Squid Game Cast and Crew Speak to Chapman Film School Students

Last week I had the opportunity to be hosted by Stephen Galloway, Dean of the Chapman film school, and meet the cast, writer, and director of Squid Game, the famous record-breaking Netflix Series, at my alma mater Chapman University. Chapman has a special place in my heart as the school where I got both my undergraduate degree in Communications in 1997, as well as my masters degree in Organizational Leadership in 2000. The Folino Theater stage was filled with Chapman University's students and the Squid Game cast members who treated them to a master class at Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The cast and crew of this incredible show shared some of their insights, stories, and processes that catapulted Squid Game to the number one Netflix show of all time with over 1.65 billion hours of viewing in just the first 28 days. 

The late Larry Dodge, which the film school is named after, was a personal friend and mentor to me. He was one of the co-founding sponsors of the Anaheim International Film Festival, in which I served as Chairman - www.anaheimfilm.org

It was inspiring to hear the background of writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, who had only $5 in his bank account when he started to write the series. He added, “I could only dream of being in a contest and getting a fortune, like from a survival game.” As amazing as Dong-hyuk’s story is, it was not the only story worthy of note among the cast and crew. HoYeon Jung, who’s role in this series as Kang Sae-byeok was her first time acting, began building her modeling portfolio when she was 16 years old. She started out by doing freelance modeling gigs, and ended up walking in Seoul Fashion Week before winning second place on Korea's Next Top Model in 2013. Despite this being her first acting role ever, she did exceptionally well, and recently won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series.

This was an epic opportunity to meet and hear from the creators of one of my favorite series. I think everyone who attended this event, myself included, was very excited to hear that they are seriously considering creating a sequel to what may go down as the greatest Netflix show ever.

It is in moments like these that I feel very blessed for the relationships my agency KCOMM has been able to build through our network and the connections we have made over the years. These are the kinds of relationships and connections that we want to connect others in our network with as well.