[BBANGYA NEWS｜Joan Park] SM Entertainment and Big Hit Entertainment will compete not on stage but on screen. SM Entertainment will collaborate with KEYEST and launch Illumination, a TV series consists of 6 episodes while Big Hit Entertainment joined forces with CHOROKBAEM in launching Blue Sky. Both dramas chose OTT and not TV as a platform and deal with K-pop as a main theme, so comparison seems inevitable. Here are three factors that worth compare; production, cast and plot.
Production : KEYEST VS CHOROKBAEM Media
Both Keyest and Chorokbaem Media are well-known Korean multi-content production companies. Keyest, an agency and production company under SM Entertainment produced TV hits such as Dream High and Hyena. The scriptwriter for the drama is Jung Serang, the scriptwriter of Netflix Original series The School Nurse Files. Producer and director are yet to be announced. Chorokbaem Media also created and produced well-known TV dramas like Producer and My Mister. The scriptwriter for Blue Sky is Kim Sujin who wrote script for movie Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island. Kim Jaehong, the producer behind several JTBC hits including Cruel Palace War of Flowers and Yuna’s Distance will be in charge of directing.
Main Theme : K-POP
Both dramas share the same theme, K-POP, with different plots. Illumination depicts K-POP trainees’ journey to a boy group, but the group is totally fictional. Blue Sky, however, is about personal history, achievement and struggle BTS members went through as individuals and as a group. Although there will be modification made regarding family relationship and incidents at school, the drama is mainly about BTS, a world-famous K-POP group.
Cast : SM artists VS Actors
Lead actors and actresses haven’t been announced yet. But KEYEST said that a lot of SM artists as well as several actual K-POP producers will make appearance in the drama as it’s about K-POP idols. With Blue Sky, Chorokbaem Media made it pretty clear that BTS members won’t play in the drama nor the characters use BTS members’ real name or stage alias. With totally different names, it will be hard to see who is playing which BTS member. Many ARMYs actually wonder if the drama can really be called ‘BTS Drama’ as the members don’t play and the characters aren’t called by BTS members’ name.
Blue Sky is currently auditioning actors for lead and supporting roles and will begin shooting this September. Filming and on-air schedule for Illumination haven’t been announced yet.
