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By Park Jin-hai
"Mr. Sunshine," an upcoming television show written by writer and producer duo Kim Eun-sook and Lee Eung-bok, whose previous co-projects "Descendants of the Sun" and "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," were megahits, will be broadcast on tvN.
This was a surprise for many, since it was largely predicted that major local broadcaster SBS, where Kim has worked for most of her projects, would air the drama. SBS has shown strong interest in Kim's new drama, trying its utmost to close a broadcasting contract with the production company Hwa & Dam Pictures.
SBS previously let go of Kim's dramas "Descendants" and "Signal" and saw them become popular on other TV channels.
After the announcement, industry insiders say that a major stumbling block for the deal would have been the prohibitive production costs _ approximately 1.5 billon won per episode. If it is made into a 20-episode drama, the total costs rise to 30 billion won, making it one of the most expensive local productions.
"Without Kim, it would be nearly impossible to produce a drama of that scale. With the biggest buyer China continuing to ban Korean cultural content, SBS would not be able to bear the costs," said an official of a subcontractor.
The period drama which is to be broadcast next year, tells the story of a man, who happens to board an American battleship as a boy during the first American military action in Korea in 1871, and returns later to Korea as an American soldier.
Typically period dramas cost more for production than other genre dramas. For "Mr. Sunshine," a set must be built, costumes have to be newly designed, and long overseas location shooting is also required. Plus, each episode is predicted to pay over 100 million won to writer Kim, another 50 million won for the director, and over 100 million won to cast A-list male lead Lee Byung-hun, who is returning to the small screen after nine years.
Both SBS and the production company declined to confirm the price negotiated.
In terms of production costs per episode, MBC's 2007 fantasy period "The Legend," with Bae Yong-joon and then-unprecedented computer graphics, tops the list at 1.6 billion won. With that exception, MBC's budget for TV dramas in 2009 averaged 200 million won per episode, according to Korea Creative Content Agency's research data.
Production costs have risen over the years and now it reaches between 400 and 500 million won. Some blockbuster dramas tend to reach 1 billion won. The SBS fantasy romance "The Legend of the Blue Sea" and writer Kim's previous hit on tvN "Guardian," which finished broadcasting in January, were said to cost 1.1 billion won per each episode.
"While drama exports to China are closed, an increasing number of dramas are seeing rising costs for actors, writers and other staff, leading to higher production costs," Park Ho-sik, a Studio Dragon producer, told a local media outlet.
Major broadcasting companies, which have less freedom to air drama reruns and advertisements than cable channels including CJ E&M, have continued to raise the skyrocketing production costs.
Kim Young-seob, SBS drama department chief, said, "To produce quality dramas, which have led hallyu (the Korean wave), we need more financial resources. As we cannot expect much from TV commercial sales and our hands are tied by many government regulations now, it is really hard for us to fight against the deep pocketed media mogul CJ."
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