Content Business Headquarters Department Head Park Man Duk, who had received the revised contract, thoroughly looked over the contract. Afterwards, he checked the contract written in Chinese. The contract written in Chinese wasn’t something Department Head Park Man Duk could verify himself.
“You’re certain, right?”
“Yessir.”
The person in charge of the legal team, who gives the final confirmation, replied after swallowing his saliva once.
Department Head Park Man Duk got up from his seat and said to the employees, who were looking haggard from having worked overtime the last several days because of a sudden development.
“The President, the Production company, and the Chinese team will be signing early tomorrow morning. You all worked very hard these last few days! This contract is absolutely incredible! You’re going to get a bonus. I’ll put in a good word with the President so…let’s all go home now!”
Department Head Park Man Duk’s words made the zombie-like employees come to life. The employees got up one by one and put on their outerwear. A bonus was one thing, but right now they were happier about the fact that they could go home.
Department Head Park Man Duk put the contract into a folder and grabbed his coat that he had hung on his chair. His stomach seemed more bloated than it was yesterday, perhaps because he had too much bulgogi as a late night meal, but it was ok.
Tomorrow was the day they’d make a ‘mega hit’, both for the SVS broadcast station as well as Department Head Park Man Duk’s career personally.
< Sweetheart from the Universe > was a project that the broadcast station had a lot of concerns for before going into production.
Writer Oh Young Ji is a good writer, but her success as a writer was mostly in family dramas with housewives as the main target audience. It was uncertain whether such a writer would be able to write a rom com well.
Furthermore, it wasn’t any ordinary rom com, it was a sci fi rom com.
However, it was the comeback project for top-of-the-top star Wang Hee Jin, so it was impossible for them not to greenlight it. The fact that it was Wang Hee Jin’s comeback project alone was enough. On top of that, KK’s Do Wook was brought on as the male lead.
There was a reason that the broadcast station cast idols as main and supporting roles despite various controversies over their acting skills.
Attention. In terms of attention and profitability, using an idol member was better than a no-name supporting actor.
In Do Wook’s case however, they didn’t have to worry about a controversy over his acting skills, so it was considered ‘GOAT casting’ on the broadcast station’s part.
On top of that, Do Wook was not only a popular star in Korea, but also a Hallyu star who swept China and Japan. No matter how the ratings in Korea turned out, export to China and Japan were practically confirmed.
Shortly after the article about Do Wook getting cast was published, they immediately received requests regarding sales from China and Japan.
Ever since the Hallyu boom, content export generated greater profits than advertisements. Sometimes it would be exported after gaining popularity in Korea, and sometimes, depending on the casting, it would be exported simultaneously with production.
In reality, there were many times where a highly anticipated project would fall short of expectations once it actually came out. Strategically, it made sense to sell in advance when possible.
After watching an advanced screening of the first episode of < Sweetheart from the Universe >, Department Head Park Man Duk was fairly certain of its success.
Department Head Park Man Duk delayed setting export prices to China and Japan. It was the hand that would lead to victory. There were many people who doubted Department Head Park Man Duk’s choice, both among his superiors and subordinates.
Department Head Park thought that even if his prediction was wrong after the broadcast, they would be able to export it at the standard value.
The reactions after the first episode aired was amazing. Department Head Park Man Duk waited for the reaction to get even more fervid. He had the courage to do so because Do Wook, who was already a Korean Wave star, was the main character.
As expected, the ones getting impatient were not SVS but the people in China. Besides Do Wook being in it, the concept in < Sweetheart from the Universe > itself intrigued them.
At the end of negotiations with the production company, Department Head Park Man Duk agreed on the export price of 70 million Won* per episode. It was about two times as much as the 35 million previously proposed by China.
(TL Note: About $48,881.34)
From the Chinese side, it was a resounding “okay”.
The conditions of the contract, such as the price, were revised over several days. Writer Oh Young Ji, the drama production company, the SVS broadcast company, and the Chinese broadcast company’s stance on copyright and royalty were written out.
Once they signed the contract tomorrow, that’d be the end of it.
It was the highest export price in the country.
***
SVS Broadcast Station Paju site.
The vibe on set was generally amiable. It was common to be sleep deprived because of the filming schedule, but the external response being especially good helped them forget their hardship.
Wang Hee Jin and Do Wook were sitting side by side on the sofa on the set, reviewing the script.
“Ah, there’s another one. A scene where I’m eating spicy rice cake.”
Wang Hee Jin, who had reviewed the script for episode 12, complained half jokingly and half seriously. The script for episode 12 had given Writer Oh Young Ji a hard time. Due to the filming schedule, she had sent the first half first and the completed script had just arrived.
“People are responding positively to that. You know that plenty of PPL* came in too, don’t be like that.”
(TL Note: PPL is product placement)
Director Ahn Chul Hwan said.
“It’s because I feel like I’m going to gain weight while eat acting.”
Wang Hee Jin said coyly. Do Wook replied, smiling,
“I think you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Yeah. Do Wook is right. Right now everyone is complimenting your beauty, saying you got even prettier. How is it that you’re so perfect even when eating spicy rice cake? Earlier, I saw the screenshot that was posted online and I could see why everyone is going crazy.”
A ‘GIF’ was made of Wang Hee Jin eating tear-filled spicy rice cake and was spreading like a trend online.
There were many people who said it was driving them crazy that they would crave spicy rice cake every time they watched < Sweetheart from the Universe >.
