TBS partners Something Special, adapts Extremely Inappropriate! for Korea
Japan’s Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) has announced a creative collaboration with South Korean outfit Something Special to develop a new format.
The pact is the first unscripted co-development project undertaken by Something Special with a Japanese broadcaster, according to TBS.
In June, it opened a new headquarters in Seoul as a strategic hub for its business in South Korea, which includes co-developing IP and selling and remaking TBS dramas.
TBS plans to invest ¥5bn (US$34.5m) in content co-development in Korea, covering scripted, variety shows, films and K-pop music.
Jan Fukai, president of TBS Korea, said: “We’re very happy to be working with Something Special for our first non-scripted project, as they have an abundance of expertise and experience in the global market. We hope that this collaboration will result in a new entertainment format that can go global.”
Insoon Kim, exec VP and head of content and Something Special, said: “We’re very confident this is a great start to creating the next global hit, which will be initiated by Asia.”
In related news, TBS has announced that South Korean prodco Basestory will make a local-language version of hit TBS scripted series Extremely Inappropriate!.
The show follows a stubborn father from the 1980s who time-travels into the new millennium and finds himself baffled by modern social values.
Kim Jung-mi, CEO of Basestory, said: “Leveraging Basestory’s planning and production capabilities, we aim to reflect both the contemporary Korean context and the original show’s warm human insights, evoking deep emotions and empathy from Korean viewers.”