| KBS producer Kim Jong-sik has worked on many popular dramas: Autumn Story, Winter Ballad, Yellow Handkerchief and Full House, to name a few. He reported that of the seasonal dramas, Autumn Story had the highest ratings in Korea, followed by Winter Ballad. He said that Summer Scent did not do too well. He also reported that the next seasonal drama will be Spring Waltz, which will be shown in Spring 2006. It will emphasize flowers. In Korea, the flowers start blooming first in the South and then move up to the North. That means that filming of Spring Waltz will start in the South and then move northward as the flowers peak in the North. Mr. Kim also acknowledged that viewers' reactions have a significant impact on the outcome of the dramas. In Korea, the dramas are not completed in full before the first episode is aired. This has its advantages since Korea is very high tech and viewers' ratings can be monitored by the minute. This alerts producers and screenwriters to which storylines and stars are popular, and allows the producers and screenwriters to change the script or stars along the way to avoid low ratings. For example, Mr. Kim disclosed that the ending for Conditions of Love (which ended the same weekend as the symposium) was changed in response to viewer reactions. |
