Another case of unpaid appearance fees has arisen. This time, animal trainer Kang Hyung Wook, Lee Kyung Kyu, Jang Do Yeon, and staff members of Dogs Are Incredible are the victims.
On the situation, KBS announced on January 13th that it has terminated its contract with Coen Media, a former outsourcing production company, and is signing with a new production company. As a result, the shoot for this program will take a week off to reorganize, while the show will be regularly aired as there are spare contents.
Controversy over unpaid appearance fees of Dogs Are Incredible was raised for the first time on the 8th of this month. At the time KBS drew a line, saying, “It is a management problem of the outsourced production company.” The incident occurred as Coen Media suffered from management problems, even after KBS paid all of its production costs. As a result, they were not able to avoid the voices of concerns on this event.
Unpaid appearance fees are a recurring issue of the media industry. Last year, it was reported that cast and staff members of TV Chosun’s Shopping King were not paid properly. There are numerous cases like this, such as SBS Plus’s Let the Two of Us Leave (literal title) and tvN’s The Bunker. Looking back, only the cast and staff were left to feel frustrated.
The common point of all of these cases is that each broadcasting company paid the promised production costs to the outsourced production company, but the outsourced company did not pay the appearance fees and wages. Though outsourced producers are indeed primarily responsible for the unpaid fees, the irresponsible attitude of original broadcasting companies is also questionable. Ultimately, realistic measures are needed to solve the constant occurrence of unpaid fees and wages.
The unpaid fees have just hit upon Dogs Are Incredible, a show which has just surpassed its first anniversary. A fundamental measure seems to be urgently needed for a smooth solution.
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