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Sandglass/Legend/Faith producer ends life

Sad news is currently ruling the headlines, after famed (legendary, perhaps) drama producer and director Kim Jong-hak was discovered dead in a gositel (a sort of extended stay motel), having taken his own life. He died in the morning of July 23.

Kim Jong-hak was a major figure in the Korean entertainment industry, and his credits include dramas that weren’t just popular, but seminal. He helped shaped the television landscape into what it is today, notably with his 1990s dramas Eyes of Dawn and Sandglass, and Daemang in 2002. His more recent dramas include 2007’s Legend and last year’s Faith.

It’s that last drama that’s a sticking point, as Faith has been mired in financial problems almost from start to finish. Make that after-finish, because its woes have continued long after the drama wrapped, news of which has cropped up every so often in headlines. Faith has still been unable to pay many of its actors, and PD Kim has been the subject of an embezzling investigation.

Kim was discovered lying on the hotel bed, with remnants of burnt charcoal briquettes found in the bathroom. All doorway and window cracks had been sealed off with tape and he left behind a suicide note saying that he was sorry to his family.

But it’s not just one drama that sent Kim Jong-hak over the edge; we have to look farther back to see where the trouble began, stemming back to the enormous production costs of historical-fantasy-epic series Legend and the flaws of the outside production system. The 2007 drama was a project four years in the making, which had one of the largest production budgets ever, and constructed its own large-scale sets. The drama was fairly successful, but the production company had sunk huge expenses into it, and according to the CEO of the construction company that build the sets, 265 million won of the building costs had not been paid.

PD Kim had been ordered by the courts in September 2008 and June 2011 to pay up, but hadn’t. He was sued in April 2012 for charges of fraud and evading compulsory execution. To be fair, it isn’t a case of one man taking all the money and screwing the rest so much as it’s a case of a company literally having zero funds to pay.

And therein lies one of the biggest problems with drama production moving almost entirely to outside production companies. Back in ye good ole days, broadcasters developed projects in-house and put up their own products. These days they strike deals with outside producers, who are often operating on razor-thin margins where one bad drama can sink everything. Then you lay off your past debt by taking on future debt, hoping the next drama will recoup your losses, and this turns into a dangerous cycle of gambling.

So then there was Faith, which we know suffered its own litany of woes prior to airing. It lost multiple lead men, got its budget slashed, and was pushed back again and again. Finally Lee Min-ho signed on and the drama as we now know it got rolling. Yet as of May this year the cast and crew of that drama had not been paid, and PD Kim became the subject of a police investigation for embezzlement and breach of trust.

Kim was sued in February for those unpaid acting, editing, and producing salaries, which amounted to 1.7 billion won, under the charge that he had misappropriated 2 billion for personal use. Kim was summoned twice last month by police for ongoing investigation, amidst trips to China to plan what would have been his next project.

Furthermore, PD Kim was accused of double-contracting OST rights (to two separate companies) last fall for the drama Faith, which led to more fraud claims.

There’s a similar backstory to the January suicide of another producer, Jo Hyun-gil, who produced IRIS and Athena and was the former CEO of Taewon Entertainment (IRIS’s production company) and H Communications. Then in June, former CEO of Yedang Entertainment Byun Doo-sub also took his own life. All three had been struggling with production and investment failures immediately prior to their suicides.

It’s a sad story all around, and makes you think that something’s gotta change in the industry before everybody is driven off the edge. Surely there are more sustainable ways of producing entertainment? Surely?

Via Seoul Shinmun, Seoul Economy, E News 24, TV Report, Joongang Ilbo, Review Star

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This is crazy. Just the thought of Industry bar setters, hell, anyone in the entertainment industry getting into holes that deep just boggles me.

I feel bad for his family, and the family of the other PDs that killed themselves. How heavy a burden he had to carry... and most would think, it's just TV. The writer for Brilliant Legacy had it right: Money is scary.

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I just don't get it. If you have the funds, why not pay the actor/actresses and staffs up front? If you don't have the funds, just simply don't buy any more out-of-budget products/settings. Are the staffs and actor/actress not allow to have contracts stating when they should get paid? And you know, as much as it is sadden that he had to take his life, it was his fault for accumulating too much debts. He should have made wiser decisions. And Yes, I know my comment is bitter but his death negatively affects those who he has not paid yet and wasted their time and effort in helping the production when they can find other jobs that will actually pay for their time. I mean, these ppl have families to support just like him.

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From what I understand, his partners made off with the money.

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very very sad that he felt this was the only way
very very sad that he had so many troubles
very very sad for the lost of such talented man
very very sad for his family he has left behind
very very sad to hear about how things in this industry seem to work in South Korea
very very sad that the nice drama's we get to see are so "costly" in many ways
very very sad

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another sad day for the film industry, i read it's money or financial prob, which reminds me of park yong ha almost 3 yrs ago with same kinda prob! we may ask all the time why? but it's hard to get into their minds really when i guess desperation gets in you but still u'd think there are other solutions to this problem (money)! i read that SK outnumbers suicide rate that of Japan or other countries at that! wow i've seen sandglass it was a good drama! may he rest in peace and our prayers to his family he left behind!

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I think the best solution is people paying for kdramas.

The outstanding debt of Faith is $600k (source: netizenbuzz)

If there are 1 million audience of Faith, each person pay $0.60, this money will be enough to pay for the debt.

But everyone hate paying, everyone only want to watch kdramas for free. Whenever some company want to charge for kdramas, they get hated like they are evil.

Nobody who work in entertainment business has the courage to offend these audience, so nobody brought up the issue of paying for kdrama, because if they talk about it, they will be boycotted by the audience who think they are evil people.

My opinion is charging $10 per drama. This price is about the price of watching a movie at the cinema. It is affordable to many Korean.

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i don't see suicide in a good way, but.... please what koreans needs is a change of mind in that subject. A way to get out of the problems? really? and why they don't think about the debt the family gotta paid cuz'... you know they are the ones who stay alive?

Everyone has problems, one bigger than the other but... leaving this world because you can't stand up and fight the problems?

... so sad that he choose not to live. for me he is a coward. now that he is dead someone is going to resolve the problem and.... this is going to be all in vain.

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I wondered what Lee Min-ho was talking
about when he delivered his unusual
"acceptance speech" for an acting award
for "Faith," at some drama show (I forget
which one) in December, 2012. There was
a lot to "read between the lines" but I had
no clue why his speech was so painfully
and sadly spoken, rather than as a happy
celebration. Now I guess we know something
about what LMH was talking about.

May Kim Jong-hak rest in peace, and may
God help his sorrowing family come to terms
with this sad event..........................

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Even though it is going to be one year since the Director's suicide, I hope his family is able to keep themselves together despite this horrible incident.

A posthumous congratulations to PD Kim Dong Hak for Lifetime Achievement in the latest 26th Korea PD awards. I hope you are in paradise and we have realised what a gem of a technician and leader you were!

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