Writers of ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Star Trek’ gather to explore localizing Korean originals for the U.S. market

[Financial News] Korean and U.S. drama writers met to discuss localizing Korean originals for the U.S. market and the potential for co-creation. 
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and KOCCA on the 3rd, the 2026 K-Content Original Works U.S. Market Entry Showcase, a Korea-U.S. writers exchange and an industry exchange program were held in Los Angeles from October 20 to 22.

Writers Lana Cho of ‘American Born Chinese’ and Kyle Jarrow of ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ along with Oh Sang Ho of ‘Taxi Driver’ and Shin Yu-dam of ‘Marry My Husband,’ took part in the Korea-U.S. Writers Exchange held on October 20.
Writers from both countries shared their creative experiences and production environments, and discussed approaches to adapting Korean originals into drama series for U.S. audiences, as well as possibilities for co-development. They discussed not only adapting Korean originals for the U.S. market but also ways for writers from both countries to create new works together.

The main showcase, held at the Korea Center in Los Angeles on October 22, marked its third edition this year. It was organized to introduce outstanding original IP from Korean content companies to the U.S. entertainment industry and explore business cooperation opportunities, including U.S. drama production and co-development.
The 10 participating companies were Big Ocean ENM, SBS International, MBC America, Another Story, Imaginus, AStory Co., Ltd., SidusHQ, Epic Holdings, Jaedam and Ariart. A total of 73 people, including representatives of the participating Korean companies and U.S. creative and production professionals, took part. In all, 150 activities were held, including original-IP pitches and one-on-one business consultations.
Among the U.S. participants were Albert Kim, showrunner for Season 1 of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’; Nick Lui, senior vice president of development at Tomorrow Studios, the production company behind ‘One Piece’; and Eileen Shim, a writer and co-producer on Season 1 of HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon,’ among others.
One-on-one business consultations covered a range of potential collaborations, including local adaptation and co-development of Korean IP, investment and global distribution. 


On October 21, the day before the event, 10 participating companies visited global entertainment agency CAA. They met with professionals in TV content development, media finance, emerging technologies and strategic development to discuss developing U.S. drama series based on Korean originals, co-production, global content financing and ways to commercialize IP.
Participants also looked at CAA’s digital technology service, ‘The CAA Vault.’ They reviewed content production and business models using digital assets such as artists’ digital likenesses and voices, and explored the potential for joint ventures and new content development connecting Korean companies’ IP and production capabilities with local technologies.
Park Byeong-ho, director of KOCCA’s Los Angeles Business Center, said, “We hope this showcase will expand cooperation between Korean content companies and the U.S. creative and production industries, and serve as an opportunity for outstanding Korean intellectual property (IP) to lead to global commercialization.”
[email protected] Shin Jin-a Reporter