The Making of Korean Dramas

Behind the glamor and success of the Korean entertainment industry are the people who work their tails off to offer high-caliber dramas to dear audiences in Korea and around the world.

As with any drama-making endeavor in any entertainment industry, shooting is mostly about beating the deadline. Casts and crews almost never rest just to deliver audiences something to watch on time.

The live-shoot system is one of the things that separates Korean dramas from other dramas made in other countries. With this system, only the first four episodes of a series are usually filmed beforehand while the succeeding episodes are shot within their week of broadcast.

This format strongly focuses on audience response. Using this format allows writers to adjust a drama’s storyline based on the ratings and the feedback of viewers. With live-shooting, casts and crews are always on call for any last-minute changes in a drama’s script. This system has been used through the years, and it has been known to produce good results by prioritizing commercial viability. However, it has gained a bad name for K-dramas. Many criticize it for its filming schedules and harsh working conditions. Although this format is what is more preferred, the quality of a drama’s episodes may be downgraded because of time constraints.

Recently, some drama producers have broken away from the traditional live-shoot production format by adopting the pre-filming approach which takes the focus away from audience response. In this format, all the episodes of a drama are filmed before it gets aired. Such dramas include “Cheese in the Trap,” “Descendants of the Sun,” and “Saimdang, Light’s Diary.” The success of “Descendants of the Sun” is said to have convinced the Korean entertainment industry of the potential of pre-filmed dramas which are slowly becoming a norm.

Pre-filming allows production teams to thoroughly work on every aspect of a drama under a more stable production environment without being pressed for time. Most importantly, shooting schedules are less stressful to casts and crews. However, pre-filming may still involve reshoots and reedits while a drama is being aired. There is also a possibility that a drama’s ending may get leaked.

Although pre-filming has its own merits that are slowly being recognized by producers, experts in the industry believe that live-shooting will not go away any time soon.