Mega Monster

Mega Monster[lower-alpha 2] (Korean: 메가몬스터; RR: Megamonseuteo) is a South Korean TV series production company under the Video Content Company division of Kakao M.[4]

Mega Monster Corporation
FormerlyStory Plant Co., Ltd.
TypePrivately held company
Industryentertainment and media production
FoundedNovember 20, 2014 (2014-11-20) in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
FounderKim Yang
Koo Bon-geun
Headquarters20/F Sangam DMC Digital Cube, 34 Sangamsan-ro, Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu,
Seoul[1][2]
,
South Korea
Key people
  • Jang Sae-jung (President & CEO)
  • Kim Yong-jin (Executive Vice-President & COO)
  • Sohn Jae-sung (Head of Scripted Programming)
  • Ahn Dong-soo (Head of Non-Scripted Programming)
ProductsDramas
Variety shows
Soundtracks
ServicesProduction, marketing and distribution of Korean dramas and other entertainment programs
Management of writers and directors
Soundtrack production
OwnerAs of March 31, 2020:[3]
Parent
Korean: 메가몬스터 주식회사; RR: Megamonseuteo Jusikhoesa
Websitemegamon.co.kr[lower-alpha 1]

The company was founded in 2014 as Story Plant by Kim Yang and Koo Bon-geun, and was a subsidiary of CJ E&M (known now as CJ ENM). In 2017, it was fully acquired by Kakao M. Since then, a portion of the stake has been acquired by KakaoPage and Studio Dragon, a subsidiary of CJ Group.[5]

History
  • November 20, 2014 (2014-11-20): Story Plant was founded in Goyang City by former SBS and MBC producers Kim Yang and Koo Bon-geun (who was the company's first CEO). CJ E&M acquired it later on.
  • January 9, 2015 (2015-01-09): Heart to Heart, a 16-episode TV series, premiered on tvN. It was the company's first production, in cooperation with Chorokbaem Media.
  • May 4, 2015 (2015-05-04): A Bird That Doesn't Sing, a 100-episode TV series, was aired on tvN.
  • June 29, 2015 (2015-06-29): We Broke Up, a 10-episode web series based on the same-titled Naver WEBTOON, was distributed by Naver TV, and later aired on OnStyle. It was produced in association with then-parent CJ E&M and YGKPlus.
  • February 27, 2016 (2016-02-27): Happy Home, a 51-episode TV series, was aired by MBC TV.
  • May 10, 2017 (2017-05-10): LOEN Entertainment (now Kakao M), a subsidiary of Kakao, acquired Story Plant from CJ E&M, as well as the distribution and licensing rights to its productions (from the latter's subsidiary Studio Dragon). The amount of the deal was not disclosed, and co-founders Kim and Koo decided to leave the company.[6] Later on, LOEN's sister company Podotree (now KakaoPage) and Studio Dragon acquired 21.90% and 10.95% of the company's shares, respectively, for strategic investment.[7] LOEN's Video Content Company head Lee Jun-ho became its new CEO. It also moved its headquarters from Goyang City to Seoul.
  • July 11, 2017 (2017-07-11): The company's name was officially changed from Story Plant Co., Ltd. to Mega Monster Corporation.[8]
  • November 21, 2018 (2018-11-21): Children of Nobody, a 32-episode[lower-alpha 3] TV series, was aired on MBC TV. It was the company's first production since the management and name change. Former SBS and JS Pictures executive Kim Yong-jin co-executive produced the series with Lee, marking his first project since becoming the company's vice-president and COO the same year.
  • February 6, 2019 (2019-02-06): Touch Your Heart, a 16-episode TV series based on the KakaoPage web novel of the same title, aired its first episode on tvN. It was co-produced by Zium Content, and developed by Studio Dragon.[10]
  • April 1, 2019 (2019-04-01): The company became the newest sponsor of the "Find the Desert's Shooting Star" Drama Screenplay Competition organized by the Broadcasting Content Promotion Foundation (BCPF).[11]
  • April 3, 2019 (2019-04-03): Children of Nobody was nominated for Best Drama and Best Television Screenplay in the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards, being the only drama from a free-to-air broadcast network to get these nominations.[12]
  • June 11, 2019 (2019-06-11): Mega Monster, Daum Webtoon Company (a division of KakaoPage) and the KBS Drama Production Group signed a memorandum of agreement and understanding (MOAU) for drama production at the KBS Yeouido office. The MOAU states that the three camps will produce dramas based on Daum webtoons for three years. The first project under this agreement, the TV drama adaptation of GAR2 and Teacher Oh's webtoon Dead Man's Letter, will be aired in 2020.[13][14]
  • March 30, 2020: Fatal Promise, a 100-episode daily TV series, premiered on KBS 2TV. Kim Yong-jin and his former SBS colleague Sohn Jae-sung (who joined the company a few months earlier) are the executive producers.
  • April 6, 2020: How to Buy a Friend, an eight-episode miniseries, aired its first two episodes also on KBS 2TV. It is based on Kwon Laad's webtoon of the same title, which was first published in 2018 on Daum Webtoon.
  • May 4, 2020: Mom Has an Affair (co-produced by Studio S), a 120-episode daily morning drama about a single mom looking for a rich man that can be a father to her kids, premiered on SBS TV. Singer-actress Hyun Jyu-ni (on her first-ever TV series leading role throughout her career) and actor Lee Jae-hwang portray the lead roles.
  • August 21, 2020: Former Studio Dragon chief finance officer Jang Sae-jung was appointed as the company's new president and chief executive officer, replacing Lee Jun-ho.[15]

