Seoul – Asia’s leading content and media company CJ E&M says that its drama producing affiliation, Studio Dragon, has signed a memorandum of understanding with DramaFever, a video-streaming website owned by Warner Bros., to co-produce Korean dramas that will be available for global audience.
The agreement was announced during a keynote speech by Craig Hunegs, President of Business and Strategy, Warner Bros. Television Group, at BCWW (Broadcast World Wide) 2016’s opening ceremony held in southern Seoul. Under the MOU, Studio Dragon and DramaFever are expected to develop and produce two originals within the next three years, while discussing ways to work on remakes of existing films and television dramas.
Studio Dragon was established in May with an aim to effectively deal with changes in the market as well as to strengthen CJ E&M’s global competitiveness. The latest deal was reached as Studio Dragon sought ways to expand its audience beyond Korea by working closely with OTT service providers that have the knowledge of global demand for Korean dramas and operate video-streaming platforms.
“Studio Dragon is determined to become Asia’s No. 1 drama studio, and in order to reach the goal, we plan to work with industry leaders home and abroad to provide unrivalled content for audience. We’re bolstering our competitiveness in content development, story-telling and production through various international partnerships and co-production deals,” says Jinnie Choi, President of Studio Dragon.
Craig Hunegs also noted that he was delighted to see Warner Bros join hands with Studio Dragon at what he believes is a critical time for global content business in which Korean dramas, along with K-pop, are leading the popularity of Korean culture overseas.
Prior to the latest deal, CJ E&M and DramaFever had been enjoying a close relationship. The video-streaming service utilized CJ’s popular Korean culture convention, called KCON, as its key marketing tool to interact with audiences, aged 18 to 24 years old, who are avid fans of Korean pop culture.
Having recognised in 2010 by the Korean Creative Content Agency and the culture ministry of the Republic of Korea, DramaFever was acquired by Warner Bros. from Japan’s SoftBank Group early this year, and has been organising its own awards ceremony each year since 2013.
