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Comment by slightwinder | Hacker News Reader

Netflix is specifically buying local productions. Changing them on fundamental levels just to cater some us-viewer seems pointless.

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That is true in some cases, but not Squid Game, which was specially produced by Netflix.

Which is what I meant. They look for promising projects in other countries and finance them partly or even buy them as a whole. But those projects usually already existed before Netflix came in, meaning they are not specifically designed for Netflix and the US-market. Squid Game for example was written 10 years before Netflix started financing them. And this is even more obvious when they finance sequels to old series which were already running decades ago.

I’m not sure how that really is an argument against my point. Thousands of scripts exist, and in the process of them getting made, the funders and producers have influence on the content.

The idea that fully-written scripts are just made without any input or pushback from the funders/producers is not how the film industry works.

No, that's exactly how the Industry (also) works. There are different styles of projects, but scripts being finished before any money flows in, is pretty common. And at those point changes are usually small. And usually they also don't plan ahead to become some global hit.

But the point is that Netflix specifically buys productions from different countries, to cater to the fans of those cultures. If they wanted to have a US-ified script, they wouldn't need to go to such lengths, they could just hire some us-asian writer to get another ethnic US-series.

Please detail some of the specific things that Netflix influenced to make Squid Games less Korean.

I think they're making a <valid> claim that funding creates a bias. Netflix funding squid game created a bias to rewrite a potentially-done script for US audiences.

Yes. No one else seems to be able to read the comments up thread.

Netflix funded the production. Netflix has an influence on what the script is.

At no point was I interested in arguing about whether it was a “Korean show” or not.

Netflix wants subscribers in Korea so they have every motivation to create content that Korean people want to watch. If Americans like it as well that is just a bonus.

Netflix funds and produces lots of local productions targeted at local markets, with zero eye towards the US market[0]. They still get international subtitles because that's cheap enough. If those shows turn out to have a more global appeal than expected, great, but they were still only originally targeted at the local market. It makes no sense if Netflix is trying to gain subscribers in Korea to make a Korean show targeted at US audiences.

[0]Example: https://about.netflix.com/ja/news/asura-trailer-special-art

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