[Exclusive] YG is About to Sign Contract with Han Dong-chul, the Producer of Produce 101, SMTM, and Unpretty Rapstar
[OSEN=손남원 기자] There seemed to be some under the table negotiations between Han Dong-chul, the producer of Mnet hit TV show Show Me The Money and Produce 101, and his junior producers and YG CEO YANG HYUN SUK.
On April 8, YG officially admitted that Lee Sang-yun, the main producer of Mnet’s Show Me The Money 4, will be joining the company after the media published the news. Lee Sang-yun is one of the key members that made Mnet’s mega-hit shows along with Han Dong-chul. Earlier on, Park Jun-su moved from Mnet to YG, leading some to predict all the key members of the Han Dong-chul team may move to YG.
The question is Han Dong-chul. Last year, he took the show business by storm with his Produce 101. Before that, he made the hip hop genre go viral by creating Show Me The Money and Unpretty Rapstar. He has exceptional strength in creating music, audition, and survival shows and is indeed a mega star producer along with Kim Tae-ho and Na Young-suk.
There have been times when people thought he was going to leave Mnet. But CJ E&M’s persistent persuasion and his affection for junior producers made him stay with Mnet. It is a known fact in the entertainment industry that a number of companies and even the Chinese contacted him and made offers but all in vain.
However, he left CJ E&M on January 16. In an interview with OSEN, Han Dong-chul said, “From the end of last year, I wanted to produce a program independently and I conveyed this to my company. We tried to work things out, but it didn’t work, and I decided to leave CJ E&M earlier on this year.”
He went on to say, “Until now, I’ve been a CJ employee and producer, so I was able to get a lot of support. I did the same kind of shows for 20 years, so it was difficult to do something completely new. That’s why I wanted to created a show on my own. All I want is to do a program without any limitations and outside interference and only with my will.”
Surprisingly enough, he had to go through more troubles in making his own show after he had left CJ because of trouble in getting investment and power game between management companies. In the end, he decided to join YG and go with YANG HYUN SUK, whom he had been close to. As a prequel, Lee Sang-yun signed the contract with YG. When Han Dong-chul joining YG becomes finalized, it will take no time for the rest of his team will join YG too.
When Na Young-suk moved from KBS to tvN, he took with him producers Lee Myung-han and Shin Won-ho plus writers. Just like Na Young-suk, Han Dong-chul needs his team that he has worked with for a long time in order to create another hit show. This is why many are predicting that it will not take long for Han Dong-chul to finalize his contract with YG.
YG had nothing to say about this except that “We didn’t hear anything from Han Dong-chul. Only Han Dong-chul knows what his next moves are.”
2017. 4. 8.
