Scripted

Warner Bros Entertainment has appointed two execs from its recently acquired streamer DramaFever to oversee its Korean scripted series.

Suk Park and Hyun Park have been named co-heads of production and acquisitions for Korean drama at Warner Bros and will be responsible for acquiring and producing TV content for the Korean market.

The brothers will also licence Korean formats for the US and import Warner Bros TV formats such as The Mentalist into Korea, reporting to Craig Hunegs and Marc Gareton.

The former is president of Warner Bros Digital Networks and president of business and strategy at Warner Bros TV, while Gareton is exec VP in Asia Pacific for Warner Bros Home Entertainment & International Production.

Suk is based in New York and Hyun in Seoul, with the duo reporting to Hunegs for DramaFever-related projects and Gareton regarding international production matters. Suk and Hyun first joined the Warner Bros family in 2016 when the US giant acquired DramaFever, the streaming company Suk co-founded in 2009 with Seung Bak. It is now part of Warner Bros’ Digital Networks division. “Suk’s great creative taste and relationships with the top Korean production companies and talent have made DramaFever the number-one destination for Korean programming in America,” Hunegs said. “With Suk’s new role further enhancing our presence in Korea and Asia, DramaFever is poised for continuing rapid growth.”

Gareton added that Hyun’s “great strategic insight and experience” and “incredible knowledge” would be “invaluable as we underline our commitment to local talent and local content in Korea, which now includes TV drama as well as our established film production.”

Warner Bros acquired New York-headquartered DramaFever from Japanese telecom firm Softbank. It offers thousands of hours of content including popular Korean dramas, translated into English, Spanish and Portuguese, across a range of devices.

Suk previously served as DramaFever president, overseeing the company’s growth over the past decade, while Hyun was VP from 2012 and focused on licensing Korean content into the service and building local partnerships.

Earlier this year Warner Bros appointed Rena Liu as general manager of the streaming platform. Korean dramas have become popular around the world over recent years, with scripted format sales also enjoying success. ABC in the US recently ordered a second season of its freshman medical drama The Good Doctor, which is based on the Korean series of the same name.