The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency said Thursday they will recruit 300 trainees for the 2026 Creative Talent Companion program through April 15.
Now in its 15th year, the program is a flagship effort to develop talent across the content industry. Past participants include Hong Bichira, creator of the webtoon “Severe Trauma Center: Golden Hour,” Jang Jae-hyun, director of the film “Exhuma,” and Moon Ji-won, writer of the drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”
KOCCA said it selected 15 platform partner organizations in March, centered on four areas: video and animation; webtoons and story; games; and music and performance. It said this year’s support system was broadened to cover the full range of content, including drama, variety shows, documentaries, film, animation, webtoons, comics, games (analog and digital), K-pop and musicals.
The platform partners will select a total of 300 trainees and provide close mentoring from planning through production with a pool of 150 experts. Mentors include Park Jun-ho, executive producer of the Disney+ original drama “Made in Korea”; Kim Se-hoon, producer of the film “Master of the World”; Shin Yeo-jin, writer of the variety show “Heart Signal”; Han Kyung-soo, producer of the documentary “My Love, Don’t Cross That River”; Jang Jeong-suk, CEO of Redice Studio, the production company behind the webtoon “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint”; and producer Kim Do-hoon, a hit songwriter for BTS and Hwasa, KOCCA said.
KOCCA also said it will run follow-up support for projects by graduates from the past five years. Five organizations in the video, webtoons-and-story, and games fields are expected to select and support about 30 projects.
Details and application instructions are available on KOCCA’s website. Applicants can apply online through each platform partner’s recruitment page through April 15.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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