 One thing that's Asian that needs a raise right now is jacks tank top jacks tank top needs a raise If Netflix has to pay American prices for the Korean content Does that mean they'll still want it because it's part of the appeal the fact that Netflix is getting a good deal Yeah, we got to talk about it This is going viral in a couple entertainment circles today joining us. We got Jack Liang Long story short Andrew the squid game lead Lee Jung Jae is requesting one million dollars per episode for squid game season 2 Also the squid game creator Andrew it came out that he gets no residuals Despite the original series earning Netflix 900 million dollars and of course Andrew Netflix is investing over the next period of time 2.5 billion dollars in Korean content. That's 2.5 Billion right now We all know that Korean content is really good But part of the reason why Netflix is so invested in the Korean content is because they get a really high return on investment Because it's cheaper to make over there. I'm not saying it's dirt cheap, but it's it's it's a fraction of the cost Yeah, I think we got to remember right these are as much as they are content businesses and entertainment businesses What's the key word? They're just businesses. They want to see ROI here Let me just give you some quick stats Andrew fifty eight million dollars per episode for Lord of the Rings on Amazon Fifteen million dollars in episode for Game of Thrones 2.4 million per episode of squid game season one. Wow, which one do you think had the most ROI? I mean, it's definitely squid games, but now I could see the main characters asking for a million That's quite a bit. Yeah, that's gonna up that 2.4 million dollars But I would say Lee Jung Jae's Request of a million from his original salary for season one, which was about 250k that to me is not that big of a jump Right, that's just a 4x 4x which is like it's more it's a price jump But it's like I guess what they're probably afraid of is that it's gonna make all the other actors request a higher rate, too But I think he's one of the only returning actors. Honestly, he's one of two, right? I think that Lee Jung Jae I think maybe what they're afraid of on the Netflix side is this is just gonna up the price and lower the ROI equation for all Korean content moving forward for the next couple decades It's like if you give one employee a raise everyone's gonna start asking for raises exactly exactly All right, let's get into the comments section Oh, by the way, please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot-pot boys as we get into these Somebody said so the star of the incredibly profitable show just wants a raise that totally makes sense The show can't really move forward without him. He has all the leverage Yeah, I don't know if he has all the leverage because there's another comment that kind of explains this He's like well the show made him a star and the show obviously incorporated a bunch of other people in it And you need the writers and the production all of this this guy Lee Jung Jae is not quite like a Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise level type Star although he is a star so no he can't necessarily demand that much What do you think? I think it has to do with like the Eastern perception with the Western perception I'm not saying that Lee Jung Jae was at his peak in Korea But he was a pre-existing star like he had money and stuff Is he like the Brad Pitt equivalent in Korea? Man to be honest. I heard it was like more like possibly like a Liam Neeson You know what I mean? Like somebody who has had a great storied career, but it brought him back But regardless I think him asking a million per episode actually makes sense And I think it's fair for him to ask that it's also like fair just to get it done if he takes like 600k Seven up 750k an episode. I still think that that's more realistically of what they give him But honestly guys, you know At the end of the season finale of Seinfeld They were all making a million per episode or at least Seinfeld was right and that was Comedy this was like what decades ago Yeah, that was decades ago when a million then is probably like essentially 1.8 million now And honestly this goes to our discussion about valuing Asian talent Even though they're bringing in the ROI, are they gonna pay him like Western talent or are they gonna put Asians more in that like We're providing the value slot. I mean with that 2.5 billion investment. I think they're gonna start getting paid Yeah, they deserve it. But but do you think Jack in your opinion? Do you think like if you're an Asian creator or I guess like the movie maker in this sense like you're still gonna take The lower deal for the business just because it's like business is growing and regardless if you're making that much You're just like yo, I just want to keep the Cash flow well that little amount is still a lot in Korea or Asia or wherever it is, right? It's not compared to the US. It's compared to where they live, right? You're saying everything is relative and I think that I hope that those That profit distribution increase goes all the way down to like the gaffers and the PAs because as we all know We've all been to Asia. We've all done some work in