Yoo Seung Ho Reportedly Not to Renew Contract with Agency Story J and Goes on the Free Market

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• It's not Byun Woo Seok's sageuk debut. He was in Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency a few years ago.

  • True , Flower crew with Kim Min Jae too , even i do like Yoo Seung Go , i dropped Moonshine too . The last drama i saw with him was Memorist wich i like and I miss You, i dropped the others between . Sad because he has all , it must be frustrating for him to see others actors about the same age, getting spotlight Kim Min Jae, Nam Joo Hyuk, Jang Ki Yong,Lee Do Hyun ..., Harry 's character was the last that made buzz .

• I liked him in My Strange Hero , he was so cute and lovely.

  Memorist wasn't a great drama, the story didn't really make sense.

  I miss him in a good sageuk, Warrior Baek Dong-So was good thanks to him.

  • Sorry @Sayaris i wanted to say that i like him in Memorist as he tried something new . But the drama in itself became a mess after a few épisodes . Mea culpa . I'd like to ses him pairing with Park Eun Bin ,he had good chemistry with her in Opération proposal ,but in a new genre as he did some sageuks,romances,...or a pairing with a good mâle actor as Rain/Kim Bum, Shin ha kyung/ Yeo jin goo...

• I feel sorry for seungho. story j isn't solely to blame for his less than stellar career progression. It's about luck as well and fanbase demand as well. I don't see him being offered many cfs and magazine photoshoots. Not sure if it's his personal choice to stay low-key or lack of agency promotion. Talent and ability alone aren't enough these days. Other than that, it's up to directors and writers offering him roles. Competition is extremely stiff in the ml category. Having a sweet boy look and lack of height kind of dampen his chances. kim junghyun joining story j isn't helping as he adds to the already crowded stable. On the other hand, I can see story j handling inguk's career quite well. Though he had duds in 2021, his media exposure, cfs and photoshoots have been steadily increasing. Even squeezing a christmas music video while shooting wolf hunt and scoring a kbs-netflix drama. Truly I believe in luck playing a vital role. Good luck to seungho finding an agency that can help him have a breakthrough.

  • I believe that luck is an important factor too @seungho fighting. And his heigh can be a problem too .

    • With YSH mainly doing romance drama and most competing ML are taller, then his height becomes a bit more pronounced. He should do the DO-route, meaty film roles even if not the main lead - maybe an ensemble casts or OTT platforms that veers away from love story for the time being.

    • I agree. DO, SJK and Lee Joon are not that tall compared with average ML but they managed to break away from rom-coms by choosing interesting dramas. Sometimes an actor can sacrifice a bit by choosing 2nd lead but can still shine like Kim Bum with Rain and Lee Joon with GY.

    • True. Getting stuck in rom-coms hurt YSH's career. I know everyone is in a hurry to be a ML but a lot of times the more interesting roles go to 2nd leads. Lee Joon and Kim Bum are good examples. A darker Netflix drama might be good for YSH, but he's probably not considered for those.

    • @mimi @seungho fighting I wasn't really concern on his height before and I thought it was really drama choices that did him in. But watching him in Moonshine with BWS (2nd ML), the difference is noticeable as I do see more aesthetic shots of the 2nd lead than the male lead. And it doesn't hurt BWS that his character seems a lot more interesting and he doesn't suck as what we viewers expected. His current limitation now is that he really hasn't established himself in films or any interesting drama image. YJG and DO, can toggle b/ww films and dramas, as they were able to balance the 2 medium. SJK and even Lee Joon, they were able to at least have their own character brand. YSH has none of the 2 examples, he just concentrated on dramas, and even his drama characters, are just not memorable.

  • It's interesting that you've made a comparison with SIG. In 2020, YSH had projects lined up after Memorist but they all got cancelled due to covid and he was forced to go on hiatus for almost 2 years. Regarding the xmas video, his fans believe he was purposely cut out because it was time for contract renewal and since he wants to leave... They've noticed the cold treatment of story J towards him these past few months because of the contract renewal: no xmas video, almost no promo material for his drama Moonshine from Story J, no bts of Moonshine filming by his agency ( all the other actors film bts on drama/movie sets for their fans). The mismanagement is blatant if you follow him. He has never been the type of actor to pile up CFs but I find it hard to believe his agency couldn't even get him one CF. NO CF since he has been in story J ! SIG is obviously managed better and gets more work than him despite his military scandal. Story J pushes more SIG. It's weird though, YSH with no tainted image, and who was once Korea's little brother, was sidelined.
    Luck as well as mismanagement played a part. I wish him to find the best and the right agency that will push him and treat him better. He deserves better.

