"We consider 'people' and 'culture' as our assets"
The issue-making company of the Korean film industry in 2014 was
NEW (Next Entertainment World). Business-wise, the company expanded its scale with an official listing in the Korean stock market (KOSDAQ) at the end of last year, and made an investment deal of KRW 53.5 billion (approx. USD 49.65 million) with China’s leading media company Huace Media Group, which was ranked No. 1 in domestic TV drama ratings last fall. This partnership will eventually result in a joint corporation between NEW and Huace by the first half of 2015 which is the first collaborative corporate body aiming for business in China to be created between the Korean film industry and a Chinese contents company. We met with
KIM Woo-taek, the CEO of NEW, which is gearing up to advance as a global business through its partnership with Huace Media Group.
Business-wise, you had a very good year in 2014 with a KOSDAQ listing and plans to join hands with China’s Huace Media Group. But ticket sales at the Korean box office fell short of the amazing accomplishments you’ve seen over the past few years.
I consider 2014 as a break to refurbish our organization for a new start. Internally, it was a chance for us to look back at the times we pushed forward non-stop, and to refresh ourselves. Our box office returns may have been a bit disappointing, but it was a meaningful year in the sense that we were able to secure a rich line-up of good contents and funds as well as a foundation for stepping into a new market.
NEW will be creating a joint corporation with China’s Huace Media Group by the first half of this year. How far along are you into this project at the moment?
We will establish a joint corporation within the first quarter of 2015. Both companies are aggressively discussing how we’ll create a company that produces and distributes diverse contents in film and TV.
You must be discussing joint projects as you’re preparing this corporate collaboration. Are there any projects you can mention?
There aren’t any projects we can confirm yet. But we’ll be actively discussing various parameters of the business with our partner, ranging from the prospects of finding the right contents for the Chinese market to setting up the company. Korean film crew and cast will have the opportunity to participate when the right subject matter and genre permits, but what’s clear is that we’ll be making custom-made contents specifically for the Chinese market. I’m confident that partnership between Huace as the unrivalled leader of China’s drama market in contents and TV channel shares and NEW which retains an extensive media contents library and industry expertise will result in a significant corporate collaboration.
There are some Korean film industry voices concerned about NEW’s successful acquisition of ‘China money’. What kind of business potential do you see in Huace Media Group?
Joining hands with a good partner to enter the exploding China market is definitely a significant accomplishment, and by bringing each other’s strengths and expertise to the table, I look forward to favorable prospects in both markets. By joining forces with Huace, NEW will be acquiring a rich collection of quality contents in addition to a ‘win-win effect’ as we will be able to make headway with a contents business optimized for the Chinese market. We’re confident that this will be the foundation for NEW to step up to a pan-Asian scale.
NEW is making diverse business attempts with affiliated companies that include a music division ‘MUSIC & NEW’, an ancillary rights and international sales of films division ‘CONTENTS PANDA’, and a performance division ‘SHOW & NEW’. With such capacity for business diversification, what do you regard as NEW’s unique strengths?
I believe a limitless perspective is important when it comes to contents. It’s not business diversification we’re aiming for, but an openminded corporate culture that seeks good contents (regardless of genre) and the most appropriate format to process this. These are what I see as NEW’s strengths.
In previous interviews, you often stated that “assets should come out of the process”. Through various business processes including production and investment, what are the assets that NEW wishes to generate?
It’s ‘people’ and ‘culture’. It’s not just about investing money in each business field and recouping it that matters, but retaining a corporate culture that enables each member to understand, to learn and to exchange expertise among each other as they participate in each individual project that is extremely important.
It’s said that NEW’s rapid growth, and the successful investment and distribution of two films that sold ten million tickets (Miracle in Cell No. 7 and The Attorney) in the Korean market can be ascribed to the company’s strict investment and projectwise input during script development.
