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Korea’s cultural industry is showing few signs of slowing down illustrated through the recent sweep by the stage musical Maybe Happy Ending at the Tony Awards. Once again, the spotlight is shining on Korea’s ever-increasing soft power known as Hallyu. The industry has now won some of the leading accolades in film, television and theater having brought home Oscars, Emmys and now Tony Awards. The new and final season of Squid Game that drops at the end of June is a further example of Korea’s status as a cultural powerhouse.  

While it is content that is being exported and finding audiences overseas that can lead the news cycles in the local cultural industry, overseas producers have also been lured to Korea with films and series to shoot them here. Sometimes it’s part of a film or it can be entire seasons set in Korea like XO, Kitty. This is primarily down to three central reasons: incentives, the growing appeal of content produced here, and the talent pool that are behind some of the high production values in Korean film and streaming.

Korea, its capital along with other cities and parts of the country are becoming popular with tourists seeking to try local cuisine and also explore some of the filming locations from their favorite films and dramas.

KOFIC launched its location incentive program in 2011 and now attempts to attract productions with its reimbursement of up to 25% of expenses. Projects need to film in the country for at least five days and spend a minimum of 400 million won ($294,000). There is also cap on foreign projects set at 300 million won ($220,000).

Projects can include feature films, documentaries, and limited series content for streaming platforms. These projects can be international co-productions (including one Korean production company or producer) or foreign. Each year the annual budget for KOFIC’s location incentive program is 896 million won ($660,000).

There is also support from the various local commissions in Korea. Seoul, for instance, provides support for coordinating traffic in what can be a very congested city, while it also offers financial incentives to shoot in the capital. It provides up to 30 percent of production costs with a limit of 300 million won per production. To qualify, more than 50 percent of the production has to be shot or set in Seoul and there needs to be a minimum of four shooting days. There are also incentives offered by other commissions such as Busan, Jeonju and Daejeon.

This is also part of long-term investment in how local governments have long sought to attract Korean films and dramas that’s evident at the end of the credits. Municipalities also including Goyang (just outside Seoul) have helped entice projects to their local areas by supporting production studios. Goyang is home to the Aqua Studios where Parasite and countless other films and shows were filmed.

This week we will examine some of the non-Korean and international co-productions that have benefited from some of these incentives beginning with the Marvel films (Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Black Panther (2018)). It will then turn to projects with Netflix involvement (Sense8 (2015), Okja (2017), XO, Kitty (2023-2025)), The Recruit (2022-2025).

Marvel films (Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Black Panther (2018) 

When it was announced that Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron was to have parts of it filmed in Seoul in 2014 it generated huge amounts of local coverage. It meant, Korean crews could work on a major Hollywood production, it was propelling Seoul onto the global stage, and as Marvels films were becoming one of the best-selling brands at the multiplexes, it would have the extra benefit of generating even further box office revenue in Korea, in what was one of Asia’s leading markets. It went on to sell over 10 million tickets. The total incentive program budget for 2014 was allocated to the film’s sequences in Seoul featuring Captain America on Seoul’s roads and streets, along with further funding from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 

The Marvel films have moved from one city and country to another taking advantage of the various tax break schemes central and local governments have to offer.  The UK, in particular, has been very successful in this regard with many of The Avengers films shot there following policies under both Labour and Conservative governments seeking to sell the UK as a film hub and as a key market in its economy. The recent Mission: Impossible film is emblematic of that.

Korea with its leading contents industry has also taken steps to be able to compete with other cities and countries in luring major Hollywood tentpole productions. Black Panther partly shot in the port city of Busan was to many a resounding success. While the scenes in Busan are early on, they are integral to the beginning of the film and feature some of Busan’s idyllic night locations along its seafront featuring Gwangan Bridge and Jagalchi fish market. Directed by Ryan Coogler, he said while visiting Korea promoting the film, the reason for selecting Busan was “because the action scene took place at night, there had to be a great view and I also wanted to show the traditional side of the region. We were in need of a unique, different film site.”

According to the Head of the production support department at the Busan Film Commission, Lee Seung-eui who spoke to Variety in 2018, the team was supposed to visit Singapore first but cancelled their plans owing to a typhoon and then ended up visiting Busan that would become one of the central locations in the film. The film received support from both the Busan Film Commission and KOFIC through its incentive program scheme.

Netflix and Shooting in Korea (Sense8 (2015), Okja (2017), XO, Kitty (2023-2025), The Recruit (2022-2025))

Some of Netflix’s projects in Korea have received tax rebates from local and national governments, chiefly their shows with an international focus like XO, Kitty. Season one of Sense8 (2015) featuring Bae Doona and created by The Wachowskis was shot in more than a dozen cities across the world including Seoul and stars many other Korean actors such as Youn Yuh-jung. The show received support through the KOFIC location incentive.

Dramaworld (2016) a series set in Los Angeles and Seoul about a K-drama fan (Liv Hewson) who is transported into the world of Korean dramas was not a Netflix financed show but season one was available on the streaming platform. When the show was released on the Netflix in 2016, it was one of Netflix Korea’s first events in the capital illustrating their early appetite for Hallyu-related content. The show received production support from the Seoul Film Commission.

One of Netflix’s first significant projects in Korea was undoubtedly Bong Joon Ho’s Okja (2017) about a genetically modified pig. Shot in New York, Vancouver, Seoul and other parts of Korea, the film was in receipt of support from the KOFIC location incentive along with production support from the Seoul Metropolitan government and the Seoul Film Commission. Looking back, these projects that combine Korean and non-Korean elements with locations in and out of Korea would underscore Netflix’s early commitment to the country that would later transform the industry.

XO, Kitty, a Netflix series created by Jenny Han based on her 2014 novel To All the Boys I Have Loved Before is an American show but is set in an elite private school in Seoul. It follows Kitty (Anna Cathcart) who moves to Seoul after receiving a scholarship to study at the school. She is in a long-distance relationship with Dae (Choi Min-young) who attends the institution. The series was popular overseas leading to a second season that dropped in January of this year. After the second season performed well, Netflix announced a third season in February that is currently filming in the capital. The series received support through the incentive schemes at KOFIC and Seoul Film Commission.

Similarly, also receiving production support from KOFIC and the Seoul Film Commission was The Recruit season two that was released on Netflix at the end of January. It follows a CIA agent played by Noah Centineo who encounters an asset from Eastern Europe and gets involved in precarious geopolitics. The second season that was received well by critics takes events to South Korea where the agent is pulled into events surrounding a dangerous espionage situation. The series also features Teo Yoo from Past Lives (2023) playing a South Korean NIS agent.

With Korea continuing to attract attention throughout much of the world, cash rebates together with the abundance of talent in Korea’s cultural industry should mean productions are set to keep coming to this part of Asia.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic