MANILA, Philippines — According to celebrity influencer Richard Juan, who recently gained attention for recreating the looks of prominent Korean stars like Kim Soo-Hyun and Park Seo-Joon, the Philippines can learn a thing or two from K-Dramas.
A teleserye star himself, the “Love Thy Woman” actor maintained that “better” is a subjective word but admitted that K-Dramas have a leg up for a few good reasons.
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“I can say that what makes K-Drama good is because everything is so well thought of and everything is so well-produced. When I say well-produced, meaning, one, they spend so much money on it, and two, they really plan every single thing out properly,” Richard told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview.
He cited the script and cinematography, in particular, noting that the Philippines may be attempting to achieve the same caliber but is unable to do so due to budget and time constraints.
“S'yempre kasi in Korea, (when) they produce a show, their budget is for example one million. Dito sa Pilipinas, ang budget natin baka mga 100,000 lang. Kasi syempre, they can sell their content internationally unlike here in the Philippines, gan'on lang talaga. Nabebenta natin sa Philippines lang. So advertisers are different, the amount of money that they give is different, which makes it difficult to produce quality that is that high,” Richard explained.
The solution, he thinks, could be learning from the Korean model in terms of investing more into Filipino culture.
“I think we need more investment or more support from the government in art. Kasi if I'm not mistaken, there is very minimal suporta from the government in terms of TV, in terms of the film production, everything.”
This in comparison to South Korea, which Richard says invests so much more on its K-Pop and K-Drama scene.
“They invest so much there kasi they see this as a way for the country to grow. Not just the industry, but also the economy, but also the tourism. The Korean government does see the value to invest in this part kasi they knew that they would generate income in terms of economy and of course also for tourism. And that's something that sadly, not a lot of countries see.”
He also mentioned Thailand and its popular Boys Love (BL) content that similarly promotes Thai culture.
“So in a way, I guess Philippines has to find their niche, the niche to tell a story that is different from everywhere else in the world but is at the same time relatable.” — Video by Efigenio Toledo IV
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