According to the legal community on Sep 12th, the Seoul District Court accepted MBC’s application to seize the assets of the “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” production companies Studio N, NPIO Entertainment and Management mmm. The decision was made on Sep 10th.
MBC explained, “We applied for the asset seizure based on ‘unfair competition due to unauthorized use of work product and breach of contract negotiations’. The court found our claim justified and fully granted the seizure on Sep 10th, 2024.”
“Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” was originally planned to air on MBC. The director, Jung Ji-in, is affiliated with MBC, and conflicts arose between MBC and the production companies over production costs.
After lengthy negotiations, MBC offered a production cost of more than 2 billion won per episode. However, Studio N and others accepted a higher offer of 2.8 billion won per episode, totaling 33.6 billion won, from CJ ENM’s production company Studio Dragon, leading to the switch to tvN.
MBC claims they were heavily involved in the pre-production process, including location scouting, actor casting and research, but suffered significant losses when the show switched networks.
“Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” is set in the 1950s after the Korean War and follows the story of a gifted vocal prodigy, Jeongnyeon, as she competes to become the top musical theater performer. Kim Tae-ri stars as the lead character.
While “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” was scheduled to premiere on Oct 12th at 9:20 PM, this legal dispute has now put the show’s future in jeopardy.
Source: Daum