Inflation is everywhere and the lack of successful projects and products is true across nearly every industry. K-actress Kim Ha Neul recently was interviewed and shared how she and most stars are seeing a lack of scripts being offered. In the past she would get multiple scripts and even had to turn down projects by saying she needs to take a break between dramas. But now she feels blessed to even get one script offered to her. In 2022 there were 135 K-dramas produced, in 2023 it was 125, and this year 2024 its going to be around 100 dramas. This is also the first year that entertainment related consumption has dropped from prior year and across all media platforms.
Maannnnn, they’re in the C-ent slump. Their stories have been WEAK and their tropes overdone. K-dramas better re-invent because talent is NOT up enough to redo overdone stories.
The Kdrama industry is contracting in on itself. I would be interested to know what the figures were for productions pre-streaming boom. I think part of the problem is the huge overspending and overproduction that came with the streaming boom from about 2020 onwards. There are still many drams awaiting airing and no income coming in.
K-drama fans should be grateful if their fave Korean actor have work because there are no guarantees with even for the top actors and actresses struggling.
I feel we are overexposed with all kinds of entertainment now in life. nothing feels original anymore. It all depends on execution and story telling that personally interest you to enjoy but not what the masses are saying duo sometimes plays a part. Korean actually do well in bringing unique storyline from time to time.
I haven’t finished one kdrama in a long while tbh. The over the top shallowness (this is not a criticism) in many of the kdrama scenes, overused stories and recycled genre just give me a massive headache each time I attempt to watch one. I can even spot the bad ones so as easy now lol. I am now turning into quality Chinese dramas to feed my drama needs. Even their awards season now produce extremely boring results. 😴 They need to re invent fast or they’ll lose their prominence. Other asian countries are catching up. The ultra heavy plastic surgery of actors are a turn off too. They were just too dang obvious nowadays.
She’s old… Of course the scripts are lacking,younger actors are more bankable,value for money.
I’ve only watched a few Korean dramas these past 2-3 years. It feels like Hallyu is over.
K-pop is more happening now than Korean dramas. Still there has been a hit or two but it has been very slow. But streaming dramas is definitely doing better than most. Popularity does run cold though. And older actors had their era and might have to settle for second fiddle roles instead of main main roles which can be hard to transition into but it might happen or join ensemble cast and share the limelight with others.
Another thing is that dramas have gotten much shorter now but the filming time has increased. Big projects like Squid Game, Ask the Stars, Tangerine or Gyeonsang Creature take up to a year to film. Both actors and film crew are therefore occupied for that long duration of time and won’t be able to commit to other projects. The cost of production has gone up from 10-20 billion for big budget dramas to 50-70 billion even though the episode count has actually reduced. Additionally Netflix plays faves and isolates many actors while focusing on only their few actors who are the same faces getting cast over and over again for their originals. The inflated production costs also means there is only so much money to go around and not everyone can have their own dramas. People like Kim Handel should give up wanting their own lead dramas and move on to supporting roles in big budget dramas lead by more bankable and popular actors. It’s also the greed of older actors to be the stars of their own show when only a handful still have the star factor and skills. Top billing isn’t going to come for actors like her anymore they need to accept that. It’s better to do a Moving than a Red Swan.
Agree with the other commenter that K-pop is dominating more so that K-dramas. Do we have to go back to idol dramas to make kdramas more popular again? Personally I loved that time – Boys Over Flowers, To The Beautiful You, You’re Beautiful, Heartstrings – just to name a few!
Maybe it’s because Kpop is more trendy fewer idols are going into acting at the peak of their group careers. In the olden days people like Karina and Jang Wonyoung would have already been leading their own dramas. The current 4th and 5th gen idols are focusing more on music than acting probably because world tours are more the norm these days which earn more money than acting. The current brand of popular idol actors are all from the 3rd gen. It’s also true that Cha Eunwoo, Suzy and Yoona are more popular than their actor counterparts. I’ll even say IU is an idol in many ways. Barring maybe Byeon Wooseok recently actors rarely achieve the kind of popularity idols do these days. The older Hallyu actors like Lee Minho and Kim Soohyun obviously still have their influence and popularity but the late 20s and early 30s are largely dominated by idols from 2nd and 3rd gen. Which is probably why there is drought for super popular actors in the 20s since idols are not going into acting. Netflix would go crazy for idols like Wonyoung, Minji, Wonbin and Karina. I’m sure even Sung Hanbin will be flooded with acting offers once ZB1 activities end.
I doubt it’s related to amount of produced dramas, as Park Bo Young have 3 future dramas ahead, Kim Go Eun constantly filming in dramas and movies. Well, maybe it’s because of their agency BH, maybe because of themselves, or maybe they filming without a rest in as much projects as they can right now, assuming they can face the same slump in the future.
I didn’t watch Kim Ha Neul’s dramas, so don’t know much about her except being veteran actress. Looking at her filmography it seems she didn’t have any hype drama after A Gentleman’s Dignity 12 years ago.
