BYJ will publish a wine travel book

[Exclusive News Trans] Background of ‘Bae Yong Joon’s Wine Travel’
which will be released soon

translated inEnglish: Suehan /Suehan's byj blog (thanks a lot sis)
original in korean: CHOSUN.com
by Choi Bo Yoon, 2010.09.13 14:12

▲ Kim Young Ho, CEO of Ilshin Spinning and Bae Yong Joon

Hallyu star Bae Yong Joon’s version, ‘Drops of God’ will be published early next year.

Bae Yong Joon has been known as a wine lover and will visit world-famous wineries like ‘Romanee Conti’ to meet famous wine makers, and will publish a wine travel book. He will describe various stories relating to the wine.

Bae Yong Joon already has been well known as a wine expert in the wine industry, no less than a wine critic. It became a topic due to the fact that Bae Yong Joon’s image was used as the main character, Tomino Itse appearing as a wine critic in ‘Drops of God’ which has sold 4,400,000 copies in Korea and Japan..

The Wine industry is already excited about the news that ‘Bae Yong Joon’s wine travel’ will be published. Because wines, wine specified shops, wine bars, etc that Bae Yong Joon introduces in his book will be popular and become famous places for the Japanese tourists. There is an analysis that the weak wine industry due to the economic recession will become active.

▲ Romanee Conti that Hallyu star Bae Yong Joon visited.

Bae Yong Joon’s culture experience book, ‘The Journey to Discover the Beauty of Korea’ was published and more than 100,000 copies were pre-ordered in Japan. It received a favorable review in Japan and foreign countries as well as Korea.

Behind Bae Yong Joon’s ‘Special Global Plan’, there is a big support from CEO Kim Young Ho of Shindong Wine who exclusively imports Romanee Conti Opus One. Kim Young Ho, who is CEO of Ilshin Spinning, imports wines and is also known as a lover for music and art, not only wine.

CEO Kim studied architecture at Pratt Institute which is a world famous art school in New York and he set up a gallery at Ilsan Spinning company building with the art works that he collected since the 1970’s. At the Ilsan Spinning company building in Yeouido, the art works of contemporary artists like Jean-Philippe-Arthur Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andrew Warhola were displayed. It also includes the great artwork, ‘Ilshin Yeouido 91’, of the famous Italian sculptor Mauro Staccioli.

The new company building in Hannam-dong, which recently opened, is called ‘an art building’ because the art work of contemporary artists are displayed and it has a music hall which is used for chamber music concerts. The seats of the music hall were made with fine quality and each seat is worth about two hundred million won. They were designed by a famous artist. In the middle, LED curtain wall shines luminously and draws the attention of the people who pass by. CEO Kim also planned this building.

CEO Kim Young Ho and Bae Yong Joon, who is known as a Hallyu star, developed a relationship several years ago and have exchanged opinions on all cultural areas. Recently, CEO Kim reviewed the planning of the Wine Travel when he was with Bae Yong Joon, and arranged meetings with the world-famous wine makers in Chile, Romanee Conti winery, and Napa Valley, USA. Bae Yong Joon plans to travel with the sommelier, Lee Joon Hyuk of Shindong Wine, in November starting with USA.


suehan: for your reference, I’m reposting the picture of when YJ visited CEO Kim’s building in Hannam-dong last year.




BYJ gave up "Drops Of God"

Jan. 5, 2010


Source : My Daily
( http://korea.sohu.com/20100105/n269390065.shtml)
English translation by Cam of BYJ Quilt (Lots of thanks sis)

The production of BYJ’s "The Drops of God" has been canceled.
The plan to return to TV has reached a temporary deadlock

Based on the media report in Korea, Korea.sohu.com in Beijing reported in the afternoon of the 5th January that BYJ’s Keyeast has announced the cancellation of the production plan for the TV drama "Drops Of God" staring BYJ. This news has greatly disappointed many viewers who have long anticipated for his return to the TV screen.

"Drops Of God" is the first TV production for Keyeast. In early 2008 Keyeast signed an agreement with Kodansha of Japan for the remake of the TV version, in the hope of promoting wine appreciation in Korea.

However if they choose to follow the original manga, it is inevitable that numerous brands of wine will be appearing on TV. This will be in violation of S Korea’s indirect advertisement provision. But filming with fabricated brands would diminish the original storyline.

