What Happened to the Rookie Producer of Drinking Solo? “Excessive Work Load and Personal Insult Led to His Death” (Kyunghyang)

The death of a rookie producer of the tvN drama Drinking Solo may have been the result of an excessive work load, personal insults, and the authoritarian culture in the company. The Youth Union and the bereaved family members formed a “committee to resolve the death of the rookie assistant producer of Drinking Solo.” The committee held a press conference on April 18 and demanded that the broadcasting company release the investigation results of the suicide of Lee Han-bit, who died last year, along with an apology and measures to prevent recurrence.
On October 26, 2016, Lee Han-bit (27 at the time), a rookie producer at tvN, a cable channel owned by CJ E&M, was found dead five days after he had gone missing. Lee joined the company in January 2016 and was assigned to the production of Drinking Solo in April. Drinking Solo is a TV drama about the challenges and sorrows of young people preparing for the civil service examination in Noryangjin, Seoul.
At the time, the company said that Lee died due to personal issues. However, when the committee analyzed the conversations on Lee’s KakaoTalk account and his phone calls and interviewed the employees of the partner companies related to the show, the results pointed in another direction.
The committee argued that Lee suffered from work-related stress that was too intense to bear for a rookie assistant producer. The contractor in charge of lighting and photography for Drinking Solo was replaced just before the show’s first episode was to air. This reduced the production period by two weeks. The committee said, “This caused the working environment of the production team to deteriorate profoundly.”
Lee had to oversee various tasks including costumes and props, and he had to organize the set and settle the account. According to his phone records, he was able to take a break for only two days from August 27, 2016 when the shooting resumed until October 20, the day before he was reported missing. During that period, he had made 1,547 calls and is estimated to have slept an average of 4-5 hours a day. Lee also struggled after he was in charge of laying off temporary staff. In his suicide note, he wrote, “The words ‘labor exploitation,’ which the staff mentioned half jokingly, dug into my heart. To them, I’m nothing more than a manager who squeezes out the workers.” The verbal abuse within the production team was also serious. The recordings and KakaoTalk conversations Lee left behind show that the others frequently slandered and spoke profanity towards Lee when having a company dinner or talking in the group chat room.
In the two responses that CJ E&M sent to the committee last December and January, the company said, “There was no abuse or insult of Lee.” In fact, the company went on to state, “According to an internal investigation, the company suffered damages due to Lee’s poor conduct.” The committee refuted, “CJ E&M is driving this issue into a problem of Lee’s personal attitude just based on the statements by the senior producer and the main producer.”
This day, CJ E&M announced, “We express our deepest condolences to the family in pain. If the police or other public authority launches an investigation, we will willingly cooperate.”
Article from:  http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201704191802387&code=710100#csidx9be276affbb4483ab7395a63b73b6a0