Exorbitant casting costs of high profile celebrities drive dramas to desperate means

Article: The price of celebrities won't go down, the main reason dramas are being 'taken off air'

Source: Munhwa Ilbo via Nate

1. [+3,828, -30] This problem should've been brought up a lot sooner. 30% of production expenses go entirely towards paying these stars which leaves the rest of the staff like engineers either working for free or very little pay. The industry itself isn't growing enough to accommodate what stars are demanding.

2. [+3,462, -44] Dramas are under the wrong impression that they need to cast expensive actors for the drama to be successful but they should focus more on actors with talent without the added bloat to their name.

3. [+2,823, -26] Just gotta stop casting them is all

4. [+193, -1] I remember it became controversial when people found out Kang Ji Hwan was making 70 million won per episode, it made me realize how much celebrities were making

5. [+172, -3] It'd be fine if the broadcast companies agreed on the minimum and maximum that stars can be paid and just followed the rules. Boycott the top actors demanding more and stop casting them. Once dramas start discovering fresh talent and giving them jobs, the top actors will come crawling back no matter what.

6. [+121, -2] Celebrities make as much from one CF or one drama episode that the rest of us will make in our lifetime working jobs. I don't think that's fair, and that's one of the reasons why young kids are all obsessed with becoming celebrities.

7. [+88, -7] I detest singer-turned-actors who get paid a lot for their bad acting

8. [+64, -1] Funny how the same industry that allowed these stars to demand that much is now complaining about it ㅋㅋㅋ

9. [+58, -1] Then broadcast and movie industries need to work together on bringing down the cost of these stars down or start discovering fresh talent. Costs will naturally go down as there are more actors competing for the same roles. Stop casting the same people in dramas all the time.

10. [+50, -3] Staff on set all suffer just as much as the stars and yet they don't get paid much at all. It's unfair that only the actors get paid thousands upon thousands. A line needs to be drawn somewhere.

11. [+49, -1] Wait, IU costs more than Jun Ji Hyun? Wow~~ so this is why everyone wants to be an idol now

12. [+43, -0] The problem with costs is that once they go up, there's no coming down. It's just the way capitalism is.

13. [+37, -2] I really don't understand why actors are given such preferential treatment in the first place. Other staff work 100 hours a week and are either barely paid or never paid on time. A drama is the production of not only the actors but every single staff on set as well. Who cares that the stars thank the staff for a second at award ceremonies? Actors need to step it up and take the lead on reforming the pay scale their co-workers.

14. [+33, -3] I don't even watch dramas because all they do is cast bad actors like IU. Don't bother casting anyone unless they're really good to begin with.

15. [+26, -1] You can line up an entire drama with top stars but no one will watch it if it's boring.

16. [+22, -1] This is why I scoff when celebrities try to act woke on SNS because they're the ones choosing to turn a blind eye against the working conditions of their own staff

17. [+22, -0] I recently watched that sh*t fail of a drama with Jang Dong Gun and Song Joong Ki and learned that they were being paid 200 million-300 million won per episode ㅋㅋ no wonder they had no money to spend on the graphics and it all looked like 'Diablo 2' ㅋㅋ

18. [+21, -2] My friend was the main make up artist for a female lead of a recently finished drama and she went to work every single day at 3-4 am and got off work at around 11 pm or sometimes 3 am. She barely got a day off once a month, and was even called back on her break because the actress needed her make up done for her airport fashion look. Sure, the actress needs to be there at those times as well, but my friend only gets paid through the salon she's associated with and it's just 2 million won a month... The pay scale really needs to be fixed.

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