The Fair Trade Commission says that it has established rules to try to protect young entertainers. Complaints about unfair contracts, called “slave contracts” by some, surfaced after the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon and allegations that she was abused by her talent agency.
After investigations late last year and earlier this year into contracts signed between major talent agencies and their clients, the agency said it discovered contract terms that excessively infringe on client privacy or are otherwise advantageous only to the agencies. For example, many of the investigated agencies required entertainers to report their locations at all times or to participate in the agencies’ events for low or no pay.
Another condition that was discovered was the fact that the majority of existing contracts are for more than ten years. The new rules forbid contracts that are longer than seven years.
In the last few days, the results of a survey imply that sexual coercion definitely exists in the entertainment business. However, the extent to which it exists is unknown and, at this point, unknowable. The very low number of respondents (183 out of 2,000) makes any credible extrapolation very difficult. Another blog wrote on this same topic, and used the term “the casting couch.” You can see the entry, and the resulting discussion, including my comments on the use of that term, here.
[...] industry in order to advance her career, Korea is to enhance the right of entertainers (see here also). Meanwhile, the police have determined that she was indeed forced to have sex, and a survey [...]
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