$900 Million Squid Game Didn't Make Its Creator Rich

You would've thought that creating a hit should be enough to make you rich, right? Well, not exactly. Successful projects do make a lot of money, but the lion's share of that money goes to the network airing the series or movie, not the creators.

And that's exactly what happened to Hwang Dong-hyuk.

Last year, the South Korean filmmaker's Squid Game reportedly earned Netflix $900 million, making Hwang Dong-hyuk a household name and one of the world's most influential people in 2021, according to Time. But it hasn't made him rich.

Here's what the Squid Game creator said in 2021 when The Guardian asked him if he had won the get-rich-fast game, like the protagonist of his ground-breaking show:

'I'm not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it's not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract,' Hwang shared.

According to the new Los Angeles Times report, the filmmaker's deal with the streaming giant left much to be desired. Reportedly, Dong-hyuk signed away all intellectual property rights and got no residuals, which are essentially so-called 'reward for success' paid to writers, directors, and actors for the reuse of their work after a project's initial airing.

This situation reflects several problems in modern pop culture and the age of streaming. The LA Times report raises the troubling issue of the almost slave-like and severely underpaid work of South Korean (and other international) creators, who are forced to produce more and more high-quality content at a faster pace just to 'put food on the table.'

Moreover, residuals are one of the deal-breakers that caused the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which has already delayed the production of many Hollywood projects.

'In streaming, the companies have not agreed to pay residuals at the same level as broadcast,' WGA West assistant executive director Charles Slocum told Deadline.

'If you write for a streamer, you get two [residual payments] — one for domestic streaming and one for foreign streaming. It's a set amount of money. If it's a big hit, you do not get paid more residuals in streaming, whereas in the broadcast model, you do because of its success.'

Now, Squid Games has become the shining example of these words. The irony of the situation is that, just like the universe created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, our society seems to be very divided — and even if you create a money-maker, it doesn't mean you are going to get that money.

Source: Bloomberg, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Deadline.