Popular Actor’s Exorbitant Pay Per Episode Sparks Massive Fury Online

Recently, actor Ma Dong Seok’s (Don Lee) salary per episode for the recent K-Drama Twelve raised much concern online regarding overpaid actors.

It was recently revealed that Ma’s per-episode salary was ₩500 million KRW (about $361,000 USD), earning a total of ₩4.00 billion KRW (about $2.89 million USD) for eight episodes.

Actor Park Hyung Sik received the next highest salary of ₩300 million KRW (about $217,000 USD) per episode, or ₩3.20 billion KRW (about $2.31 million USD) for eight episodes.

The salaries of the other actors in the series were much lower, with a combined salary of less than ₩1.00 billion KRW (about $722,000 USD).

The drama’s production cost is estimated between ₩22.0 billion KRW (about $15.9 million USD) and ₩23.0 billion KRW (about $16.6 million USD). In other words, Ma Dong Seok and Park Hyung Sik took most of the actor’s compensation, with their share of the budget around 34%.

The fantasy action drama series required more attention than others in terms of makeup, props, and post-production. However, the actor’s compensation exceeding 30% impacted the quality of the production.

Drama insiders stated, “Typically, a lead actor’s compensation is 10-15%. If it exceeds 40%, production is impossible. Even 30% is too high.”

Having two leads with salaries too high led to the drop in quality in the latter half of the drama, as fantasy genres rely heavily on post-production to create a more realistic image.

Insiders feel that although Ma Dong Seok planned and cast the drama himself, they couldn’t help but question the value of his salary.

K-Netizens couldn’t understand why they were paid so much while staff and other actors were struggling.

• “A lot of staff members quit because they don’t make enough…I don’t understand this system…”
• “It’s shocking to see Park Hyung Sik getting paid more than Seo In Guk…”
• “Seeing things like this makes me happy that the drama didn’t do well…”
• “Is Park Hyung Sik popular overseas?”
• “Do they really have to pay that much and use Park Hyung Sik?”
• “I can understand if he was that popular overseas…interesting.”
• “Korean men really have it easy making money…”
• “I have no idea about Park Hyung Sik….”
• “Jealous…making money on another level.”