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100% Meaningless: "Cheese In The Trap" before and after changes

'Pre-production' is a rare keyword.

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Whether or not a drama aims for the Hallyu Wave in the Chinse market or whether it aims for a high quality result, Korea has been putting a lot of thought in 'pre-production' and some are putting their thoughts into action.

There are 4 dramas that are already claiming 'pre-production'. Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo's "Descendants of the Sun", Lee Young-ae and Song Seung-heon's "Saimdang: Light's Diary", Park Seo-joon and Park Hyung-sik's "Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth" and Lee Joon-gi and Lee Ji-eun's "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo". But will they succeed?

Some say the principal agent is not about making it 100% successful. That means, if there's investment and a budget to pre-make a drama then it's not a difficult thing to do. The question should be, 'will the drama be successful in editing the pre-made contents of the drama into a successful one?'

Several are worried about the words '100% pre-made'. The whole idea behind 'pre-production' is not being short of time and having the time to put the drama in a path where they want it.

Others say, "Whether it be 100% or 90% or 50% complete, what matters is that the Korean drama production environment is finding a way to break the old system. It's not a great thing that a drama has been 100% complete and we can't be sure if the drama is of high quality. Success lies in the hands of editing and supplementation. That process needs to be intensified".

tvN drama "Cheese in the Trap" is probably going to be one of the first successful 'pre-made' dramas in Korea. It started filming at the end of last year and aimed for a completion percentage of 50%. This doesn't mean 8 episodes out of 16 now, then the rest later. Fourteen episodes have already been released via script and the filming is in process. What's left are the fifteenth and sixteenth episodes.

"Cheese in the Trap" is going to be cautious about the last two episodes. It's focusing on the response of the public. The pre-made parts of the drama are turning out to be more fun than they expected and if they seem boring, there is room for improvement. "Cheese in the Trap" has in fact, re-filmed some parts and has made improvements here and there.

The term 'repair' is being used. "The spare time that we have allows us to discuss matters and resolve them in reasonable ways. It's all thanks to the fourteen episodes that we 'pre-made' in the beginning".

Being 100% complete is not about completing the whole drama before it goes out on air but it's about having all the crew, staff, cast and public satisfied with the drama. Compared to the original web-toon, "Cheese in the Trap" has a lot of flaws but so far it has a good vibe.

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