    • @Jiam, thanks for adding more info to expose story j's favouritism. I was surprised seungho isn't in the xmas video but junghyun was in it after his scandal with syj exposed. i know inguk personally was very keen to get seungho to be in the xmas video coz he verbalized this during the bts making of xmas video. inguk specifically called out "woori seungho" which means our seungho who couldn't make it. story j also purposely never put english subtitles in their promo videos so ifans don't know what their actors said some but kind k-fans translated what inguk said. since he's the vocal director, he wanted to gather all the agency actors together to be included but some couldn't make it due to crazy schedules of rounding up 20 actors who are busy filming into a 2 day shooting schedule. it could be a coincidence or it could be story j putting seungho in cold storage by cutting him out of xmas video. however, i totally believe the no cf part is too much. still all the best to seungho future. he's still young and plenty of opportunities in front of him. being in a smaller agency with fewer actors is better for seungho. new agency, fresh change.

    • YSH's Cosmopolitan photoshoot was out yesterday in their YouTube channel. He was also interviewed by StoryJ staff 7 days ago showing SH wearing his Moonshine costume. Last year, 5th May 2021 StoryJ got SH a GQ photoshoot. This vid posted in their YT channel. Don't spew lies @Jiam and blame his agency mismanagement.

    • agency already try push and push him but if no advertisers interested to give him cf cannot blame agency. he might be popular in the past but maybe not popular today and so many rising actors already overtaking him.

• I think he is the male equivalent of Moon Geun Young. YSH had his chance after his military comeback.

  • You mentioning Moon Geun-young made me much sadder. She should have been a bigger star after Cinderella's Sister, and that was a decade ago.

    • I watched the translated IG live of MGY and her career trajectory is really sad considering her deep love for her craft. It's really too bad! I don't think she has any agency yet, and it has been almost a year since she left Namoo. I do see PBY in the same predicament, as her last dramas have been mediocre and no film prospects yet, but at least PBY is still under a powerful agency.

  • He also reminds me of Yoon Shi Yoon. Both talented but no luck with their works recently. I read that YSY will be starring in a weekend family drama next. Made me wonder if YSH will have to go that route as well one day in the future.

    • I winced when I saw Yoon Shi Yoon was doing a weekend drama because you don't do that if your career is going well, but he hasn't had a hit drama since returning from military service. A hit weekend family drama can be a career boost though. YSH might have to go that route eventually too.

    • Doing a weekend drama isn't a death sentence. Lee Joon did MFIS and then bounced back in lead roles. One can hone valuable acting skills from veterans before striking success again. Way better than Jisoo and Kim Yo Han jumped straight into playing lead roles but their lack of acting skills glaringly exposed.

    • Lee Joon was still an up and comer when he did MFIS, having had only one lead role before it. I agree that a weekend drama can be a valuable experience, but an actor doesn't go from lead roles in primetime dramas to a weekend drama if their career is doing well. I think it's a good move for YSY, and I hope it gets his career back on track. He's another that either doesn't choose well or doesn't get good offers. He should play bad more like in that one sageuk he did.

  • Can someone tell me what exactly happened with MGY? All I know is that she used to be a big star, I remember she was everywhere around late 00s to early 2010s when I started watching kdramas, she was even the youngest Daesang winner if I recall correctly. I was out of the loop around mid-2010s, and when I started watching kdramas again, she's suddenly nowhere to be found. Is it just because of a string of bad/mediocre projects or are there other reasons? It's just so sudden, and it's sad considering she's so talented...

    • MGY had a serious illness (compartment disease) and had to take a few years off.

    • @Lissa Oh so that's the reason. I hope a big agency takes her on so that she can make a grand comeback. It's saddening that whenever I mention her to some KDrama fans I meet online, they have no idea who she is.

    • Actually, even before her diagnosis and surgery, I've already noticed fewer casting news from MGY. I guess it didn't help that her post-Cinderella's sister dramas are not really hit nor buzzy. I also don't know if her exposure was also hindered by agency ineptitude, as Namoo had a lot of their artists leaving one after another. I initially thought that MGY's fewer acting projects were a choice, but seems like based on her IG lives her lack of agency and stiff competition is limiting her casting as she's still raring to act interesting characters.

• YSH seems like he was on the verge of true stardom after his military comeback. He had popularity, good reputation that the public loves, good looks and good acting talent. But his drama choices were truly questionable. He picked dramas that even the average viewers know would end up to be a total dud. It's hard for fans + casual viewers rooting for him to stay interested when there are so many other promising actors with good dramas. And his current career is the result. I don't know who is to blame for it, but a change of agency would be good restart for him. All he needs is one good hit drama to comeback honestly.

