{"id":17514,"date":"2022-09-20T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2022-09-21T09:08:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T13:08:51","slug":"squid-games-emmys-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"Squid Game\u2019s Emmys Breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking at a press conference in Seoul on the heels of their Emmy wins, <\/em>Squid Game‘s Hwang Dong-hyuk and Kim Ji-yeon weighed in on what the show’s global success and critical acclaim mean for the Korean content business.<\/em><\/p>\n

Squid Game<\/em> was arguably the biggest scripted success story in 2021. Launched globally on Netflix in mid-September last year, the Korean original gradually built buzz over the next few weeks. Per the streamer\u2019s Q4 results, the show generated 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first four weeks streaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game<\/em> to life last year,\u201d Hwang, the show\u2019s creator, writer and director, said in announcing the second season renewal this summer. \u201cBut it took 12 days for Squid Game<\/em> to become the most popular Netflix series ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than being a megahit for Netflix, the show also broke new ground when it was nominated for a whopping 14 Emmys, including outstanding drama series. While it was bested in that category by HBO\u2019s Succession<\/em>, Squid Game<\/em> did land Hwang a statue for outstanding direction, with additional wins for star Lee Jung-jae in the competitive lead actor category and guest star Lee You-mi. In total, the show took home six Emmys, with wins in the special effects, stunts and production design categories.<\/p>\n

At a press conference organized by Netflix in Seoul last week, Hwang was asked repeatedly what the show\u2019s global success and critical acclaim means for the Korean content business in general. \u201cI\u2019m spending most of my time on my creative work, so I haven\u2019t really contemplated the direction for the industry,\u201d Hwang said, noting that he\u2019s currently writing season two, which is expected to go into production next year. \u201cI had actually conceived of the idea for Squid Game<\/em> as a feature film. Netflix coming into being brought about a great opportunity for the overall industry. And, of course, for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim, CEO and founder of Siren Pictures and executive producer on the show, discussed how she saw series potential in Hwang\u2019s original film concept. \u201cThat notion of a series of children\u2019s games played by adults, with their lives at risk, was so intriguing and led to me asking, What would I do in their shoes? I thought that really resonated with a lot of people. We have all seen survival games portrayed in Japanese content before. But when you look at those things, you feel like, if I\u2019m put in those games, I will die in an instant! When you look at the games in Squid Game<\/em>, maybe if I am lucky, I might be able to survive. That motif was really key. Because of the stories within it, I thought a series would be much better than a feature film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching the show build traction in its first weeks, Hwang said he felt \u201clike we were living in a different era. Many countries around the world are [understanding] how we process this. How do we work with these changes? There are a lot of talks about how we can institutionally support K-content in the industry and that\u2019s extremely important. Based on my experience and my career, when we are too focused on creating so-called K-content, it may not work out as well. I hope that this will open more doors for creators and [provide more] resources that can be put into creating more content and creating a more dynamic industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim added, \u201cIf you think about who [previously] watched shows and content created in the Korean language, it was only people who spoke the language and were familiar with Korean culture. Now there are channels that allow for this content to reach out to people who don\u2019t speak the language, who are not familiar with the culture. There are people in every country who can be exposed to this content. We live in a world where our level of understanding of other cultures, of other languages and of other people has deepened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hwang also addressed the themes he\u2019s been keen to explore in Squid Game<\/em>. \u201cWe are in a world where it\u2019s becoming tougher to live, and I feel like some people are so pessimistic to the point where they [feel] like we\u2019re all going to be doomed in a couple of decades. I want to pose a question to society. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s just me. I think it\u2019s everybody. People in the industry as well. There are a lot of us who really want to challenge society and ask these important questions. How can we delay the demise of our society?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking at a press conference in Seoul on the heels of their Emmy wins, Squid Game’s Hwang Dong-hyuk and Kim Ji-yeon weighed in on what the show’s global success and critical acclaim mean for the Korean content business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":17515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,70],"tags":[5195,5196,5043],"class_list":["post-17514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-hwang-dong-hyuk","tag-kim-ji-yeon","tag-squid-game","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nSquid Game\u2019s Emmys Breakthrough - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Squid Game\u2019s Emmys Breakthrough - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Speaking at a press conference in Seoul on the heels of their Emmy wins, Squid Game's Hwang Dong-hyuk and Kim Ji-yeon weighed in on what the show's global success and critical acclaim mean for the Korean content business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-20T12:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-21T13:08:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/Netflix_SquidGameEmmy-922.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/\",\"name\":\"Squid Game\u2019s Emmys Breakthrough - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-20T12:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-21T13:08:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/squid-games-emmys-breakthrough\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Squid Game\u2019s Emmys Breakthrough\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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