Actors’ pay and ratings
wulijohyunjae | June 14, 2010 | 7:00 amThis is prissymom’s response to our June 10 post “Korean actors’ pay hit the roof”.
When I read the article “Korean actors’ pay hit the roof”, I couldn’t help but wonder if the actors whose salaries were mentioned in the article have been earning their keep. The only way to find out is to look at the performance of their latest dramas in the ratings.
Before I go any further, let me make it clear that I don’t believe that a high rating necessarily means good quality drama. There are a number of dramas that raked in the ratings, but the quality (story, directing, writing and acting) is so bad that it boggles my mind how anyone could watch those dramas without their brains turning to mush. Then there are dramas that had low ratings but are so beautiful that even years later are still talked about and watched by K-drama lovers (case in point is JHJ’s “Love Letter”.)
I just choose ratings as my parameter for assessing actor’s performance because it is a number: numbers don’t lie; they are very objective. And because, whether we like it or not, drama ratings are very important to all the people involved in a drama production.
With that said, let me present the result of my research:
Bae Young-Jun
Drama: “The Legend” (2007)
Salary/episode: 250 M KRW (bonuses included)
Average Rating Nationwide: 29.4 %
Additional details: The drama took 1 year and 9 months to finish and boasted a budget of 45 B KRW.
Note: Budget is almost double that of “Iris”, but the rating is slightly lower than “Iris”.
Lee Byung-Hun
Drama: “Iris”
Salary/episode: 100 M KRW (including bonuses)
Average Rating Nationwide: 31.9 %
Additional details: Budget is USD 20 M or about 25 B KRW (based on 06.13.2010 exchange rate 1 USD = 1250.60 KRW).
Song Seung-Hun
Drama: “East of Eden” (2008 - his comeback drama after his military service)
Salary/episode: 70 M KRW
Average Rating Nationwide: 24.8 %
Additional details: Budget is tagged at 25 B KRW.
Note: Budget is about the same as “Iris”, but the rating is a lot lower than “Iris”.
Kwon Sang-Woo
Drama: ”Cinderella Man” (2009)
Salary/episode: 50 M KRW (2008 figure)
Average Rating Nationwide: 8.2 %
Park Shin-Yang
Drama: ”Painter of the Wind” (2008)
Salary/episode: 50 M KRW
Average Rating Nationwide: 13.2 %
Note: PSY has been suspended from acting pending a court case regarding salary dispute with the producers of his 2007 drama “Money’s Warfare” (how apt!) which rated quite well (32.8 % nationwide.)
Lee Jung-Jae
Drama: ”Triple” (2009)
Salary/episode: 50 M KRW
Average Rating Nationwide: 6.6 %
Choi Ji-Woo
Drama: ”A Star’s Lover” (2008)
Salary/episode: 48 M KRW
Average Rating Nationwide: 7.47 %
Note: This drama has 20 episodes but the average rating I listed here is for 17 episodes only. No rating is available for 3 episodes (the rating is so low that it didn’t make it to the daily top 20 shows.)
Song Il-Gook
Drama: “A Man Called God” (2010)
Salary/episode: 40 M KRW
Average Rating Nationwide: 14.5 %
Note: “A Man Called God” is a weekend drama - hit weekend dramas normally post average ratings in the 30 % range.
Ko Hyun-Jung
Drama: ”Queen Seon-Deok” (2009)
Salary/episode: 35 M KRW (2008 figure)
Average Rating Nationwide: 35.4 %
Note: Considered to be the monster hit of 2009, the highest rating the drama received was 46.7 %, but after GHJ’s character, Mishil, was killed off, the drama’s rating started to go down.
A BIG raise? No one deserves more!
In the article “Korean actors’ pay hit the roof”, wuliJHJ made this closing statement: “As I was translating, I kept thinking about Jo Hyun-Jae. I hope he gets a BIG pay raise for his comeback drama — he’s so worth it!”
Reviewing the result of my little research, all I can say is that if JHJ isn’t still in the 50-100 M KRW per episode salary range when he makes his comeback, then it’s about time! GIVE HIM A RAISE, Producers!!!
(Credit: All TV ratings [rom TNS Media] and production budgets mentioned in this article are from www.wiki.d-addicts.com; the actors’ salaries are from the 06.10.2010 article posted on this blog.)
I hope that JHJ will get a rather good raise after his comeback, let’s keep our fingers crossed!
An actor’s real worth and his actual pay are not always in direct proportion. Quite a few of the actors listed above are obviously overpaid, but that’s their market value. Whatever JHJ is paid, he will always do his best. I just hope he gets to work on one drama/movie after another.
” I just hope he gets to work on one drama/movie after another.”
However, I do hope that JHJ can earn more money .
Michelle, we also hope JHJ can earn more money. If he keeps working, that means he is in demand as an actor, and that will rake in the cash. Of course we think he should be paid millions per episode!
More work, higher salary, and high ratings – that would be the ideal; an acting award would be a bonus!!!