Underpaid production staff troubles film industry
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There is no doubt that the Korean movie industry is growing at a brisk pace. Local flicks often outsmart Hollywood blockbusters, export revenues are shooting up on the back of the "Korea wave" and a series of local film festivals are drawing a record crowds.
But some voice concerns about festering problems that might stunt the growth of the movie industry. The most worrisome is poor working conditions for production staff, according to a recent report.
The report, released by Rep. Park Hyung-jun during the parliamentary inspection in mid-October, said the movie industry is facing a potentially damaging crisis since production assistants suffer from extremely low wages and seasoned workers are in short supply.
The average monthly income of a Korean movie production staff worker is 618,000 won ($544), though they work about 14 hours a day on the average, the report said.
A film crew works on location. The people shown in this photo are not related to the contents of this article.
About 58 percent of 154 respondents who are working as production assistants have a negative outlook for the domestic movie industry, citing unfair contracts and shortage of specialists.
"Most production assistants work on movie projects because they love filmmaking. But many of them are struggling to make ends meet because of poor working conditions", said Choi Hwoa-in, legislative assistant to Rep. Park.
Choi said that even mid-level production assistants with experience of four to five years earn less than 1 million won ($880) per month, a dire situation that is driving talented staff away from the filmmaking business.
A growing number of Korean movies become box-office hits, bringing in sizable profits for producers and investors, but the rewards fail to reach underpaid production workers, she said. "These people are working in the shadow and they are deeply disillusioned about the industry's unfair practices", she said.
Strangely enough, film directors and production houses continue to secure cheap labor without any difficulty. The reason: there are too many enthusiastic film production workers who are willing to endure low wages as long as they get a part in a project.
"The movie labor market is overcrowded, but only 70 films hit the screens each year, suggesting a wide gap between supply and demand. Because human relationships are crucial to getting a post in a project, few staff members venture out to call for a fair wage or complain about delayed payment", said Ko Byung-chul, who runs an online community for local production assistants.
Ko, who has been working as a production staff in the past eight years, said most workers sign unfair contracts and remain silent even when production houses do not pay the wages in time.
In fact, the system has a long history. Most top-rated directors and cinematographers began their career as obscure assistants before climbing the ladder slowly. They often proudly talk about the hardships they underwent. Naturally, a widespread perception is that director-wannabes should willingly endure financial difficulties to create their own success stories.
Although a new generation of directors who have studied filmmaking abroad make debuts bypassing the grueling initiation process, most production staff members continue to work in harsh conditions.
While production assistants complain about low wages and poor working conditions, major production houses are squealing about ever increasing costs for filmmaking. Film industry observers said the average production cost is hovering at around 3.6 billion won ($3.16 million), marking a sharp increase from a couple of years ago.
There are two reasons. First, marketing and advertising costs are going up sharply amid brutally competitive market conditions. Second, the amount of money commanded by actors and actresses in lead roles is skyrocketing. In some cases, production houses have to set aside as much as 1 billion won for top-rated stars for their roles, squeezing the budget further.
Also aggravating the low-wage problem for production staff is the way profits are shared among key market players. For Korean movies, theater operators and film distributors share profits 50/50, which means the latter usually pays the bigger part of the marketing costs. This profit-sharing scheme passes the financial burden to production houses, which in turn tries to slash wage costs for production assistants to stay afloat.
Movie industry insiders said the government should do something about the distorted movie market. Both Choi and Ko argued that the state-run Korean Film Council should play a part in addressing the problem, especially practices in which production houses force assistants to sign unfair contracts.
But the Korean Film Council said it does not have any authority to twist the arms of production houses to change the practice. "Under the current laws, we do not have any power to do what some production assistants ask us to do", said Kim Tae-hyung, manager at the Korean Film Council.
Kim said the issue should be resolved between production staff, preferably unionized workers, and production houses. "If production houses commit illegal acts, the government should interfere, but low wages do not meet such condition", Kim said.
Kim said that an ideal system should take the form of a large labor union composed of movie production assistants. "Hollywood has a union system to protect production staff, but it is difficult to set up such system here because Korean production workers are reluctant to step forward for fear of losing their jobs or getting no offer for a project", Kim said.
Director Choi Dong-hoon, who made a successful feature film debut with "The Big Swindle", said he got just 2.2 million won ($1,936) a year when he worked as a low-level assistant, even though he took care of the entire movie project from pre-production to post-production. "Compared with the past, wages for assistants are getting better, but not enough", Choi said.
Choi said the biggest problem stems from the increasing amount of money main actors get for their lead roles, leaving little room for a wage hike for production staff. "As investors tend to put their money on a project only when well-known actors decide to join the project, production houses do not have any other choice but to give whatever money the actors demand", he said.
"The film market in Korea is clearly expanding, but it's very fragile in terms of profitability because of surging costs. And some people are now questioning whether Korean films can be profitable in the long term", Choi said.
Separately, a host of movie experts voiced concerns over the movie industry's bubbly growth at a forum held on Friday. Prof. Kang Han-sup of Seoul Institute of the Arts said, "The Korean film industry is not enjoying a boom but showing signs of typical bubbles led by a massive inflow of money".
