{"id":15311,"date":"2025-09-15T08:50:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T12:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T09:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T13:16:08","slug":"jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Korea\u2019s first dedicated format agency, Jin Woo Hwang\u2019s Something Special has been riding the wave of the surging interest in Korean content, with the outfit having sealed more than 20 options on its titles in the last year. Ahead of unveiling its newest slate at MIPCOM, Hwang talks to <em>TV Formats<\/em>\u00a0about the trends he\u2019s keeping an eye on as he navigates his indie, co-founded with InSoon Kim, through the global formats sector.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What gains have you seen in your international business over the last 12 months?<br \/>\n<strong>HWANG:<\/strong>\u00a0Since last year\u2019s MIPCOM, Something Special has secured more than 20 option deals with international partners. The deals include 12 territories for\u00a0<em>Still Alive<\/em>, three territories for\u00a0<em>The Penthouse Game<\/em>, two territories for the comedy series\u00a0<em>Hit and Miss Tour,<\/em>\u00a0and three territories for the heartfelt reality format\u00a0<em>Unforgettable Duet<\/em>. With these international achievements, we have been fortunate enough to expand our slate by representing more Korean hit shows, as well as our own original creations. And speaking of originals,\u00a0<em>Unforgettable Duet<\/em>\u00a0is gaining more interest than ever among our clients. With production of our full new season of\u00a0<em>Unforgettable Duet\u00a0<\/em>currently underway for a premiere in November on MBN in South Korea, we will likely announce more deals by the end of this year for this beautiful show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What are the biggest challenges in bringing Asian creativity to the global market? And how are you approaching those challenges?<br \/>\n<strong>HWANG:<\/strong>\u00a0The biggest challenge lies, above all, in whether we can successfully transfer the key factors of Asian creativity for international adaptation. To achieve this, more detailed information needs to be included in our materials, clearer methods must be provided and they must be well-presented. And Something Special has the best experience in doing this.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0How do you see the scripted formats business at present, and how are you positioning yourself there?<br \/>\n<strong>HWANG:<\/strong>\u00a0Over the past two years, we have witnessed a vast increase in scripted formats being taken and adapted for local territories around the world. More deals are likely to be made at MIPCOM. Creating original scripts is important, but it requires more time and money than unscripted. When everyone\u2019s working on cost-efficiency, producing scripted formats can be a wise decision for producers. Several Korean scripted projects based on international scripted formats are currently being developed or produced, which is a relatively new trend. As for our position, although it is not easy for a Korean independent format player to obtain international distribution rights, we do have a few outstanding, award-winning scripted format projects in our slate. We expect our influence to expand further, just as we have become known in the non-scripted format space.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0In non-scripted, what genres are driving gains for you?<br \/>\n<strong>HWANG:<\/strong>\u00a0Currently, reality competition and entertainment genres are our core products. Korean formats have been providing a fresh take in the international marketplace with the hybrid genres (aka Korean twists). And our formats possess the strength of Korean creativity. For the past five years, Something Special has been bringing undiscovered format gems from the country. Our catalog has the number one dating, comedy and factual-entertainment formats of the country. And adding to this, we now have in our catalog the number one Korean reality competition format,\u00a0<em>Iron Squad<\/em>\u00a0(by the producer of\u00a0<em>Physical 100<\/em>), which highlights a country\u2019s top special forces. We are very proud to unveil the nation\u2019s all-time top-rated broadcast and streaming reality competition hit to the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What are your goals for your international business in the year ahead?<br \/>\n<strong>HWANG:<\/strong>\u00a0Every year, we are taking one step closer to our goals, becoming \u201cthe one-stop shop of Korean formats.\u201d Something Special\u2019s path writes new chapters in the history of the Korean format industry. Our goal is to become the best in Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The co-founder of Something Special on the trends he\u2019s keeping an eye on as he navigates his indie through the global formats sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":15312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[1099,2158],"class_list":["post-15311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-jin-woo-hwang","tag-something-special","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS<\/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\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The co-founder of Something Special on the trends he\u2019s keeping an eye on as he navigates his indie through the global formats sector.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T12:50:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T13:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/09\/2025-09-12-Jin-Woo-Hwang-SS-925.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-15T12:50:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-17T13:16:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\",\"name\":\"TVFORMATS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS","og_description":"The co-founder of Something Special on the trends he\u2019s keeping an eye on as he navigates his indie through the global formats sector.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/","og_site_name":"TVFORMATS","article_published_time":"2025-09-15T12:50:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-17T13:16:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":394,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/09\/2025-09-12-Jin-Woo-Hwang-SS-925.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mansha Daswani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mansha Daswani","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/","name":"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation - TVFORMATS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-15T12:50:26+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-17T13:16:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/jin-woo-hwang-on-korean-format-innovation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jin Woo Hwang on Korean Format Innovation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/","name":"TVFORMATS","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad","name":"Mansha Daswani","description":"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}