So I dare to say, one of the reasons her lack of script offers can be due to weak profit from her dramas. Not like it’s her fault, or her acting is bad, but if actors don’t have k-pop popularity hype, they need to have good ratings, awards, connections or something like that.
I read some article about producers looking at amount of followers on social media of actors before offer to them scripts. If not that, when they need very strong career as Lee Bo Young or Kim Hee Soo. Or strong agency. This is really lame, but this is reality.
Some actors starting to produce their own dramas and movies to be safe.
As Lee Min Ho producing a movie he filming into, Song Joong Ki’s agency produced Reborn Rich and now My Youth. So, no matter of amount of offers, they can be safe by buying scripts and producing their projects.
It’s funny for me to read about k-pop dominating over k-dramas, as many k-pop fans now complaining about lack of good songs and performances comparing to 10 years ago, and that many nowadays k-pop fans obsessed with numbers.
It’s not like they were doing any better before Netflix/Disney/Hulu. They were on a downward trajectory. KHN’s time has come. Even Rain couldn’t get roles anymore along with other top kactors. That being said, the newer actors are doing 4-5 projects a year (including guests starting, reality shows, going on fanmeet). The true reality is all industry r suffering. American actors r also in the same case. How about release them shelved projects?
I think they really are slowing down a bit, but at the same time, unfortunate as it is, showbiz is never kind to actresses over 40 and actors over 50. Most shows are about young people, and even in those where the age of the main characters is not relevant, producers still cast younger actors. It is sad, but actresses over 40 usually have to transition to mother roles to the main character, and of course if you are an actress that is used to be main lead, well, it’s a tough thing to accept. This is why, exhausting as it is, I totally get why C-actors (idols) do one project right after the other, and on top cf, brand events, variety shows etc. The logic is grab as much money as you can while you can, and I can respect that. Life gets complicated even for talented main leads as they age, imagine for the talentless ones!
I think it’s a function of many things – but budget is definitely the biggest matter. K-Drama productions need to make their money back by either being picked up by the major channels, or getting advertising sponsors, who in turn measure their success by TV ratings and consequently impression on the audience (on the other hand, Netflix’s aim is to keep people subscribed, thus they lean more on bankrolling dramas they may have creative influence over, or buy rights to stream already airing drama after production and airing is done). thus K-drama production companies would either 1) invest big on names that for sure will bring viewers in; or 2) find idols/ ex-idols who are probably cheaper and have some pull. as a result, those who are suffering are actors who are famous but not huge (anymore) such as Kim Ha Neul (i have no idea who she is). Not to mention that the fame cycle can be very quick in Korean TV – actors who are prominent second leads/ supporting actors back in 2013-2018 (e.g from Empress Ki, DOTS, Beauty Inside) now only get bit parts, while their main leads get less high profile dramas (e.g. Lee Min Ki, Han Ji Min, Ha Ji Won)
Top idols are not cheap anymore. For example CEW earns as much as LMH or Suzy, IU and Yoona who earn in the same bracket as SHK and JJH. It depends on which idol you are. Its rumoured that BTS V has been offered a higher salary than KSH to appear in dramas but he has been committed to his group BTS and has stayed away from acting. However eventually if he does go into acting he’ll easily be the highest paid actor. Even Jisoo I doubt she earns less than PBY or PSH. Her brand power is too strong so her appearance fees will be high. These days producers are focused on who can bring in the most amount of advertisers because dramas need money to make. Idols bring in more money than most actors and hence they get paid more.
The elephant in the room is the ban on Korean dramas in China. The industry has lost a lot of money because of it. Before that even happened, a majority of the dramas airing on television had been in the single digits for years. This was happening before Netflix was a force in the industry. People are bringing up idol dramas, but most of those dramas weren’t even ratings hits. Some might have done well in foreign markets. With viewing habits changing with the introduction of multiple OTT platforms on top of it, the networks are taking a major hit. We’ve seen Mon-Tues drama slots completely scrapped. Big budget dramas with top stars flopping.
Fully shot dramas not even airing. Even KBS weekend dramas whose high ratings were a given, has much lower ratings now. The network has recently decided to reduce their episode count.
Looking at KHN’s situation, I honestly don’t remember lead roles being plentiful for actresses in their 40s. I do remember actresses in their 30s having a pretty good run. Remember the so called shortage of actresses in their 20s when there were plenty to go around. Many female idols got their foot in the door during that era. Top actors were leaving to do film and top drama actresses wound up working with up and coming young actors. Quite a few got their breakthroughs working with them. I feel that there’s much more strong female centric dramas in recent years than we’ve ever seen plus a whole lot more lead roles for older actresses. A lot of 40 plus actresses were either married with children and stopped working or couldn’t work because the roles dried up. Many who did work were playing supporting roles like the mother of one of the leads or a cameo here and there. Even older male drama actors who never took off in film were being sidelined for younger actors with Noona dramas taking off. Actors who don’t have a recent hit drama or film, critical acclaim for their skills, or buzz to keep them relevant will definitely have it harder getting offers.
Or maybe just her? Because netflix, HBO, Disney all are very much into k dramas.