Age of Feeling caught up in budget woes and controversy

[shinywrappers.livejournal.com]

There sure is a lot of drama about this drama, which has pretty much been the case from Day 1. So now on top of struggling to cast a hero, swapping a main actress, getting its timeslot taken away, dropping the head writer, and firing one of the stars, now Age of Feeling is also struggling to pay its bills. Oy! Good grief.

The news is twofold: that the show has exceeded its production budget, and also failed to pay its actors and crew. I think this calls for a second OY! And GOOD GRIEF.



According to news reports, the production has failed to pay both its cast and staff for last month’s salary. Criticism swirled after news broke, at which point the production side hurried to do damage control and issued statements that it wasn’t a failure to pay, but a negotiation of amounts over a difference of opinion. Insert skeptical side-eye here.

One rep with production company Ray & Mo stated that they had planned to issue back payments on the 17th, but because of the exceeded budget (by several hundreds of million won, which translates to several hundreds of thousand dollars [op: emphasis mine]), they are not sure how much they can currently afford to pay. According to that source, negotiations are underway to pin down when these payments can be made up to both KBS and their underwater budget.

KBS issued its own official statement on the 13th, pointing out that payments were made without any differences of opinion last year, from September through November. However, beginning in December and January, differences started to arise, leading to the current situation requiring negotiations. The instant a decision is reached, they plan to pay. The rep added that every actor and staffer has their own terms of payment (in advance, after-the-fact, in installments, etc), which adds to the complications, but stated that they have every belief the production will pay up, and that the criticism was premature. (Or was it.)

Adding to the kerfuffle is a smaller dust-up about actress Jin Se-yeon, who is attracting criticism for her habit of taking on overlapping projects. She recently added Doctor Stranger to her schedule, and filming will cut into her time on Age of Feeling, which is on Episode 18 of its 24-episode run. Once instance is hardly anything to get upset about, but Jin does have a history of overbooking projects, and it’s gotten to the point where each additional instance increases the volume of complaints raised against her. (She started Gaksital while still starring as the lead in My Daughter the Flower, then when Gaksital was still going she started Five Fingers. Valid complaint or tempest in a teapot?



[source: dramabeans]
First post! Is anyone else watching this pretty trainwreck?

Comments

[lovelyxbeauty.livejournal.com]

I like this drama and it's nice to see improvement in the acting department from KHJ, but the whole behind the scenes is a complete mess and I don't think this drama will be sold to other countries (mainly Japan) so I don't see how it is going to make up it's budget :/

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

idk, khj popularity in japan maybe could make it happen...

[shinywrappers.livejournal.com]

iirc they were counting on the Chinese market early on, particularly since it partly takes place there. idk how that's panned out though.

[songchoding.livejournal.com]

I am so behind on this drama...I started to watch for KHJ but then I fell for his child actor oop

[theyashead.livejournal.com]

omg i thought that was only me <3

[songchoding.livejournal.com]

he is so cute smh

[edanz-castle.livejournal.com]

Oh man that child actor was good! I missed him after awhile. I give it to the person who casted KHJ and that child actor. They look so much alike.

[songchoding.livejournal.com]

yeah i was really surprised when i saw how similar they looked to each other !

oh so there's no more scenes of him after a while? he's the only one in that drama that gave a good enough reason to keep on watching....oh well...

Spoilers? Maybe...probably?

[keithfan-sra.livejournal.com]

This is one of those dramas you start watching to see just one actor and then you get pulled in to all the other actors/characters. I was happy to see Kim Jae Wook in it when I first started watching, but he disappeared after....episode 8 or so? However at some point Leader Mo arrives on the scene....and all of a sudden I have a new favorite character to watch. (Was actually pretty worried he was going to die in that fight with Shin Jung Tae, but thankfully that did not happen. Whew.)
And I am glad the boys are finally gonna get their act together and try to take down that evil leader as a group instead of individually. Why they hadn't joined forces earlier is beyond me...maybe all it took was having your family/girlfriend threatened/arrested and imprisoned and then being forced to start a drug trade? Next week should be interesting as Shin Jung Tae has been ordered to kill Jung Jae Hwa and take over Club Shanghai.
I must admit there has been times Gaya had me perturbed but lately I like her guts. Also,whereas Gaya can pretty much protect herself, Ok Ryeon is completely the opposite and is such an easy target for anyone that is Shin Jung Tae's enemy. (I guess her character taking fighting lessons along side singing lessons is something the writer is not concerned with...shrugs)

Re: Spoilers? Maybe...probably?

[hibaalhadid.livejournal.com]

you are me, I started watching for KHJ, but ended rooting for leader Mo

[antrea.livejournal.com]

Wow this is a mess... I stopped watching in ep 11 bc suddenly the plot just irritated the hell out of me.

[shinywrappers.livejournal.com]

11 and 12 were the worst. You can skip them without missing out on anything important lol. It picks back up, but the plot of the series has changed lanes

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

ugh jin se yeon (who plays ok ryeon) worries me because she's made things tense last week by skipping out on filming age of feelings (all pre-arranged, but still unprofessional and rude) and flying to hungary for a week for dr. stranger filming. i don't understand why anyone would film two dramas at the same time when you know that one of them is extremely tight on schedule???

[hibaalhadid.livejournal.com]

I started watching it after You Who Came From The Stars, just finished episode 8, I like it so far, hope they solve their problems and wont affect the filming

[mlmello.livejournal.com]

the only thing that keeps me watching this drama is the number of handsome actors in it.

[heysupbro.livejournal.com]

OP, I'm not sure if you're aware, but dramabeans doesn't allow reposts of their articles (http://www.dramabeans.com/faq/).

[shinywrappers.livejournal.com]

Ack! No, I wasn't aware. Do you know if I'm allowed to delete this post then or do I need to contact a mod here to do it for me?

[anathema-switch.livejournal.com]

just take out a portion and link / continue at source.

[edanz-castle.livejournal.com]

I'm just now behind on it. I was caught up on it but then I started watching Empress Ki in like 3 days and it messed up everything I'm currently watching because now I'm so into Empress Ki.

But there is so much going on in the plot that I get so confused. And as much as I don't mind the fighting scenes, I want more of the romance. I was sad that Kim Jaewook left but with all those attractive male actors in it, I got over it pretty quick lol.