Deep Rooted Tree is Best Drama of Current Era Among PDs and Film Critics

The 2011 drama series Deep Rooted Tree (Tree with Deep Roots) is causing an upsurge in popular interest.

The drama combines various elements to the process of Hangul creation and publication by King Sejong, including politics, martial arts, romance, thriller and etc. The Deep Rooted Tree which demonstrated the strength of Kim Yeong Hyeon and Park Sang Yeon was selected as the best drama of current era by 20 PDs and film reviewers. Out of 18 persons who chose the two authors as best scriptwriter, 12 of them chose Deep Rooted Tree as the best drama. As a historical drama, the international competitiveness it possessed also gained a high mark.

Public culture commentator Lee Young Mi said, “There is no such scene similar to American drama that compresses the content that can be made as 50-episode series into 24 episodes. After the society is democratized, current era who is troubled by ‘what exactly is politic,’ the worry of King Sejong portrayed by both screenplay writers has a lot of realistic meaning.” A TV series PD who accepted the interview analyzed that Deep Rooted Tree is raising a new trend in the industry. He said, “Although there is observation that complex structure of drama will cause low ratings, but this drama easily broke the perception. The industry that always rejects scripts that are not enough of mass-market elements, is showing sign of change.”

Screenwriter Kim Soo Hyun whose name itself is a brand has several works been recommended. Works before year 2000 included “Trap of Youth” (1978), “Love and Ambition” (1987), What’s Love (1991), while works after year 2000 included Mom Has Grown Horns (2008), Life is Beautiful (2010) and others have been mentioned.

Film critic Kong Hee Jin said, “Love and Ambition” is a classic masterpiece like Chunhyangjeon that can be read even if the time passes. Although it’s remade in 2006, but because of the solid plot, it remains splendid even after so many years.” Although she is the most experienced among the current writers, but has also been praised as having better trial and error spirit than young authors. The chief editor of 10 Asia Baek Yin He said, “If screenwriter Kim did not write the story of homosexual, this topic will not get discussed by the society.”

Author Noh Hee Kyung was chosen for her works of “The World That They Live In” (2008) and “Padam Padam” (2011). Film critic Yoon Sik Jin said, “She is the writer who cleverly combines the literature and film art together in the drama. In the drama of “The World That They Live In” which set the background on TV series filming set, is a representative work that made people thinks about the real identity of TV series. Commentator Jung Tek Hyun said, “Padam Padam is a work that proven writer Noh can write a mass-market script. Under the framework of love, she portrays the story between human and human which she is always been chasing.”

Kim Eun-Suk’s Secret Garden was a hit drama of 2010. The drama is evaluated as “the romantic comedy template which every scriptwriter must analyzes and copies.” Even the sports suits of lead characters can became popular, which proven its capability to interpret the popular trend. Author Kim will make a comeback in May 2012 with “A Gentleman’s Dignity” which describes love of the middle-aged.

The representative work of Hong Jung Eun and Hong Mi Ran is “Couple of Fantasy” (2006). Analysis found that this drama is the work that set the frame for Hong’s sisters drama that starts with comedy but ends with tears.

Note: A total of 15 TV series PD from KBS, CJ E&M, MBC, SBS, Drama House, JTBC, and 5 film critics participated in the survey. For the 20 persons, each of them picked three scriptwriters and ranked the picks from 1st to 3rd, with the first got 3 points, second got 2 points, while third got 1 point. If two writers were ranked parallel as 1st, both got 2 points each Here’s the results of the survey for the best scriptwriter of our era.

1. Kim Yeong Hyeon and Park Sang Yeon (44 points) – Best Drama: Deep Rooted Tree
2. Kim Soo Hyun (21 points) – Best Drama: Trap of Youth
3. Noh Hee Kyung (13 points) – Best Drama: The World That They Live In
4. Kim Eun-Suk (8 points) – Best Drama: Secret Garden
5. Hong Jung Eun and Hong Mi Ran (6 points) – Best Drama: Couple of Fantasy