Webtoon Author Of "Itaewon Class" Shares Points To Look Out For In Upcoming Drama

JTBC’s upcoming Friday-Saturday drama “Itaewon Class” has shared points to look out for in the drama ahead of its premiere!

“Itaewon Class” is based on a webtoon of the same name and tells the story of young people brought together by their stubbornness and passion as they chase after their dreams in Itaewon.

In addition to the stellar cast led by Park Seo Joon, Kwon Da Mi, Kwon Nara, Yoo Jae Myung, and more, the drama will be produced by director Kim Sung Yoon, who produced “Love in the Moonlight” and “Discovery of Love,” and written by Jo Kwang Jin, who is the original author of the popular webtoon the drama is based on.

Director Kim Sung Yoon, who had asked author Jo Kwang Jin to produce the script, shared, “When encountering the original webtoon, I felt as if it was like a drama with its strongly unique individuals, clear conflict, and fast-paced story with a charming development that made me suspect that [the author] wrote the story with a drama adaptation in mind from the beginning.”

On writing the script for the drama, author Jo Kwang Jin shared, “The director contacted me and came to see me. As the original author, I refused at first with the hopes that the drama would do well while wanting a professional script writer to take on the project.” However, he revealed that his mind began to change while talking to the director about the original piece. He shared, “‘Itaewon Class’ is a story with the characters at the focal point, and I was the person who understood the characters best as the original author. Furthermore, I felt that parts were lacking in the original and that it was an opportunity to remedy it on my own through the drama.”

However, the author talked about the differences between producing a webtoon and writing a script. He said, “As a webtoon author, my job was to put [the webtoon] together with words and pictures, and finish it by the week. You can be brave if you’re ignorant, and there was a part me that thought it would be easy to [produce the script] as I only had to write. However, there are similarities with the form of making the stories within a webtoon and drama. After listening carefully to the opinions of the director, actors, and staff, I’m making adjustments to do my best to create a good project.”

As for differences between the webtoon and drama, the script writer focused on being able to supplement the original rather than changing it through the drama while putting emphasis on making the characters come to life. He added, “There are many stories I couldn’t tell in the original. For the people who have seen the webtoon, I think there will be fun in watching the deeper and more fleshed out inner thoughts of the characters as well as their chemistry with each other.”

Script writer Jo Kwang Jin picked the characters as the main point to look out for in the upcoming drama, sharing that he hopes people will feel catharsis and receive hope as they watch the characters make refreshing decisions and take decisive steps.

“Itaewon Class” premieres on January 31 at 10:50 p.m. KST. Watch a teaser for the drama here!

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