Due to the many issues in question, in addition the agreement of the remake has- expired. After careful consideration of all aspects, Keyeast has finally decided to cancel the plan production of "Drops Of God" .



Source: The Korea Herald

Bae's series scrapped over regulations

Hallyu star Bae Yong-joon's latest television serial has been scrapped indefinitely due to the production's failure to gain authorization to use the name of a brand of wine, his management company Key East said yesterday.

For the drama to have been successfully developed the production team needed a particular brand of wine to be used on the show to stay faithful to the original source material.

But Bae and camp hit a snag with local advertising regulations which limit the amount of product placement on television shows in Korea.

According to Key East, the television adaptation rights for the property was returned to the Japanese publishing house that released the original comics.

Bae, who holds a major stake in Key East, purchased the rights to the popular Japanese comic book in 2008, which was to be developed as a follow-up to his hugely popular television series "Legend."

Bae is currently involved in the pre-production phase of the ambitious new television series he is producing with K-Pop mogul Park Jin-young titled "Dream High."

The 39-year-old actor has also recently published a travelogue of Korea that he penned himself.

(kws@heraldm.com)
Source: Korean Times 2010.01.05

Bae’s 'God’s Waterdrop' Project Turns Sour

Actor Bae Yong-joon gave up on his project of turning a popular Japanese comic series, God’s Waterdrop, into a drama due to rules restricting the use of real wine brands.

Top star Bae Yong-Joon has been forced to give up on his project of turning a popular Japanese comic series, God's Waterdrop, into a drama due to rules restricting the use of real wine brands, officials from his agency said.

The comic book, featuring a renowned wine critic and two men searching for 12 kinds of wine called God's disciples,' recently boosted sales of wine in Korea and had been called a CEO's must-read at one point.

However, the project went bust, as they could not overcome the rules on product placement, which tightly restrict indirect advertising of products such as the use of real wine brands in dramas.

Keyeast, an entertainment company controlled by Bae, has relinquished its right to make the comic into a drama to the Japanese publisher.

"On top of the expired contract we signed in 2008, the key reason for the cancellation of the project is because we were unable to resolve the problems involving indirect ads,"' a Keyeast official said.

On top of production, Bae originally planned to take a leading role in the drama, targeting Asian markets.

It is known that the writers of the comic book are avid fans of the Korean hallyu star.
　

(Repost) Agreement for joint planning signed by Keyeast

April 18, 2009

Agreement for joint planning signed by Keyeast, Phoenix C&M, and Apple Tree Pictures for Korean version of Drops of God



- Kim Tae Won, Yoon Shin Ae, Bang Sang Yun and other well-known participants form team for the television series Drops of God
- Development of Asian Wave cultural content by means of joint planning arrangement
- Filming to begin in latter half of next year after planning stage is completed this year


The top dream team has been put together for the Korean television series Drops of God.

For the production of the television series based on the global best seller manga Drops of God, the Asian cultural content company Keyeast (www.keyeast.co.kr) has entered into a joint development agreement with the leading domestic television and film production companies Phoenix C&M (CEO: Kim Tae Won) and Apple Tree Pictures (CEO: Yoon Shin Ae).

Keyeast secured the exclusive (Korean) television series rights for Drops of God. Now to create content which can lead the Asian Wave, Keyeast has entered into the cooperative arrangement with television/film production companies which have accumulated extensive experience and know-how. The three companies will together engage in planning, synopsis drafting, and other similar activities.

The planning stage for television series has become more important due to the fact that the markets for television series now generally include foreign nations. Many productions now begin with cooperative planning carried out by several partners. The team of Kim Tae Won, Yoon Shin Ae, and Bang Sang Yun, who have produced television series such as Jumong, Tazza, and Bomnal, has attracted much attention to the Drops of God project.

A spokesperson for Keyeast said that" we secured the domestic television series rights for the original work, which has become a hit worldwide, and now with the formation of our planning team, the production process for Drops of God has gained more momentum". The spokesperson also said that they would deal with any differences between the television series and manga in a way which appeals to the tastes of the Asian region.

The planning for Drops of God is scheduled to be completed this year. After selecting the writer and production company and going through other necessary processes, the goal is for shooting to begin in the latter half of next year.

[KEYEAST] ---April 17, 2009