Asia. They definitely do not pay the lower-level people that well the cleaners They don't have a union You know, I'll say one thing one thing that's Asian that needs a raise right now is Jack's tank top Jack's tank top needs a raise As far as ownership of the IP goes Andrew a lot of people are like man Just because he accepts the contract that he signed it doesn't make it right This kind of crap is why the writers Guild Association is striking right now What happened to the squid games creator or the writer of the initial series? Yeah He's getting screwed because he signed a contract with streaming where it gives him no points and no residuals Despite it being a 20x 100x success and they're also saying because in the traditional like industry like Hollywood He would get residuals because streaming works differently than Hollywood has different rules right then movies Release in theaters. Yeah, I guess. How are you guys is feelings on this? He signed a contract obviously contracts are there for a reason to protect usually the bigger dog But I guess how wrong is it because usually bonus incentives are not really built into a entertainment like that Yeah, I mean Huang Deng hook. I'm sorry for mispronouncing the name He did come out and say I have not been given any sort of like bonus be like I've only been paid What was in the contract? Um, is it right? Is it wrong? Is it just how we do things here? I'm sure in Korea had he got that amount of profit They would have broke them off like a little bit of just a goodwill bonus, right? But I guess in America they were more sticking to the legality of it I don't know what their negotiations are for a season two and going forward But he should definitely get something for those seasons at least. Yeah, but it's true I mean the way it works here in America the contracts are the contracts and it's almost like you almost got to sign It just to get the chance right to blow up. Yeah, that's true I mean trust me. I mean music artists signing Unideal contracts is still prevalent to this day Somebody said squid game season two is not even gonna work man. Some things do not need sequels man It's almost like the hangover franchise The first one was great, but all the other hangovers. They were just money grabs Are you guys excited about squid game season two Jack me and you we watched the whole series? I guess I am I'm gonna watch the whole thing. I got to right like I'm so People are gonna watch it because they know they have to just because the first one was so good and groundbreaking But like do you actually think it's gonna be like even even let's not say just as good But even nine out of ten is good. Oh nine out of ten as good. That's pretty high I was saying I was thinking like five out of ten as good. I was still gonna watch it I think though with much higher budgets They'll probably take it to be more stupendous outside of the the game room, you know the game I'll be crazy. Yeah. Yeah, the game is gonna be like Have different environments and maybe like a jungle inside of the box personally I would have been okay if the series just ended here, right? I think season one went out on a high note Yeah, it went out on a high note and it kind of made this crazy impact It's almost like, you know size gondom style like his second song like there's no way mother father Yeah, mother father gentlemen like no one remembers that song. Um, I didn't know that song existed I think I'm excited for it. You know, I think they're gonna take it to another place And I think it's really interesting that Asian content is finally getting this like marquee treatment But I hope that where the Asian content difference differs from the Western content is that it's just not a cash money grab For the second third and fourth season like they actually really dedicate themselves to making it at least Equal in a different way, right? I think Asians do have that standard and that quality in their work So I think it will be really good. Yeah, I believe so Somebody said, you know as a white American, I'm not gonna lie You could just remake the new season without any of the previous cast I'm just not even gonna care because I was just there for the story because obviously as an American I'm watching it in another language. I don't really relate to the actors anyway Oh, this is a good point because listen a lot of Americans still watch Squid games dubbed not even with subtitles They watched it dubbed in English Which I don't think they know Lee Jung Jae's name to be honest No, I don't think they know a lot of any of the actors names They just were watching a piece that was so crazy to them and they're not Invested into the character of the personality himself So I guess that's true. I could see their point, you know, it could be not they might not even be Korean They could be like Chinese. They wouldn't even know. Oh, yeah. No to be honest Obviously, there's different segments within like the non-Asian population, but probably a sizable chunk I don't know what percentage fall into that category. Anyway guys. Let's get into our takeaways Um, is it kind of be a situation where Korean content is almost like Japanese cars in the 80s and 90s? If you guys have studied, you know, when Japanese cars and