영화계약서로 본 불공정 사례 연구

Abstract

In recent years, Korean film industry has achieved a notable growth in its quantity. However, it is hard to say whether such improvement has also lead qualitative growth. One of the biggest issues the industry face, is the matter of unfair market practices such as screen monopoly, unfair ticketing system, cross-screening, the high-handedness of media conglomerates, etc. Expecting a continuous growth of the Korean film market, the issue of fair distribution will remain as a major matter to solve. Only few Korean film makers seem to recognize the lack of fairness within the industry. Furthermore, constant cases of unfair contracts between ‘investment distributor(investor) and production company’, ‘production company and film crew’, ‘distributor and theater’ have led to mutual distrust. Considering that mutual confidence is an important aspect in this field, such tendency is likely to hinder the industry’s improvement in quality Like any other industries, the film industry also pursues interest through investing resources and creating a product. Nevertheless, the specificity of film production should also be taken into account since human factors such as creativity of the director, quality skills of crews, acting skills of actors hold great importance. The very first contract closed in film production is the production and investment deal. This contract between the producer and the investor used to be on the premise that both sides are equal and cooperative partners agreeing on major issues. After the mid-2000s, however, it has changed to getting a ‘final approval’ from the investor in most cases. This is an infringement of creativity and autonomy of producers therefore can be considered unfair. In addition, the producers require an approval from the investor when a change or extension is made in budget compilation, and are responsible for any exceeding costs. On the other hand, the investor (distributer) may execute and modify the budget on marketing without the agreement of the producer. After the recent development of the standard form of employment contract, the practice between producers and crews is expecting an enhancement. Yet the actual usage ratio of the standard form is only 13.1% of total, which still needs a lot of improvement. Furthermore, lack of fulfilling the contract such as delay in wage payments, should be redressed. Also, the current practice that only the producer is hold responsible for the loss caused by a crew needs to be changed as well. The unjust matter of domestic film industry is an example of a universal phenomenon, a contractually dominant party abusing and making unreasonable demands to the others without any alternatives. In order to resolve the unfairness within the industry, a change of attitude between the stakeholders for a well-balanced deal and an organization for fair trade monitoring the whole process, are required.