Bae Yong-joon’s 200 million appearance fee, 14 years later… Lee Jung-jae is rumored to be paid 1 billion won per episode
“Bae Yong-joon 200 million won (The Legend), Park Shin-yang 155 million won (War of Money), Kwon Sang-woo 70 million won (Cruel Love).”
The Drama PD Association, which was formed by drama producers from 3 terrestrial broadcasting companies, revealed the appearance fee per episode of three top stars in 2008.
In 2022, 14 years later, 1 billion won per episode is being mentioned as the appearance fee for actor Lee Jung-jae, who confirmed his appearance in season 2 of Netflix’s original series “Squid Game“.
Production company Cyron Pictures said, “Related negotiations have not been carried out because we are working on the script.” However, the broadcasting industry nodded, saying, “It is an appropriate amount compared to the current status of Lee Jung-jae and ‘Squid Game’.”
Top stars’ drama appearance fee soared with the emergence of Hallyu and new platforms. Bae Yong-joon‘s “The Legend” opened the era of top stars’ hundreds-of-millions-of-won appearance fee.
The launch of comprehensive programming TV channels in 2011 was to solidify the “hundreds-of-millions-of-won appearance fee”. As the main characters signed a contract for 100 million won per episode, the fee for weighty middle-aged supporting actors began to rise. In other words, the overall appearance fee pie has grown.
Prior to the pandemic, top stars’ appearance fee was mentioned at around 200 million won per episode. Lee Byung-hun, the lead actor of tvN’s “Mr. Sunshine”, which aired in 2018, received 150 million won per episode. He earned 3.6 billion won by starring in a 24-episode drama.
Top star Lee Byung-hun returned to the small screen after 9 years, and the total drama budget reached 43 billion won, so it was evaluated as an acceptable level.
Around the same time, the appearance fee of A-list top stars such as Hyun Bin, Park Bo-gum and Lee Jong-suk also exceeded 130~150 million won. The atmosphere that did not exceed the 200 million won level that Bae Yong-joon received from “The Legend” was clear.
The birth of the online video service (OTT) was an opportunity to easily surpass the 200 million won mark. Coupang Play’s “One Ordinary Day” starring actor Kim Soo-hyun started. Kim Soo-hyun is known to have received 500 million won per episode for this work. Considering that “One Ordinary Day” has a total of 8 episodes, the total guarantee amounts to 4 billion won.
Considering that the advantage of K-contents spreading to the world is “cost-effectiveness”, the industry seems to be pleased, saying, “K-contents finally received a proper evaluation in the global market.”
In fact, the total production cost of “Squid Game” season 1 was reported to be 26 billion won. It is 4 billion won less than the 30 billion won per episode of Disney+’s “WandaVision”. At a low cost, it amassed 1.65 billion viewing hours during its first four weeks from launch and Netflix’s revenue was estimated to be about 1 trillion won, drawing attention.
Lee Jung-jae, who plays the main character Seong Gi-hun, became the first non-English-speaking actor to win the Primetime Emmy Awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the United States, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Moreover, considering that there is no incentive even after the success of season 1 due to the nature of Netflix’s production system, some argue that the total production cost, including guarantee, needs to be raised.
However, it is unclear whether such an increase in the total production cost will lead to an improvement in treatment of front-line staff. Moreover, in the case of “Squid Game”, there are a number of problems to be solved, such as IP (Intellectual Property) initiative issues.
Popular culture critic Jung Deok-hyun said, “It’s good that global companies recognized the value of K-contents through Lee Jung-jae’s high appearance fee, but it’s regrettable that the improvement of treatment of other staff members is not mentioned at all. As ‘Squid Game’ is a symbol of K-contents, I hope that IP issues and treatment conditions will be dealt with more delicately and fiercely.”
Source: nate