Production works

Scripted programming
Year Title Network Associated Production Note
2015 Heart to Heart tvN Chorokbaem Media
A Bird That Doesn't Sing N/A
We Broke Up
based on the Naver/Line WEBTOON webtoon by Ryu Chae-rin
2016 Happy Home MBC TV N/A
2018 Children of Nobody
2019 Touch Your Heart[lower-alpha 4] tvN Zium Content based on the KakaoPage web novel and webtoon by Jäger and Ant Studio
2020 Fatal Promise[16][17] KBS 2TV N/A
How to Buy a Friend[18] based on the Daum webtoon by Laad Kwon
Mom Has an Affair[19][16][20]
 SBS TV STUDIO S (SBS)
TBA Dead Man's Letter[13]
(literal translation)		 KBS 2TV N/A based on the Daum webtoon by GAR2 and Teacher Oh

Non-scripted programming
Year Title Network Associated Production Note
2020 Miss Back MBN Space Rabbit first non-scripted program production[21]

Current managed people

Directors
  • Kim Jung-min
  • Jo Soo-won
  • Oh Sang-won

Screenwriters
  • Nam Sang-wook
  • Kang Sung-jin
  • Do Hyun-jung
  • Yoon Sung-hee
  • Jung Ji-woo
  • Jo Eun-jung
  • Ma Joo-hee
  • Kim Yi-young
  • Kim Sa-ra
  • Min Ji-eun
  • Ahn Seo-jung
  • Lee Kyoung-mi

See also

Notes
  1. Formerly megamon.dweb.co.kr until December 30, 2019. Changed to the current web domain after the end of the company's contract with a local website operator. However, the email addresses related to the company use the @megamon.co.kr domain.
  2. Also credited as MEGA MONSTER by kakao M on on-air credits since episode 16 of Children of Nobody
  3. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between them.[9]
  4. Developed by Studio Dragon

References
  1. "오시는길 (company address)". Mega Monster. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  2. "메가몬스터(주) (Mega Monster Corp.)". SaraminHR. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  3. http://dart.fss.or.kr/dsaf001/main.do?rcpNo=20200331002251
  4. "Video Contents". kakao-m.com. Kakao M. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  5. Song, Jin-shik (July 28, 2017). 드라마에 욕심내는 카카오, ‘스튜디오 카카오’ 나올까 [Kakao becomes newest addition to drama (industry), "Studio Kakao" coming soon]. News Kyunghyang (in Korean). Kyunghyang Shinmun. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  6. Jung, Young-ho; Kim, Byung-gun; Lee, Dong-hoon (May 10, 2017). "카카오 자회사 로엔, CJ 드라마 제작사 인수" [Kakao subsidiary LOEN acquires drama production company from CJ]. Korea Economic Daily (in Korean). Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  7. Kim, Hyun-sik (May 11, 2017). 로엔, 스튜디오드래곤과 드라마 제작사 설립 [LOEN, Studio Dragon to start drama production partnership]. No Cut News (in Korean). CBS and CBSi. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  8. http://dart.fss.or.kr/dsaf001/main.do?rcpNo=20170814002116
  9. Park, Jin-hai (May 16, 2017). "Drama viewers angry over commercial breaks". Press Reader. The Korea Times. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  10. Jung, Yoo-hyun (December 21, 2018). "카카오M, 메가몬스터에 60억 지원... 영상사업 '드라이브'" [Kakao M lends ₩660M to Mega Monster, "drives" content production]. The Bell (in Korean). Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  11. "제11회 드라마극본공모전 '사막의 별똥별 찾기' 공고(마감)" [Announcement of the 11th "Find the Desert's Shooting Star" Drama Screenplay Competition]. BCPF.or.kr (in Korean). Broadcasting Content Promotion Foundation. April 1, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  12. "55th Baeksang Arts Awards Announces Nominees For Television Categories". Soompi. Rakuten Viki. April 4, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  13. Choi, Young-joo (June 12, 2019). 다음웹툰, 메가몬스터가 만들고 KBS가 방송한다 [Daum Webtoon, Mega Monster partner with KBS for drama production]. No Cut News (in Korean). CBS and CBSi. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  14. Lee, Jae-lim (June 13, 2019). "KBS inks deal with Daum Webtoons". Korea JoongAng Daily. JoongAng Ilbo. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  15. http://dart.fss.or.kr/dsaf001/main.do?rcpNo=20201127000270
  16. https://img.theqoo.net/muIoB
  17. Lee Yoo-na (February 4, 2020). [공식]박하나X고세원 '위험한 약속' 주인공 확정 '일일극 최강 조합 출격' [[OFFICIAL] Park Ha-na X Go Se-won, confirmed to reunite in daily drama Dangerous Promise]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  18. Ban, Seo-youn (January 23, 2020). [단독] 신승호, 웹툰 원작 드라마 '계약우정' 주인공 [[OFFICIAL] Shin Seung-ho, confirmed to star in webtoon-based drama Friendship Contract]. YTN (in Korean). YTN Group. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  19. https://programs.sbs.co.kr/drama/momhasanaffair/about/64476
  20. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6IbiEHJsuN/
  21. https://m.mediajob.co.kr/recruit/recruit.htm?cmd=view&rec_idx=198784
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