The recently released media reports might explain why “One Dollar Lawyer” episode count went down despite its success.
Its being reported that the frequent cancellations of SBS’ Friday-Saturday drama “One Dollar Lawyer” and the early ending of the drama have been the starting point of conflict between the production company Studio S and the screenwriter.
With the final episode remaining to air on November 11, “One Dollar Lawyer” recorded the highest viewer rating (15%) in the eighth episode thanks to an interesting and exhilarating storyline, and viewers even praised Namgoong Min as an actor can be trusted to watch any work. “One Dollar Lawyer” revived the ratings when the previous work “Today’s Webtoon” ended with low ratings of 1.6%.
However, inside, there were testimonies that it seemed like walking on thin ice due to the fear of breaking the board. An official from “One Dollar Lawyer,” who wanted to be anonymous, said ,
Studio S, an outsourced production company created by drama producers who were SBS employees, generally reacted differently to the criticism, “Didn’t you handle the stream a little roughly?” He succeeded in casting a trustworthy actor Namgoon Min, and the viewer rating exceeded expectations, and the atmosphere at the beginning was very good. However, it is said that the conflict between Studio S and the screenwriter arose from the 5th and 6th scripts, and there was an unnecessary war of nerves. This is the background of the late script, request for correction, and delay in filming.
Excessive PPL was also one of the reasons for this situation. As they have become executives of new production companies who have to survive, not PDs who used to get paid regularly, they have reportedly placed excessive PPLs in the “One Dollar Lawyer” and deepened their conflict with the writers. A PPL official said, “I doubted the intention of “One Dollar Lawyer” because several blatant PPLs appeared from the beginning of the drama, which seemed to be advertising openly.”
In fact, various PPLs such as coffee mixes, braised spicy chicken, snacks, and health supplemental foods appeared constantly in “One Dollar Lawyer,” and after Namgoong Min drank the coffee made by the office manager, praised it, or watched and ate the late-night snacks and said, “I hate braised spicy chicken, but it’s delicious to eat with spaghetti.” It was unusual for the main actor to directly participate in PPL, compared to the supporting actor’s blunt mention of the product.
However, PPL cannot be viewed as a production company’s fault. This is because the reality is that in order to raise production costs that fall short because the broadcaster does not support the entire production cost, sponsorship and PPL must be actively attracted. Therefore, more and more scripts are going to Netflix, which pays for the entire production cost and does not involve itself in scripts or editing. A chief example of this was ENA’s “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”
There are also talks related to the OTT platform Disney+. “One Dollar Lawyer” sold broadcasting rights to Wavve and Disney+, especially thanks to Disney+, it ranked first in Taiwan and second in Singapore. However, during the contract process, some complained that Studio S did not consider native OTT, a joint venture between the three terrestrial broadcasters and SK Telecom.
The fee was only 1,000 won ($0.72), and the pleasant and exhilarating revenge drama “One Dollar Lawyer” by lawyer Chun Ji Hoon, who has the best skills, was decided to end early with 12 episodes, from 14 episodes. In response, SBS said that it was done for a speedy and high-quality development but somehow this response sounded strange. “One Dollar Lawyer” was canceled three times in a row last month and this month, broadcasting only once a week for three weeks, causing viewers to complain.
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