obviously nowadays in the more the 2000s Korean cars enter the market Andrew They were a better value than German and American cars But I don't know if people put them on the same level certainly as German cars But they were always like they're like people buy more Hondas and Toyota's than any other car in America But I don't know if they like value it the same. No value it because of the the price to quality ratio Yeah, because the mileage that you could get out of a Toyota the utility from a Toyota Was way higher per dollar than a BMW the reliability Yeah, the BMWs aren't really fun cars and really nice cars But you also have to take them to the shop often they cost much more when you first buy them a game of thrones harder to fix Yeah. Yeah, BMW is kind of like game of thrones and then squid game is kind of like Toyota's or Kia's now and Hyundai so I guess but we don't say that in a bad way. I'm not saying that about On a car channel in the value way. No, no, no to be fair squid games was at least like the Hyundai Genesis All right, like it's like the Genesis series like the top level one But are the iconic Ionic 6 right but Netflix partially does love it partially because of the strong ROI. That's right I guess and over the years Lexus sales, which is You know Toyota's premium line that has begun to lag over the past like five years of sales So it kind of goes to show you I wonder how much will western people value Korean content? Do they value it at its price point or do they just value it just flat out altogether? All right here. You guys want to hear my hot take until Uh, there is a bona fide western star from Korea that makes it in America As a household that is as in their name is being known and being able to be remembered by Americans I think that's when you start to see that shift But until then for now It's kind of like a really good deal for Americans But I will say this some k-pop stars like BTS blackpink Musically they are on that level where they're kind of getting a little bit more respect like in general They just are respected. They actually some artists make more money performing in asia than they do in the us actually Yeah, I could see that. Um, Andrew. What kind of comment do you have on just global capitalism in general from this? Do you think that that as something generates a lot more global revenues that the revenues need to be split sort of uh You know down the chain of command. I don't mean the bottom people like there needs to be some sort of trickle down Yeah, but it's capitalism even in america like let's take it out of the globe You know most companies they just only want to pay the least amount that they can to get the job done and retain the employees It's true. You don't want employees leaving All at once because that's going to cost you a lot of money to rehire and the time You want you're saying you want to find where their threshold is in global in any sort of capitalism and just provide one notch above that Yeah, any business is doing that actually that's just how most business is done Uh, if you're trying to maximize profits, so I I think unfortunately global global capitalism I mean But yeah, I think and this is just wave one of the korea netflix wave You know the last four years, so I think that in the next five years You're right jack that they're going to get paid more and i'm looking forward to it So that's they might have competitors hbo hulu. They might come into play and like oh Netflix is putting 2.5 billion. We might need to come in with our own money. Yeah, and you know what I hope I hope that as long as the korean content or just asian content in general stays profitable They can pay more people to the actors to the writers to the producers all the way down the line And those roi equations might not look like as superstar as they were like great great But as long as they look good, I think the western companies will still go. Well, this was still a good investment. Yeah It's still worth it. Yeah, and and you're right, uh I don't think like korean content always has to be this almost like dollar dumpling version of of of content You know where china town cheap eats. It's like You're just getting an incredible deal, but i think asians are always known for value, right Well, I think it's changing. I do think it is in asians to care about value I think deep down asians know that's like the right thing to do But anyways, I will say this guys. Have you seen the recent mba contracts? Of some of the the free agents that just signed right guys. So i'm just saying this is capitalism right now You got desmond bahns Desmond bahns making signed a 207 million dollar contract desmond bahns You know who that is from the grizzlies, but the short household name That's crazy. Hey shout out to tyrese halliburton 260 is is a lot for tyrese halliburton I'm not mad that the mba players are making enough. It doesn't take any money out of my pocket But i'm just saying this is capitalism here. So they make a bunch of money They're making more than like the entire wmba times three. Hey shout out to lee jong j. You know shout out to young hook And uh, man go get your money All right, everybody yo jack thanks for being here with us and until next time everybody we out peace