[News] “Where are the young men?” — TV drama production companies’ outcry.

ong Joong Ki, Yoo Ah In, Lee Min Ho — actively participating in movies Drama production companies experiencing shortage of actors in their 20s The movies are experiencing a bountiful year but the drama world is undergoing a terrible drought. TV prime time dramas are having serious trouble finding actors in their 20s. Amidst the general shortage of actors in their 20s in the entertainment field, most of the young stars who have risen to stardom are all turning their sights to movies, leaving dramas that are to be broadcasted next year to undergo repeated casting difficulties. The representative young actors in their 20s who have risen to take on main lead roles include Yoo Ah In, Jang Geun Suk, Song Joong Ki, Lee Min Ho, etc, can be counted with five fingers, evidencing the sparsity of them. Having taken on leading roles and having heightened profiles, they are more interested in movies, where the schedule is more easily amendable compared to dramas. Song Joong Ki who have hit ceiling high in popularity due to the drama “Deep Rooted Tree” will be commencing filming his new movie ‘Wolf Boy’ in December. Yoo Ah In, who’s riding on the popularity of his movie ‘Wan Deuki’ is not putting his eyes on dramas, but is currently reviewing scripts for movies. Lee Min Ho, who recently appeared in the drama ‘City Hunter’ is also examining several movie scripts, and plans to advance towards movies next year. Given such conditions, it’s no wonder that drama production companies are having a hard time selecting leads for next year’s dramas. MBC’s ‘Moon that conceals the sun’ and ‘Absolute Boyfriend’, KBS 2TV’s ‘Doll mask’, SBS ‘Dae-Poong-Su’ and other dramas are mostly facing the same problem. Although ‘Moon that conceals the sun’ has already found its main male lead in the form of Kim Su Hyun, they still haven’t found the other male lead who will purportedly carry the same weight of importance as the main male lead. A representative from a drama production company who is currently preparing for a ~3 million USD drama next year revealed “actors in their 20s are few to start out with, being able to find a suitable actor and go all the way to clinch the deal is similar to walking on thin ice.” Source: Sports Donga Translation: webby @ soompi