Yu Jeoung-yeol (L), president of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, poses for a photo with Stephan Trojansky, head of the global visual effects company Scanline VFX, a subsidiary of Netflix, at a Seoul hotel on May 20, 2022, during a ceremony to mark the announcement of the company’s plan to invest US$100 million in South Korea over the next six years to build special visual effects facilities. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Scanline VFX, a subsidiary of Netflix, will invest US$100 million in South Korea over the next six years to build special visual effects facilities in a move that will help turn the country into an Asian hub for high-tech content creation, Seoul’s industry ministry said Friday.
Stephan Trojansky, the head of the global visual effects company, expressed hope the envisioned investment in South Korea will create jobs and foster cooperation with local companies.
“We would like to create 200 jobs for the next six years, and bring new technology of real-time filmmaking and virtual production into the market, and develop together this local ecosystem with local universities, bringing training programs and creating opportunities to overall strengthen the local ecosystem of visual effect companies in Korea,” Trojansky said in a news conference at a Seoul hotel.
Scanline VFX, established in 1989 in Munich and recently acquired by Netflix, is working on various projects not just for the U.S. streaming service giant but also for many global brands, such as Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios.
It is known for creating special effects for the popular U.S. series “Game of Thrones.”
The investment came amid intensifying competition in the South Korean streaming market, as Netflix and its rivals are seeking to create Korean originals after the global hit of Netflix’s “Squid Game.”
Last year, Disney+, the flagship streaming service of U.S. media giant Walt Disney Co., and Apple TV+ landed in South Korea.
U.S. media giant Paramount Global said Paramount+, its subscription-based video streaming service, will land in South Korea next month in partnership with Tving, a local online video-on-demand platform run by CJ ENM.
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy promised to provide all possible support under relevant laws to help facilitate Netflix’s planned investment in the high-tech movie production sector down the road.
The ministry also voiced hope the investment could help South Korea turn into an Asian hub for movie and content making based on state-of-the-art technology.
“Its investment marks the first of its kind in Asia to build facilities for movies’ special effects that utilize virtual reality rendition technology,” the industry ministry said in a press release.
“It will lay the groundwork for South Korea to emerge as an Asian hub for content production based on information and communication technology,” the ministry added.
(Yonhap)