By Yang Sung-jin
But some voice concerns about festering problems that might stunt the growth of the movie industry. The most worrisome is poor working conditions for production staff, according to a recent report.
The report, released by Rep. Park Hyung-jun during the parliamentary inspection in mid-October, said the movie industry is facing a potentially damaging crisis since production assistants suffer from extremely low wages and seasoned workers are in short supply.
The average monthly income of a Korean movie production staff worker is 618,000 won ($544), though they work about 14 hours a day on the average, the report said.
A film crew works on location. The people shown in this photo are not related to the contents of this article.
About 58 percent of 154 respondents who are working as production assistants have a negative outlook for the domestic movie industry, citing unfair contracts and shortage of specialists.
"Most production assistants work on movie projects because they love filmmaking. But many of them are struggling to make ends meet because of poor working conditions", said Choi Hwoa-in, legislative assistant to Rep. Park.
Choi said that even mid-level production assistants with experience of four to five years earn less than 1 million won ($880) per month, a dire situation that is driving talented staff away from the filmmaking business.
A growing number of Korean movies become box-office hits, bringing in sizable profits for producers and investors, but the rewards fail to reach underpaid production workers, she said. "These people are working in the shadow and they are deeply disillusioned about the industry's unfair practices", she said.
Strangely enough, film directors and production houses continue to secure cheap labor without any difficulty. The reason: there are too many enthusiastic film production workers who are willing to endure low wages as long as they get a part in a project.
"The movie labor market is overcrowded, but only 70 films hit the screens each year, suggesting a wide gap between supply and demand. Because human relationships are crucial to getting a post in a project, few staff members venture out to call for a fair wage or complain about delayed payment", said Ko Byung-chul, who runs an online community for local production assistants.
Ko, who has been working as a production staff in the past eight years, said most workers sign unfair contracts and remain silent even when production houses do not pay the wages in time.
In fact, the system has a long history. Most top-rated directors and cinematographers began their career as obscure assistants before climbing the ladder slowly. They often proudly talk about the hardships they underwent. Naturally, a widespread perception is that director-wannabes should willingly endure financial difficulties to create their own success stories.
Although a new generation of directors who have studied filmmaking abroad make debuts bypassing the grueling initiation process, most production staff members continue to work in harsh conditions.
While production assistants complain about low wages and poor working conditions, major production houses are squealing about ever increasing costs for filmmaking. Film industry observers said the average production cost is hovering at around 3.6 billion won ($3.16 million), marking a sharp increase from a couple of years ago.
There are two reasons. First, marketing and advertising costs are going up sharply amid brutally competitive market conditions. Second, the amount of money commanded by actors and actresses in lead roles is skyrocketing. In some cases, production houses have to set aside as much as 1 billion won for top-rated stars for their roles, squeezing the budget further.
Also aggravating the low-wage problem for production staff is the way profits are shared among key market players. For Korean movies, theater operators and film distributors share profits 50/50, which means the latter usually pays the bigger part of the marketing costs. This profit-sharing scheme passes the financial burden to production houses, which in turn tries to slash wage costs for production assistants to stay afloat.
Movie industry insiders said the government should do something about the distorted movie market. Both Choi and Ko argued that the state-run Korean Film Council should play a part in addressing the problem, especially practices in which production houses force assistants to sign unfair contracts.
But the Korean Film Council said it does not have any authority to twist the arms of production houses to change the practice. "Under the current laws, we do not have any power to do what some production assistants ask us to do", said Kim Tae-hyung, manager at the Korean Film Council.
Kim said the issue should be resolved between production staff, preferably unionized workers, and production houses. "If production houses commit illegal acts, the government should interfere, but low wages do not meet such condition", Kim said.
Kim said that an ideal system should take the form of a large labor union composed of movie production assistants. "Hollywood has a union system to protect production staff, but it is difficult to set up such system here because Korean production workers are reluctant to step forward for fear of losing their jobs or getting no offer for a project", Kim said.
Director Choi Dong-hoon, who made a successful feature film debut with "The Big Swindle", said he got just 2.2 million won ($1,936) a year when he worked as a low-level assistant, even though he took care of the entire movie project from pre-production to post-production. "Compared with the past, wages for assistants are getting better, but not enough", Choi said.
Choi said the biggest problem stems from the increasing amount of money main actors get for their lead roles, leaving little room for a wage hike for production staff. "As investors tend to put their money on a project only when well-known actors decide to join the project, production houses do not have any other choice but to give whatever money the actors demand", he said.
"The film market in Korea is clearly expanding, but it's very fragile in terms of profitability because of surging costs. And some people are now questioning whether Korean films can be profitable in the long term", Choi said.
Separately, a host of movie experts voiced concerns over the movie industry's bubbly growth at a forum held on Friday. Prof. Kang Han-sup of Seoul Institute of the Arts said, "The Korean film industry is not enjoying a boom but showing signs of typical bubbles led by a massive inflow of money".
By Yang Sung-jin
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