After Story 160
Yoo Jungtae scanned the news articles on the internet over some coffee.
Three months into 2010, the rowdy entertainment industry had become calm again. Divorce, cheating, drunk driving, drugs…. The news articles that came out non-stop for the past month could no longer be seen any more.
What replaced the lack of entertainment news was some news about delicious restaurants that stars went to.
Jungtae looked for articles about the dramas that were airing right now. The one that was showing a strong performance right now was RBS’ Monday-Tuesday drama.
It had been quite some time since a historical drama made it to the forefront. It was a light historical drama that could appeal to the female audience, rather than the super long-running historical dramas that almost exclusively appealed to men.
Both the lead male and female characters were young and pretty. The story set the background of the two in complex situations and mostly talked about the love story between the two.
The audience"s opinions that the historical drama looked awkward only made some noise at first, and now people were praising it.
“That’s the power of the writer.”
Jungtae looked at the plot that even buried the flaws of the actors and licked his lips. How much would the writer receive per episode? — He scratched his head before closing the laptop.
It had been fifteen years since he started living as a writer. He was lucky enough to debut through a drama script contest at YBS, and he had managed to write a few drama episodes ever since. Most of his works were historical dramas, and the responses weren’t bad. ‘Chosun,’ which aired six years ago, managed to even get him an award as well.
When he rejoiced that his prime as a writer had arrived, writer’s block also crept toward him as well. He wrote a short script two years ago when a producer he worked with before reached out to him about doing a one-shot drama together, and that was his last work.
What was fortunate was that he always thought that the life of a freelancer was a s.h.i.+p that might capsize at any moment and did not spend all the money he had earned.
However, the money he had saved up started bottoming out in the past few years.
You get why there aren’t many male writers in the drama field, right? — he thought back to the words that a friend of his told him a few days ago.
It was only thanks to the fact that he was single; if he had any family to feed, he would’ve long since looked for other types of work.
He checked his bank balance through his banking app.
7.9 million won.
He thought of his limit as 2 million won, of which there was 5.9 million left.
He would be forty in three years. It would be too late to try something new.
Although many people said that the people living in this era would live until they were 100 years old, there wouldn’t be any companies that would accept a man in his late thirties whose only talent lay in writing; and even then, not a great talent.
“Thanks, please take care of me when the time comes.”
-Are you really going to come? If you do, I’ll watch out for you…
“If there’s no news, I’m going to quit now. I realized that it’s impossible to make a living with my head, so now it’s time to use my body.”
-It’s unfortunate, but if you’ve decided, then I guess there’s no helping it. There are many people who think of manual labor as the lowest of the low, but it’s better than most companies. It’s not that physically taxing, and you get as much as you work for. Even if you don’t have any skills right now, you can learn them one by one when you start working. You’re quite smart, aren’t you? I’m sure you’ll do well.
“That gives me strength. Anyway, I’ll contact you again in a while.”
-Writer Yoo, do your best. I’m sure you’ll do well.
“Thanks.”
He hated to admit it, but it was time to accept the facts. He was a writer who couldn’t keep up with the trends. When he looked at the drama writers of the currently airing dramas, nine out of ten of them were women.
The trend of romantic comedy was even infiltrating the historical drama market, so it was hard to find any male writers. There were some male writers writing romcoms, but the responses weren’t so good.
He looked at his phone which was staying silent. He knew that it wasn’t going to ring, but he couldn’t help but look at it. He had sent some of his works to a drama outsourcing company about two months ago. He also sent his works to the producers he knew. He told them that he didn’t even wish to work with them on those, just that it would be great if they could read it at least.
Maybe what he said actually happened: they might have thrown it in the trash after reading it. There was not a single call.
Well, it wasn’t surprising. It was an era where many people tried their hands at becoming a drama writer. People would flock even more since the news of a writer receiving a high ma.n.u.script fee came out just a few days ago.
Among the people who try sending in their works with the ‘Maybe I should try it out’ mindset, there might be someone with talent.
Getting pushed to the back once and then twice by such writers would eventually put the existing writers in his position.
Still, it was a bit of a pity. He thought he used quite a fresh theme and a bold story in this work.
“Maybe it was uselessly fresh and needlessly bold,” he muttered to himself as he looked at the script he had printed. There was a pile of dust on it.
He dusted it off before opening it. When he read it, it was enjoyable.
However, perhaps that might precisely be the problem. Writing that only the writer enjoys; the moment he wished to earn money while being hung up on a work that didn’t have any market value, he was doomed as a writer.
It was after he put the script to the side and cleaned his desk with some wet wipes that his phone started ringing. He quickly picked it up, having hopes.
-h.e.l.lo. This is your internet service provider s.h.i.+ne. If you change your internet plan right now…
“I don’t need it.”
He replied even though he knew that it was a pre-recorded call. He felt bitter inside. Maybe he should not bother waiting and just pack his stuff to get ready to leave.
His phone rang again. Another phone ad? He picked it up and said h.e.l.lo.
-Writer Yoo?
He took his ear off the phone and checked the name of the person who called. It was producer Cha Myungjoon.
“Producer Cha, it’s been a long time.”
-Yes, writer. How have you been?
“I’m doing okay.”
Producer Cha was someone he got to know on a private occasion. It was back when he was still busy working. They met when he went drinking after finis.h.i.+ng his editing.
