A subsidiary of JTBC, the generalist Korean pay-TV channel, and one of the country’s leading production houses, SLL is currently the front runner of Korea’s drama/movie production scene, with the nation’s most vibrant and productive studio in the market , according, Joon-suh Park, production director.
In an interview with Prensario, the executive talked about the current moment of the JTBC studio unit, its content strategy and the next steps.
In 2022, SLL‘s Reborn Rich, for instance, recorded the highest viewership ratings for a drama series that aired in Korea last year, while The Roundup – The Outlaws 2 became the only movie in 2022 to have exceeded 10 million ticket sales. These hits have placed SLL at the forefront of today’s Korean media market. But it is precisely their association with third parties and creators the axe of its current success, due to SLL is continuously collaborating with various media platforms such as Netflix (All of Us Are Dead, Hellbound, Narco-Saints, Jung-E), Disney + (Big Bet, Snowdrop) and TVING (Bargain).
SLL‘s main mission is to produce original programs that could reach various groups of audiences through wide-ranging media platforms. Not only for JTBC, its affiliated TV network, but also for a number of major local and international platforms such as Netflix, Disney +, and TVING are thus in cooperation with them. The drama and films distributed through such an extensive network are also the outcomes of active collaborations among SLL and its co-producers.
Park explained that the synergy between SLL and creators rises cause they are constantly looking for new stories, and at the same time, they own the biggest infrastructure and networks for media production within Korea: ‘Therefore, we have our own long-established way of providing the optimal environment for directors, writers and the actors to work in, and knows exactly how to use it to maximize their talents and contribution in creation. In addition, we are open to working on an external project that wants to have SLL as a producer partner’.
SLL specializes in both dramas and movies, and they have been putting more emphasis on drama production lately, due to the COVID-driven recession in the film industry and the sudden growth of OTTs, remarked Park. ‘Particularly, we are currently focusing on two types of production; OTT series and TV series. Based on our thorough understanding of the subtle differences between the two, we are trying to create the content targeting both local and global distribution’.
The company has a strong presence in the USA through company production Wiipis whose outstanding production works and Emmy-winning titles have already been widely recognized in Hollywood. Both houses have currently undertaken several co-production projects which are expected to come out and stream on many platforms from the latter half of 2024. The ongoing projects could be categorized as: U.S. productions that Wiip is in charge of; Korean productions that SLL is in charge of; and co-produced programs with international settings.
The production plan for these projects has been finalized and is currently being developed.
‘I think global OTTs are going through the phase where they are still actively seeking their distinctive directions to pursue. The merger between Warner Brothers and Discovery, for example, is part of such movements. We will always try to be vigilant towards the evolving global market trends and adapt to them, while pursuing the unique strengths that Korean contents have in the market at the same time’, he concluded.
