In 2021, it was almost impossible to escape the cultural phenomenon of the South Korean series “Squid Game.” The show, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, told the story of 456 cash-strapped contestants playing children’s games to the death. All in hopes of winning a ₩45.6 billion prize.
It was a landmark show that quickly became the most popular series in Netflix’s history. “Squid Game” was also nominated for 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 6, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for star Lee Jung-jae, making him the first Asian actor to win the award for a non-English speaking role.
Netflix produced the series for about $2.4 million per episode. For comparison, their other hit show “Stranger Things” season 4 cost $30 million per episode to produce. While $2.4 million may sound like a lot, it’s estimated between the show increased the company’s value by roughly $900 million. And with a second season, possible reality TV spin-off, and licensed merchandise, that number is only expected to grow.
So you’d assume with great success comes a big fat paycheck for Dong-hyuk, but unfortunately this is not the case. The higher-ups at Netflix saw most of those profits, not the creative team that did all the work to make “Squid Game.” The creator’s contract even included forfeiture of all intellectual property rights and residuals.
The truth of the matter is the creatives behind “Squid Game“’s story are far from unheard of. Alex O’Keefe, one of the writers of the hit “The Bear” accepted the Writer Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Comedy Series. All while he was wearing a bow tie bought on a credit card because he had a negative bank account balance.
This is a huge part of the reason the WGA is heading into its second month of striking, grinding several big-budget productions to a halt.
One of the WGA’s major sticking points is to “establish a viewership-based residual — in addition to existing fixed residual — to reward programs with greater viewership.” Basically, now that streaming is such a force in entertainment, it’s time to update the way things are structured. Making it so people creating the content are fairly compensated. But streamers are resistant to this change for obvious financial reasons. Apparently forgetting it’s almost impossible to make content while people are worried about keeping a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. “It’s hard to think clearly when it’s 38 degrees,” as NOFX once quipped.
But these terms would also require all streamers to release transparent viewership numbers for their entire library. While keeping them from hoarding the exorbitant profits made from highly viewed shows and movies. Creative teams can no longer wait for these profits to maybe, eventually [read as never] trickle down to them.
While Netflix is far from the only streamer doing this, “Squid Game” is a perfect example of a fundamental issue in the industry. They have already been looking to South Korea for content, adding other hit shows like “All Of Us Are Dead” and “Hellbound.” It’s assumed this trend will continue since productions outside of the US don’t usually subscribe to WGA rules. But really this is just outsourcing labor exploitation.
“It all comes down to labor costs,” Kim Ki-young, president of the Broadcasting Staffs Union, which represents production crews, said. “There is a staggering amount of unpaid labor being done.”
“We pay fair, highly competitive rates with our K-Content creators and set clear standards for our Korean production partners, who produce all our shows and movies,” Netflix said in a response statement. “These standards meet or exceed Korean law.”
South Korea’s labor laws are considerably laxer than Hollywood’s, for example, Netflix’s K-content pays a day rate. In the US a day is a 10-hour turnaround limit for IATSE workers. In South Korea, a production day is considered “one unbroken stretch of filming.” It does not matter if that stretch of filming goes past 24 hours. Labor exploitation like this is why unions were established in the US, to begin with.
“It’s important to us that we remain competitive and promote a healthy ecosystem, and in the case of a show’s success, we make sure that creators are compensated in a right manner in the next season,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-Chief Executive, said after a visit to South Korea.
The issue here is there is rarely a way to guarantee a show’s success before it’s first season. And even after that it can sometimes to be dicey to predict viewership for follow-up seasons. So what about new shows like “Squid Game” that take off in their first season? Is the creative team expected to make an entire season as basically a proof of concept that the series is viable? And what about films that don’t intend to become franchises? What happens there? Not to mention Netflix’s long history of canceling seemingly successful shows for no apparent reason. (Another thing transparent viewership numbers may mess with.)
But in all of this, it seems like Dong-hyuk is getting a more lucrative deal for “Squid Game” season 2. Meaning Netflix is at least keeping its word on one successful show that’s getting a follow-up season. Though Dong-hyuk is also a very outspoken advocate for a bill that would legally mandate residuals to film and TV creators.
“I ask you to look beyond the short term and approach this as a step toward nurturing the entire ecosystem,” he said in a recorded video for the National Assembly. “In order for there to be the next ‘Squid Game’ or the next ‘Parasite,’ the livelihoods of creators must be ensured.”