  • Choose right drama yes important factor. Easy for fans blame agency. Always agency fault. Look at PMY. Often choose office romance, same make-up, same hairstyle, etc. Same as SHK. Same character over over again. Popularity, good looks, good acting talent and good reputation can save him long-term. Viewers taste have changed with streaming apps got better dramas, better storylines. Maybe no one offering good roles to him anymore so fans make excuse saying he was not choosing good roles.

• He’ll be fine. He’s so young and so much great things ahead of him. Good move, I’d say!

• I liked him in I am Not A Robot with CSB. Hope he will get lucky someday. He had good chemistry off screen with Lee Se Young on Memorist.. but the script there had no romance and while initially interesting, kind fizzle off, sadly.. those two would have been a blast..

  • True. YSH and LSY had great chemistry in Memorist despite the absence of love line between their characters. I remember getting frustrated at the ending when they only shook hands. I hope there will be another chance for them to act together in a romcom in the future.

• Most top stars in k-ent today hit big in their early 20s, male or female. YSH has had a string of mediocre to poorly performing dramas, and that is not going to attract him good offers. Investors are not going to drop billions of wons on his dramas so he will likely stay in small budget dramas with little buzz.

  • He should consult with YJG's agency on how to overcome strings of underwhelming dramas. YJG used to be like him but was able to turn the table due to successive hits like Hotel De Luna, Crowned Clown and Beyond Evil.

    • Janus Ent might be a small agency but they're really doing well in nurturing YJG's career. Good treatment and offers for the actor plus good content for the supporters resulted in long-standing loyalty. The fact that he's the only actor in his agency for many years to date also helped him receive the agency's full attention and care, which is why for sure switching agencies like most of his contemporaries is the last thing he'd want to do.

• I saw story J promoting Moonshine a lot in their youtube channel, ig, naver post, and even his magazine photoshoots

  The thing about Yoo Seung Ho is his drama choices are so bad. Gosh talk about that ‘I’m not a robot drama’ ??‍♀️

  He lost the chance to get the spotlight and advertisers/ magaziners aren’t really interested in him.
  Of course he has the good look , good acting skill, but other than that I feel like he lacks the it factor and charisma?

• Sometimes even with the full package you still don't get It factor, why ? i don't know . I think of Yoon Si Yoon who is good, Kim ji Hoon, Jung Il Woo, ... And the ones that we don't see anymore as Moon Geun Young , Moon Chae Won not enough visible for me, Yoon Eun Hye ( honestly her pseudo scandal was years ago even Seo ye Ji is coming back ), Chun Jung Myung, ...A week end drama ? Ji Hyun Woo after all, had a Daesang after many dramas ( over the rainbow 2006)

  • The only one I don’t get is MOOn GEUN YOUNG. She is the youngest actress to win a Daesang. She is a terrific actress and well loved by the public.
    Imagine if Namoo didn’t reject ‘The Moon Embracing the Sun’.
    Not just she will hit big but viewers will get an actress whose acting is on par with Kin Soo Hyun and amaZing chemistry too.

    Moon Chae Won has lots of hit dramas. It’s weird that she rarely appear anymore as time passed but at least she has ‘Flower of Evil’ not too long ago which I absolutely love (I’m gonna pretend that goddamn awful ‘Fairy and the Woodcutter’ drama never happen).

    Yoo Eun Hye scandal was too big. Not just the designer thing but the one with Lee Byung Hun, etc. Plus I watched her drama comeback with Chun Jung Myung , she really lost her touch… her acting sucks…

    Really hoping Moon Geun Young will sign a contract with good agency soon. There’s no reason not too…

    • Moon Geun Young was originally the first choice for the role that is supported by fans of the novel. Even the production company of the drama regarded Moon Geun Young as the only casting candidate for the role of “Wol” (Moon aka Yeon Woo), and invited her to act in the drama.

      But according the source in production company, the team of Moon Geun Young proposed the suggestion to change the cast on the ground that the popularity and awareness of lead male actor is not high enough. Both sides failed to negotiate to bring differences in line, and eventually producer had to give up on Moon Geun Young.

      Excerpt taken from an article from dramahaven.

      (There were also rumors that it was the actress herself that looked down on the popularity of the male lead and demanded for a change in ML. If that is true, it could be the reason why she was gradually “dropped” by casting directors because of her arrogance and unprofessionalism.)