Giants of TV and Cinema Merge

Two giants of Korean film and television production have united to form a new production company. Film director Kang Woo-suk and television producer and director Kim Jong-hak announced on Monday a plan to launch a new company to produce content for both the large and small screen.

Kang is the head of the largest local film distribution company, Cinema Service, and Kim leads Kimjonghak Productions, a company that produces TV dramas and mini-series. The name and size of capital of the new corporation will be announced later.

"Korea is the only nation where TV drama directors and film directors are separated. The new corporation will bring an interactive relationship between the two areas," said Kim Jong-hak. "In the past, TV production had to follow the previously set guidelines of the TV network. We will try to work as an independent production company. We will create our own programming and make our own decisions,".

"Most television drama directors who tried film directing failed because they didn't work with major productions that control everything related to the movie, from the early plans to marketing," Kim asserted.

Kang Woo-suk, the midas of comic movies commented, "There are many talented TV directors. We want to bring that talent to the cinema."

Cinema Service will invest 15-20 billion won annually (about $13.4 million) for several years in the future. The two mother companies held discussions for two weeks on the collaboration before making their announcement. Chang Yun-hyun, director of "Tell Me Something" (1999) is credited with proposing the idea for the merger and bringing the two parties together.

by Lee Yong-ki