There are a number of important requirements in the investment and distribution business, but what I see as most significant is acknowledging the essence of content. I have no doubt we can move forward with conviction only when we’ve exchanged intense and in-depth views as the primary audience with the production company over various possibilities. Once we’ve passed this process and start shooting, we then focus on respecting each others’ own territories.
What’s the most important point as the head of an investment and distribution company when you’re reviewing a script?
How much a script speaks to the audience. I put weight on elements that raise the possibilities of communicating with the audience such as the attractiveness or the freshness of a subject and so on.
NEW has not only been active in funding commercial projects, but also art films such as Pieta (2012) and The Fake (2013).
No matter how good a project is, we never go out of our way to risk losses and fund a film. If we find some kind of profitability with various potential values and meanings, we can be more flexible in choosing a project to fund, regardless of subject matter and budget. We just apply an approach that is different from commercial projects.
You’ll be sending your own international sales team to the Berlin International Film Festival.
CONTENTS PANDA is the only company that serves a mission independent from other NEW affiliate companies (music: MUSIC & NEW, performance: SHOW & NEW, TV drama: DRAMA & NEW). This means that the company enjoys more flexibility in its field of business and choosing business partners. In the foreign market, CONTENTS PANDA will collaborate with other NEW affiliates in various ways. Its international sales team was created not only to handle NEW titles in the international market but also to expand NEW as an overall global contents distribution company that encompasses distribution, sales and acquisition of various non-NEW contents as well.
It is said that NEW will attempt to produce TV dramas this year, and your first project will be Descending of the Sun scripted by the writer of hit dramas such as A Gentleman’s Dignity and Secret Garden, KIM Eun-sook.
This TV series is scheduled for broadcast on KBS during the second half of this year. We are currently in pre-production: working on the script, location hunting and casting. There’re no additional projects confirmed at the moment, but we’re slowly looking for projects to continue our TV drama business.
Word is that NEW is planning to expand into the Chinese, Asian and North American markets. So what is NEW’s plans for a global business and other prospects?
We always dreamed of doing business on a global scale, but for now, we’re focusing on China and Asia. We’ll always be interested in expanding our markets in the long run, and if we meet a good partner, we’ll be discussing the possibilities with an open mind.
Photo by NEW
Business-wise, you had a very good year in 2014 with a KOSDAQ listing and plans to join hands with China’s Huace Media Group. But ticket sales at the Korean box office fell short of the amazing accomplishments you’ve seen over the past few years.I consider 2014 as a break to refurbish our organization for a new start. Internally, it was a chance for us to look back at the times we pushed forward non-stop, and to refresh ourselves. Our box office returns may have been a bit disappointing, but it was a meaningful year in the sense that we were able to secure a rich line-up of good contents and funds as well as a foundation for stepping into a new market.NEW will be creating a joint corporation with China’s Huace Media Group by the first half of this year. How far along are you into this project at the moment?We will establish a joint corporation within the first quarter of 2015. Both companies are aggressively discussing how we’ll create a company that produces and distributes diverse contents in film and TV.You must be discussing joint projects as you’re preparing this corporate collaboration. Are there any projects you can mention?There aren’t any projects we can confirm yet. But we’ll be actively discussing various parameters of the business with our partner, ranging from the prospects of finding the right contents for the Chinese market to setting up the company. Korean film crew and cast will have the opportunity to participate when the right subject matter and genre permits, but what’s clear is that we’ll be making custom-made contents specifically for the Chinese market. I’m confident that partnership between Huace as the unrivalled leader of China’s drama market in contents and TV channel shares and NEW which retains an extensive media contents library and industry expertise will result in a significant corporate collaboration.There are some Korean film industry voices concerned about NEW’s successful acquisition of ‘China money’. What kind of business potential do you see in Huace Media Group?
NEW is making diverse business attempts with affiliated companies that include a music division ‘MUSIC & NEW’, an ancillary rights and international sales of films division ‘CONTENTS PANDA’, and a performance division ‘SHOW & NEW’. With such capacity for business diversification, what do you regard as NEW’s unique strengths?