-How long has it been since I heard your voice?
“It’s been about two years. We last met at the after party.”
-So it’s been that long already. How time flies.
He laughed and waited for Myungjoon’s next words. There was no way he had called just to say h.e.l.lo.
-Writer. I happened to read your work.
“Mine?”
-Yes. It was through producer Choi.
“Ah, okay.”
When he pa.s.sed the script to producer Choi, he did tell him to show it to the people around if they showed any interest.
-Did anyone reach out to you?
This was no time to reject this offer because of his pride. He replied honestly,
“Not a single one. I waited for about two months, but there was absolutely no feedback at all.”
-The script is difficult to understand at times after all.
“It looks like the writing is really not up to par then. I did think about it when I wrote, that maybe I was too focused on bringing something new. I knew that it was over the moment I let go of popular elements, but I kept slipping and ended up doing something absurd.”
Self-deprecating words came out automatically. A writer was supposed to have pride in his work until the end, and letting go of that meant that his life was over as a writer.
He became quiet and looked around the room, wondering how long it would take to pack up before telling the landlord that he was leaving.
-Yes. It’s definitely not a drama that public TV stations would do. They think that these kinds of genres are dangerous.
“I feel much better after hearing that from you. I think I can throw away my regrets now. It looks like I used up my talent in writing. It’s time to let go.”
He felt calm despite hearing that his work was no good from a drama producer who was still working in the industry. In fact, he felt relieved that it came to a proper closure.
-Let go, you say?
“I have to let go now. A producer from the TV station said it won’t work, so it’d be strange to keep holding onto it. There weren’t any responses from outsourcing companies either. Though, I guess it’s natural since outsourcing means that they get a slot from the TV stations.”
-Writer Yoo.
“Yes.”
-There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding between us. I said that it won’t work on public TV. P.u.b.l.i.c TV.
“We’re talking about dramas, so where else would….”
He trailed off. There was a news article he skipped after just reading the t.i.tle this morning.
“Are you saying, private-owned channels?”
-The TV stations are already in an uproar. There are many producers who are packing up already. They’re reaching out to producers and writers who all left for outsourcing companies.
“Is that going to work? There was a lot of controversy about whether it was going to happen or not.”
-It will. Was there anything in this country that didn’t go the way big corporations wanted? Three of the major newspaper companies have bought buildings already. There are newspaper companies that set up TV stations within their own building as well. I heard that they even bought land for production-related work.”
“Well, I guess they wouldn’t have talked about it if it wasn’t going to work.”
-Three of my seniors have left the entertainment department here. Even some chief producer-level people have moved too. I’m sure those private-owned companies have no intentions to live off of making news alone, so I’m sure they’ll make all sorts of things. Cable TV is going to become big.
“Are you moving as well?”
-I’m not exactly moving. I decided to leave RBS this time to enter Chungsong Production instead.
“That’s a place I haven’t heard of before.”
-You’ll probably hear about it a lot soon. It’s a subsidiary of YR that they made in order to produce dramas.
“So funds from a big company, huh? I did hear about it; so this is how it went.”
-Once those private-owned channels start airing, there will be dramas produced with ma.s.sive budgets.
“Sure. They need to steal the audience from public TV channels.”
-Simply increasing the budget wouldn’t be enough. They are trying to try their hands at genres that existing public TV stations wouldn’t easily do.
“They’re playing an adventurous move, you mean?”
-Ever since the rise of Youtube or whatever internet media, viewing rates have decreased rapidly. Not only that, there are individual broadcasters running their own internet channels. Large corporations didn’t exactly win over the channel frequencies just to attack the existing public TV companies. The people here are clenching their teeth hard.
“So you’re saying….”
-We can’t do your work on a public TV channel, but it’s a different story for a private-owned channel. I also showed your writing to the head producer. He showed interest.
“Is that true?”
-Yes. However, there’s something you must change.
“Change?”
The word that made writers the most uncomfortable showed its head in the producer’s words.
‘Change’ was a magical word. Changing a single word was a change, and rewriting the entire drama was also a ‘change.’ With that being the case, how big of a change was producer Cha talking about?
-The ending is really good. But, there’s no room for more. It’s a perfectly closed ending.
“Yes, it’s a drama after all.”
-I want you to leave an opening.
“What?”
-Seasons. Even drama seasons that public TV channels would never accept are going to be accepted here. That’s why we want an ending that can be continued if the responses are good, rather than a perfectly closed one.
“I don’t really understand.”
-It’s a little too much to talk about over the phone. Do you have some time? I’ll make a visit.
“I’m free all the time.”
-Then let’s meet today. We’ll talk about some things, including casting.
“Already?”
-You know that we reach out to the writers after deciding everything, don’t you? Also, there was an actor that came to my mind the moment I saw your writing. I want to hear your opinion about having him as the main character.
“If it can be adapted into a drama, then I don’t care who it is. I’m not in a position to be picky about that.”
-Writer, you’ve become quite weak.
“Maybe that’s how it is with writers who can’t write. So who are you recommending?”
-I’m not sure if you know him. He does come out on TV quite a lot these days.
“Who is it?”
-Han Maru.
“Oh, him. I know him. I’ve watched Depths of Evil three times.”
-How about a drama with him in it?
There was no need to think about it. He said with emphasis,
“I’d like to beg him instead to take the role.”