"Discovering Gem-like K-Content"... Baehyun-jin Proposes Cultural Promotion Act to Support 'From Planning to Export'

Proposed Amendment to the Basic Act on Cultural Industry Promotion
Baehyeonjin: "Starting projects often hindered by lack of funds"

Although K-culture, including movies, dramas, and webtoons, has captivated people worldwide, a bill supporting domestic companies facing the risk of content abandonment due to production cost issues has been submitted to the National Assembly.

On the 24th, Bae Hyun-jin, a member of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly from the People Power Party, took the lead in proposing a revision to the Framework Act on Cultural Industry Promotion, which focuses on supporting domestic content companies struggling to secure production costs from the planning and development stages.

According to the economic ripple effects estimated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) through the 2020 Bank of Korea input-output table, the total production and value-added inducement effect over the next 10 years is expected to reach 8.554 trillion won, and the employment and job inducement effect is projected to be 29,328 people, revitalizing the K-content ecosystem that had been dormant since COVID-19.

In line with this, the MCST has supported competitive content such as the movie Crime City 4, the drama Boyhood, and the webtoon Lookism through cultural industry completion guarantees.

However, the current system only supports the completion of projects with sales contracts, making it impossible to provide guarantees during the planning, development, and distribution stages. As a result, small content companies often fail to receive proper support in time, even if they have innovative content.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

By expanding the guarantee supply, which was previously limited to projects with pre-sales contracts, to cover all stages from planning, development, and distribution (specialized guarantees) to export (export guarantees), a cultural industry guarantee system providing tailored guarantees at each stage will be established. According to Representative Bae, the MCST plans to supply approximately 900 billion won in guarantees by 2027.

Representative Bae stated, "It is common for brilliant ideas capable of world-class production to fail to even start due to lack of funds," adding, "With strong national support from idea discovery to production completion, a foundation will be laid for the birth of a second Boyhood or Lookism, which are excellent examples of completion guarantees."