“Long Night Shootings” Prohibited by Law for Minor Entertainers

Consequently, children actors often were asked to stay on the set well into the night and give up sleeping for shootings, which kept them from having healthy school life and education needed. (image: PAN Entertainment)

SEOUL, July 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Minor-aged actors under the age of 15 will now be prohibited from “long night shootings,” which is filming through 10 pm to 6 am of next day and will not be able to work for more than 35 hours in a week under a newly enacted law.

The “Popular Culture & Art Development Act,” decreed on December 31 of last year and enacted from July 29, will stipulate such rules for young celebrities.

The core purpose of the law is to protect young pop-culture artists from mentally and physically onerous workload and their right of learning. Up until now, juvenile actors and actresses have been classified by law as individual proprietors and hence making them work excessively has not constituted the case for child exploitation under labor laws.

Consequently, children actors often were asked to stay on the set well into the night and give up sleeping for shootings, which kept them from having healthy school life and education needed.

In the entertainment business, celebrities shooting through all night or suffering from sleep deprivation is not an uncommon thing to see. Recently tweeted by his fellow actor in currently popularity-gaining K-drama “Triangle,” a picture of the star in the show and one of the most famous K-pop band members Kim Jaejoong of JYJ taking a catnap on a chair uncomfortably in the drama set was posted on the Internet, with a caption that said “Send supports to Jaejoong who has been shooting for two-straight days without any sleep.”

IU, another top celebrity of Korea, had to take a provisional rest from all of her showbiz activities in 2011, as the rigorous schedule while filming the TV show “Dream High” in which she couldn’t sleep for more than 2 hours in a day wore down her health, when she was just 17 years old.

The new law also included provisions that are designed to protect minor-aged actors’ personal rights and freedom of choice. These provisions will restrict talent agencies forbidding their talents from engaging in a romantic relationship or forcing them into excessive diet schedule. Violation of the act will be punished by decertification in the entertainment business or levying of penalty.

By J. H. Kim (jhkim@koreabizwire.com)