Kim Yun-jin establishes her own company
by javabeans
Another celebrity is setting up an independent company, this time Lost star Kim Yun-jin, who will be establishing Zion Entertainment. Since she has spent most of her time in recent years working in the U.S., she hasn’t worked with a large management firm in Korea, but kept her activities on a small scale. Now with Lost in its last season, she will set up her own company to handle her future activities in Korea.
Zion Entertainment will take cues from the U.S. agency system, using a mix of the Korean and Hollywood modes of operation. (Kim is signed with powerhouse agency William Morris Endeavor.) For instance, it will not use the Korean practice of companies giving its actors contract fees, and as in the Hollywood system, it will separate the roles of agent, manager, and publicist. Korean management firms, on the other hand, are monolithic entities that often exercise complete (or very tight) control over their commodities.
Kim’s manager, Kook Byung-jin, explained that over the years she has had several offers from large-scale agencies, “but she felt disappointment in the capitalist practices of the entertainment companies, which is why she did not choose to contract herself with those companies. We’re opening the Korean system to a format modeled after U.S. agencies, where business is divided into specialized parts.”
Kim’s new Korean film, Harmony, opened in theaters on January 28. The film stars her as a prison inmate who joins the choir in order to visit the baby from whom she remains separated during her incarceration.
Via Newsen
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1 dkykmom
January 29, 2010 at 3:51 PM
i cannot WAIT for LOST!!
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2 langdon813
January 29, 2010 at 4:31 PM
Oh I love her, I can't get mad at her for knocking my baby out of the top spot! ;-)
I have to be in Las Vegas next week when Lost returns! But whatever plans I have for that night, if we're not done by the time it comes on, I'm just going to have to be rude and leave. If she and Jin aren't reunited in the first Ep I may cut someone. :-(
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3 jm126
January 29, 2010 at 5:15 PM
I REALLY love this idea of her running things both American-like & Korean-like. I respect Korean singers who have to train vigorously for years & needing to specialize in many things. But I love how American entertainers have more freedom to go out and perform whatever they envision.
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4 Bellamafia
January 29, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Lost ...! next week, yayyyy!!!!
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5 Stephen
January 29, 2010 at 5:49 PM
LOST!!! Just a few more days to go until the premier!
And I'm looking forward to Kim Yun-jin's future roles in the Korean entertainment industry. Anyone know any good movies she's been in other than Shiri?
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6 charlie
January 29, 2010 at 6:12 PM
Lost is going to be EPIC! I'm so excited. Kim Yun-jin looks stunning in that photo!
@langdon813 - I agree, Jin and Sun need to be reunited ASAP!
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7 pabo ceo reom
January 29, 2010 at 6:29 PM
When speaking about Lost, I feel completely.....lost? I have yet to jump on the bandwagon but I think I might do a whirlwind marathon after this season.
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8 Jasmin
January 29, 2010 at 6:30 PM
Good for her. Hopefully, this will be a stepping stone for her to bring out not just Korean artists but Asian artists in the world spotlight. I'm hoping that the fusion of the Korean and American standards will be a great blueprint for other management companies in Korea to follow.
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9 anhthungo
January 29, 2010 at 9:46 PM
YES. I love LOST.
I'm glad she's introducing this whole "American standards" thing.
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10 amera
January 29, 2010 at 11:33 PM
its strange. but i'm getting an "america is superior" vibe from this whole modeling-after-america's.
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11 nhk3
January 30, 2010 at 8:55 AM
Yikes, same dress that Chae Shi-ra wore to the 2009 KBS Drama Awards!
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12 jusash
January 30, 2010 at 9:00 AM
smart move! in many ways.
timely opportunity too = East + West. i hope she achieves that balance.
the fact she is a proven Korean-American made good and established in the West, will do lots to endorse her company, and inspire confidence.
esp in these times of explorative Hollywood foray by Korean stars and singers.
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13 pat
January 30, 2010 at 3:18 PM
@amera
The current system in Korea is extremely controlling like the old Hollywood
studio system. Many established actors and the DBSK trio want more say in their own lives and more Money from their labor. Don't most people want that?
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14 su-pah
January 30, 2010 at 4:23 PM
Oh cool, some LOST lovers here, I've been hooked on that show too but for some reason I'm wanting to continue with some low-key, feel-good or hit the spot kind of kdrama over the big, epic, flashy fare that is LOST, I love it but not ready to watch it. Maybe the long break in-between has turned me off a little. Hopefully re-watching it when it begins will kick-start my enthusiasm once again. If Desmond's in it, or Locke saves the day, or if Claire re-emerges from wherever it was she disappeared to. Otherwise, no.
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15 ohyehbb
January 31, 2010 at 12:22 AM
Though I like her idea, I don't think it will be very successful. The entertainment system in Korea is already so established that I don't know how her company would survive by itself under a style different from every other company--especially in Korea, where the everyone and everything in the entertainment business seems to be connected and networked with one another. But good luck to her.
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