MBC scrambles to film Hotel King in wake of PD departure

by javabeans

Oy, what a mess. There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle going on over at MBC, particularly over this past weekend when the drama Hotel King suddenly cut its main PD and had to scramble to get directing duties covered. The situation has elicited some criticism, not least because it all seems very messily handled; based on the statements being issued, nobody even knows what happened, and the explanations have been vague in the extreme.

Let’s start with what we do know. Hotel King kicked off with two PDs at the helm, Kim Dae-jin (previous works: Be Like Today, Tasty Life, Golden Age of My Life) and Jang Joon-ho (Aurora Princess). The drama operates two filming teams, with each PD directing one of them. But on May 12, it was decided (without warning, it seems) that Kim Dae-jin would leave the production. “Leave” is the nice word; “fired” is the understanding. No details were given on the specifics of the discussions leading to his firing.

MBC did try to assert that PD Kim Dae-jin left due to personal reasons, but Kim gave an interview stating that he was unceremoniously fired because writer Jo Eun-jung demanded it (previous works: Feast of the Gods, Goldfish). It’s less clear about the circumstances of the second PD’s circumstances; the news stories are focusing on Kim, but it was reported that PD Jang has also left the show.

On May 13, an emergency meeting was convened with MBC’s drama department PDs, although notably, Kim Dae-jin was not present. As a result, according to one PD who attended the meeting, there were gaps in understanding of the full situation (you think?), and thus another meeting will be held in short order with the entire department to decide what to do about the PD situation.

As of May 14, it was reported that directing duties had been divided between two other producers, Choi Byung-gil (Would You Give Love Away, When a Man Loves) and CP Kim Jin-min (God of War, Road No. 1). What’s unusual about this (aside from the obvious) is that a CP, a chief producer overseeing the whole production, is a high-level executive and not someone who gets involved in the actual filming duties, so clearly this is an emergency stopgap measure. It’s so unusual for a CP to assume director duties that the last time it occurred was during the 2012 labor strike, when the extreme situation forced the issue. Hotel King does still have episodes to put out, though, and they want to stay on schedule.

A representative from MBC stated in an interview, “The reason for the PD switch has not been clearly divulged. We will have to look into the truth of whether PD Kim Dae-jin made an error that merited his departure, or whether writer Jo Eun-jung demanded that he be fired. …We have not yet heard the stories from the involved parties directly. We will have to hear from them first.” You’d think they’d attend to that before issuing statements to the public, but what do I know, I’m not running a broadcast station.

Hotel King airs on Saturdays and Sundays, and has currently broadcast 10 of its planned 32 episodes.

Via Ten Asia, TV Report, My Daily

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