“My fellow members also ordered spicy rice cake after watching the drama.”
“Ah, really?”
Wang Hee Jin asked back, amused by what Do Wook said. Do Wook nodded his head.
It wasn’t only in Korea that people were reacting like that.
Currently, < Sweetheart from the Universe > was broadcasting live through a Chinese online broadcast station, and the response was tremendous. The population is huge so the number of viewers broke the one billion mark instantly.
When people in China saw the scenes of Wang Hee Jin eating spicy rice cake, they became curious about spicy rice cake, which is a Korean dish, and wanted to try it.
The Chinese branch of the company that sponsored spicy rice cake was in a state of chaos. Of course they had sponsored the drama to get promotional benefits, but they didn’t know that the ‘spice rice cake craze’ would blow through China too.
Furthermore, those running Korean restaurants in China were screaming in delight. It was to the point that even Korean barbeque restaurants added spicy rice cake to their menus.
It was to that extent for spicy rice cake, which she ate in the drama once in a while, so the clothes and accessories Wang Hee Jin or Do Wook wore were also always selling out.
Han Song Hee lipstick, Han Song Hee earrings, Chun Min Jun coat, Chun Min Jun sunglasses…countless items were being sold.
The effects of advertising were this big, so as more and more episodes came out, there were more advertisements added. It was to the point that Writer Oh Young Ji asked them to please stop accepting PPL requests because it was hard for her to write it into her scenes.
It wasn’t just the two lead actors. Jung Yi Wook and Ju Min Ah gained popularity too. Despite playing the villainess role, Ju Min Ah was loved by many people as a ‘cute villainess’. Even just recently, she had shot two new commercials.
There were countless advertisement requests coming in for Do Wook.
Of course, as part of KK, there were already quite a bit of group advertisement requests coming in, as well as individual advertisement requests for Do Wook.
However, with this recent drama, Do Wook’s star quality and profitability as an advertisement model was undeniably established, so there weren’t enough hours in the day to even go through all the requests they received.
Additionally, it wasn’t just domestic advertisements, but they were also receiving a substantial amount of advertising requests from China.
HIT Entertainment’s Fan Marketing Team was also planning on hiring an additional Chinese-speaking employee.
After reviewing the script for episode 12, it was decided that Wang Hee Jin would start filming first, and Do Wook exited the set.
It was the scene where Wang Hee Jin at home alone changes outfits several times in anticipation of a date with Do Wook. The scene that came after was where Do Wook comes over to her place.
Do Wook looked over his lines for the next scene.
Nam Da Woo, who was next to him answering the phone, asked Do Wook,
“Do Wook, are you free for a call right now?”
“With whom?”
“Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung.”
“Ah…”
Do Wook looked inside the set. Filming was in full swing, but she was only on her second set of outfit. It didn’t seem like she would be done within the next 10 minutes.
“I wonder why he’s calling… ”
Do Wook got up from his seat and headed towards the waiting room.
Do Wook entered the waiting room and received the phone from Nam Da Woo.
“Yes, sir.”
-Ah, Do Wook! Sorry to bother you when you’re working. It’s just that you don’t come to the office these days…There’s something I need to run by you and I can’t push it back any more.
“No, it’s ok, sir. We’re almost at the end so the schedule is a little tight these days. What’s going on?”
-Another commercial request came in…
Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung’s tone was a mix of joy and a sigh. It was good that the advertisement request came in, but it was also true that there was too much work.
For the other members of KK or for group advertisements, requests would go through Manager Oh Baek Ho, but there were so many advertisement requests coming in for Do Wook personally that Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung and Do Wook had been handling it personally ever since he started appearing on the drama.
The current craze-like popularity was an opportunity. Do Wook had no intention of letting this opportunity just slip away. It was a situation where even having 5 clones of himself wouldn’t be enough, but Do Wook wanted to shoot as many of the advertisements as possible.
The money and power Director Seo Joong Won holds…to make that collapse, Do Wook needed money and power too.
Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung had doubts about Do Wook’s decision since, until recently, Do Wook had only done absolutely necessary, big-scale advertisements and had not particularly shown interest in doing advertisements, but ultimately it was his own decision.
“Ahh….I’ve informed you, but I would like to do all of them if possible. As long as you don’t think something is a complete wrong match for me after looking it over…I’ll do whatever you recommend.”
-Are you ok with that?
“Yes.”
Do Wook showed his faith in Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung. Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung said, laughing,
-Then I’ll text the compiled list to you. Please just look over the company name and product.
“Ok. I’ll entrust it to you.”
Immediately after ending the phone call, a message from Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung came.
[For now I picked out the ones that are at the right price and don’t overlap with your current advertisement products. I will double check the reliability of the company and the product, but please look through it first.
-HOTEL HOTEL (hotel price comparison site)(Chi)*
(TL Note: Chi are Chinese advertisements and Han are Korean advertisements)
-千歲山 (Health Juice)(Chi)
(TL Note: Qiānsuì shān, thousand age mountain?)
-ABA (Shoe Alteration Store) (Han)
-ChuChu (New bubblegum product from Smile Confectionary) (Han)]
ABA and Smile Confectionary were Korean companies so Do Wook knew them too, but Do Wook wasn’t familiar with the Chinese places they received requests from.
Do Wook, who had typed out ‘I’ve verifi…’ briefly stopped his fingers.
—
Next chapter:
<< Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter >>
7