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TechCheck+ Korea's Hollywood Breakthrough with 'Pachinko' EP 4/18/22

TechCheck

CNBC

Disruptors, Investing, Faang, Technology, Business, Management, Cnbc, Tech

4.856 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2022

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

CNBC's Carl Quintanilla spoke to agent-turned-producer Theresa Kang-Lowe — founder and CEO of Blue Marble Pictures and one of the executive producers of the acclaimed epic drama "Pachinko" on Apple TV+. They discussed how her agency experience at Endeavor prepared her to helm her own production company, the challenges behind bringing a project of Pachinko's scale to fruition, and why now is the moment for global audiences to embrace Korean stories.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Theresa Kang Lau,

0:02.0

Lau, Blue Marble Pictures, founder, and CEO,

0:04.8

executive producer of Pacinco on Apple TV Plus.

0:08.2

It's really good to talk to you, and I've seen the first few episodes.

0:11.5

It's beautiful. I guess I mean we could start with

0:16.1

sort of just the timeline of the beginnings it's been so long since you read the book

0:21.8

clearly and began shopping it around and so much has happened

0:25.7

in Hollywood regarding diverse voices since then.

0:29.8

Could you just talk about the difference between the environment then and the environment now?

0:34.0

Yes, so four years ago is when I first read the book and to take you back a little bit

0:41.0

when I was at college at UCLA,

0:44.3

I studied Asian American Studies and anthropology.

0:47.3

And that's when I first heard about Zayonichi Koreans,

0:50.1

which are Koreans who live in Japan.

0:52.0

And they remained in Japan during Japanese occupation

0:55.8

and beyond World War II.

0:58.0

And I heard so much about the Korean diaspora

1:01.6

in the US, but really not about Japan and when I then years later first read the book

1:08.2

Pachinko there was this moment of recognition again but at that time four years ago, it was very hard to sell any

1:16.5

project that at all Asian-led cast. That was a period piece that required a certain budget level. And definitely that was a period piece that required a certain budget level and definitely that was in Korean, Japanese, and English languages.

1:27.6

That was almost unheard of. So now where we are, you know, with Parasite, which is an amazing film, Minari,

1:39.2

Squid game of course, I feel like our timing is appropriate but when we first started the project it was

...

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