True CJ Creations has ambitious creative goals that have brought the market Thai versions of hit Korean dramas, including "Voice", "Tunnel", "Unlucky Ploy" and the upcoming "Start-Up" and "Good Doctor". Co-CEO, Ari Arijitsatien, talks about re-imagining Korean stories, building a studio system in Thailand based on Korea’s Studio Dragon model, and what’s next for the Bangkok-based joint venture.

In early October this year, Thai drama series, "Bad Guys" – a remake of Korea’s 2014 OCN thriller about a team of hard-core criminals pressed into new lives as crime-fighters – charted #1 on Netflix in Thailand as well as on local platform True ID. Director Piyapan “Tom” Choopetch’s 12-episode local version ultimately spent seven weeks on Netflix’s top 10 in Thailand, at its peak ahead of global blockbusters such as "Little Women", "Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" and "Narco Saints". 

The show’s success comes as global streamers ramp up production in Southeast Asia, putting four-year-old Thailand-Korea joint venture, True CJ Creations, in a sweet spot, with, as "Bad Guys" showed, exactly the kinds of premium content it was created to make.

Set up in 2018 to marry the best of Korean IP with the creative spirit of Thailand, the Bangkok-based True CJ Creations, from the start, charted a new path for scripted and non-scripted content in Asia, blending Thai practices and decades of experience in the local market via True with the best of Asia’s story-telling and production skills and values in CJ ENM/Studio Dragon. 

“We have a new model,” True CJ Creations’ Bangkok-based co-CEO, Ari Arijitsatien, says. “We decode the format and find our own themes.”

Family, for instance, is more of a focus of the Thai adaptations, she says; “it doesn’t mean that romance will not happen in the Thai version, just that the story is more about the family.” 

She’s referring, in this case, to "Start-up", based on tvN’s 2020 series starring Bae Suzy as a woman with entrepreneurial dreams at the centre of a love triangle with two men – one her secret first love and a second who pretends to be her first love. The Thai version, currently in production, has two female leads and a different ending from the Korean original. The idea is to use Korea’s winning story-telling elements to tell new stories in a world likely to be familiar with the original via global streaming platforms.   

What’s the benefit of a format if everything is changed?
“We’re not changing everything, but we twist it in order to make it make more sense [for local audiences] and add new flavour that will entice audiences to watch it again. When we add more in terms of the storyline, it does not mean we are eliminating everything.” 

CJ ENM’s catalogue is huge. Are your choices based on the performance of the Korean titles or those that aren’t well known in Thailand?
“It’s a mix, but of course we cannot avoid looking at the performance in Korea, either from Nielsen or CPI (Content Power Index). Those are the key indicators. We also listen to customers, to reviews...,” she says, adding that the advantages of adapting a series that is not well-known means less scrutiny and pressure in the remake. 

Studio Dragon has something like 80 in-house producers. How are you replicating that model in Thailand?
“We have 10 in-house producers who work in the same way as Studio Dragon. We focus on managing the story, from scripting to pre-production and post-production. In Thailand, generally, producers do not monitor the production from the beginning to the end in this way.” 

True CJ has now had about four years of experience. What genres have worked best for you?
“In the past, people might have thought we were famous for suspense, thriller, crime, like Voice, which was so successful, and Tunnel as well. But that changed after romcom Unlucky Ploy.”

Are you free to choose anything you like from CJ ENM? “We have to talk with the writers because we are changing the original. So the writers have to be convinced as well. That’s why we do a lot of analysis before we start to change or adapt.”

One of your latest shows is the music-themed "Sing Again", adapted from the 2015 M-net drama series. Why did you choose this one?
“Our research showed it trending among Gen-Z audiences, which are always crazy for content on music, following their dreams and romance, love triangles...” 

What about "Bad Guy"? What made you choose it?
“Bad Guy is a male-led crime series. "Voice" and "Tunnel" are suspense crime series, so we thought this genre would work. Also "Bad Guy" has multiple seasons, and a move spin-off, so it’s possible to leverage that.”  

How often do you go outside of CJ ENM’s catalogue?
“We are not limiting ourselves to CJ ENM. For example, our 2024 lineup includes "Good Doctor" from Korea’s KBS Media.” The 2013 Korean original medical drama about a doctor (played by Joo Won) on the spectrum with extraordinary memory and spatial skills has been remade in multiple international markets, including the U.S. Japan, India and Turkey.  

What about unscripted?
“We’ve done a lot, such as "Show Me The Money", "You’re My Fantasy", "Grandpas Over Flowers"... Their budgets are high... we are figuring out if we can make those feasible during these times.”  

With so many local production houses, what do you think True CJ’s competitive advantage is?
“We are famous for remakes... we have internal consultation from CJ ENM, with Studio Dragon’s writers or producers, and keep training to improve the skills we need. We are also exploring co-production with Studio Dragon.”

Is there a roadmap for moving from scripted formats to producing your own series?
“We are planning to launch in 2023, if we can find the right partner. Right now we are meeting a lot of local and regional IP owners in order to select and develop together, based on what we are practising with the remakes... Hopefully we can make that part of the plan for next year.” 

This feature appears in ContentAsia's December 2022 print magazine