Top Korean Production Companies Eye Global Content Market

Barunson E&A and AStory, two of the top production companies in the Korean market, joined hands to form a strategic alliance, which was announced late last month. The companies will jointly develop IP and deliver projects for the international content market by sharing each other’s creators and existing IP, which an eye towards targeting global streamers. 

The new partners are especially hoping to spin their in-house properties into multi-platform, so-called OSMU (One Source Multi Use) content. OSMU is a local term that was coined several years ago when local properties such as Miss Granny (2014) became the blueprints for a wide variety of local language remakes around the world. 

Barunson E&A made history last year when their film Parasite (2019), from director Bong Joonho, became the first foreign language film to nab the Best Picture Award at the Academy Awards, as well as three other prizes. 

Prior to Parasite, Barunson teamed with Bong on Mother (2009), and their partnership will extend to a future two Korean language projects, one of which is an as-yet-untitled animated story about humans and deep-sea creatures. Other prior Barunson productions include Kim Jeewoon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008) and the hit series Descendants of the Sun. 

The company has several other new partnerships underway, with creators such as Kingdom director Kim Seonghun, SEOBOK filmmaker Lee Yongjoo and VANISHING TIME: A BOY WHO RETURNED (2016) director Uhm Taehwa.

AStory, which focuses on drama projects, has brought many hit shows to the screen, including those from popular Kim Eunhee, such as Signal, Netflix’s Kingdom and the currently on-air Jirisan. Other major properties include 100 Days My Prince and the current run of Saturday Night Live Korea airing on Coupang Play.