they may debut relatively easier than in other fields. With many platforms newly created, the competition became fiercer. They should know that it may actually take a long, painstaking time before they actually debut.”
Park Kyung-ja, general director of KOCCA’s cel Academy, says it is the only government support program for young artists aimed at helping them not lose hope despite a difficult environment.
KOCCA has secured 6.5 billion won for this year’s program and succeeded in expanding it to 10 billion for next year. “From next year, we plan to run some follow-up programs as well,” Park said.
Those 180 selected artists, after going through the fierce 4:1 competition for this year’s program, will have training at places including Choice Cut Pictures, imTV and Art Center Nabi. While on the program, they will also receive 1.2 million won each a month from KOCCA.