Culture Ministry to inject $18.66 million into 34 TV series

A scene from upcoming drama ″Ask the Stars″ starring actors Lee Min-ho and Gong Hyo-jin, which received funding from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in post-production [KEYEAST]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will inject a total budget of 24.5 billion won ($18.66 million) into 34 drama series, reality television shows and documentaries selected through a contest hosted jointly with the Korea Creative Content Agency, the ministry announced Tuesday.

The contest specifically supports post-production of dramas, reality television and documentaries through funding for special visual effects (VFX), computer graphics (CG), sound design and multilingual subtitles and dubbing production.

In this year’s contest, 22 dramas and 12 non-drama works were selected, according to the culture ministry. The selected works will each receive up to one billion won and will be aired from the second half of the year to the first half of 2024.

In the drama category, large-scale works such as those in the sci-fi, fantasy and superhero genres stood out. A number of works based on original webtoons and web novels, which are difficult to visualize without special effects or computer graphics, were selected especially for the contest.

“Ask the Stars,” starring actors Lee Min-ho and Gong Hyo-jin, is one of such works supported through the culture ministry which features a full-fledged space background sci-fi setting. The drama series will feature the first-ever space station in a Korean drama.

Other works supported through the program announced Tuesday include “Arthdal Chronicles: The Sword of Aramoon” and “The Uncanny Counter 2,” both set to air in the second half of this year.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]