Studio Dragon Responds To Reports Of Poor Working Conditions During Filming Of Upcoming tvN Drama

On April 10, Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center and the broadcasting staff union department of Hope Solidarity Labor Union held a press conference in front of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Administration building after previously announcing plans to voice their concerns.

They stated that production company Studio Dragon violated the Labor Standards Act during the hiring of staff members and filming of the upcoming drama “Arthdal Chronicles.” They also filed a letter of complaint.

A staff member stated, “Studio Dragon did not enter into a formal labor contract with the staff members and has not complied with the regulations surrounding hours of labor and overtime restrictions. Additionally, they have not paid us for the overtime hours worked. During the filming in Brunei, we worked at most 151 hours and 30 minutes in a week with no days off. One staff member even broke his arm in an accident.”

In response, Studio Dragon issued the following response:

The company has been actively participating in conversations with the broadcasting staff union department of Hope Solidarity Labor Union and had been discussing scheduling of further meetings up until yesterday when we heard that a press conference was announced.

The company is continuing to work hard towards improving working conditions of broadcasting networks to align with the original intent of the production guidelines. With the lack of volunteers to act as a consultative group representing the broadcasting staff, we are experiencing some difficulties in formulating changes to the guidelines. Nevertheless, we are committed to improving production conditions with a great sense of duty, and we are complying with the 68 hours-per-week production time and operating a secondary production team.

With regard to the current suspicion regarding the hours of labor of the art/makeup team, this is due to a difference in the standard by which the time was calculated, and any other suspicions currently need further evidence to confirm them.

The company plans to willingly cooperate with any requests made by the Seoul Employment and Labor Administration, and we plan to do our best in making sure the new guidelines are enforced in all working conditions during any part of the production process.

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