In a recent interview with TV Daily, Kwon Sang Woo discussed the ups and downs of the Korean drama filming system.
In an industry that produces two, sixty-minute dramas per week, the schedule is tight, the work is hard, and the rewards can seem disproportionate to the effort and love put into it by actors, writers, directors, and staff. With frequent news of car accidents due to an exhausting schedule, last-minute script revisions in response to ratings, and sudden cuts and extensions in the middle of broadcast, the filming environment can appear harsh and unforgiving.
Actor Kwon Sang Woo recently expressed frustration over this kind of environment when he wrote on his fan café, “I think Ha Ryu really became ha ryu. Acting and many other things are stressing me out. I can only wish for the script to come out well.” Kwon Sang Woo seemed to be playing with words as his character name in the drama “Queen of Ambition”, Ha Ryu, can also mean in Korean “downhill.” At that point, there were about six episodes left in the drama and viewers were noticing a slow-down in plot pace and a decreasing relevance of the Ha Ryu character.
When the TV Daily reporter asked Kwon Sang Woo, “Before ‘Queen of Ambition,’ you said you thought you were forgotten by the public. What are your thoughts now?”
Kwon Sang Woo replied, “I don’t know where I have reached as an actor. I don’t think there will be a lot of dramas this year that will reach the ratings of ‘Queen of Ambition.’ But I don’t think the viewers like me as much as they like the drama. Since actors are people too, they have to be able to like the last-minute script, but I kept on pushing away the script from my heart. I would only read it once.”
The reporter then asked, “Do you have a problem with the production system?”
Kwon Sang Woo answered, “I don’t have a problem. If I did, I shouldn’t be acting in this type of environment. Korean dramas might be popular internationally because we film this way. It’s not good for an actor to be filming a long time in a high-tension environment either. It’s equally exhausting to be filming a mini-series for half a year. But if actors can act knowing the ending or the script, it would be good. It’s not that I have a problem with the drama itself. I am just saddened that the assessment [of the drama] does not correlate to the ratings.”
“Queen of Ambition” finished high in ratings, recording 25%, but reportedly, scripts came out page by page until the very end with none of the actors knowing how the drama will finish.
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He contradicted himself when he said he didn't have a "problem" and then carried on to say that the acting environment sucks. Which, I don't get when it's clear he wants to get the message across. Is he being apprehensive or fearful that he'll get some backlash so he 'toned' it down a bit? If he was making a point, it would've been better if he straight out just lashed the production environment. He's also in the position to do so because he's quite popular enough.
Anyways, the problem he brings out is something that is not new and has been reiterated many times now. For one, I think it mainly has to do with 1) the company and industry itself 2) viewer/society expectations 3) aiming for 'the best', pleasing viewers real-time.
And why no pre-produced series? There have been many examples of pre-produced productions which don't get much attention because many of them aren't that successful! The only 'successful' one I can think of is "That Winter, The Wind Blows" and that was only 'semi-pre-produced'. I know in Hong Kong, although shows are pre-produced it's still the same case where they might receive last minute script changes and only get a few hours of sleep because they have to finish within a 3 month period. Which is stupid...because what's the point of 'pre-production' then when you barely have time for quality? The 'new' TV station (that has yet to open) is taking a new turn on things and letting their artists work for only 8 hours and have finished scripts beforehand. But, who knows when we'll see the day of light for their shows to actually air.
I've digressed, but anyways I personally don't see a change in the system in the near future. Unless one day the company says "okay, writers have to have finished most of the script beforehand and who cares about what viewers think, we'll just do it as planned".
Although, I think cable dramas seem to be doing a better job at that (or so it seems, I'm not sure...).
