Paul D Kim is CEO of South Korea’s Hive Filmworks, which works across production, sales and distribution. Here in Busan, the company handles Competition drama Beach Fictions and Korean Cinema Today title Sapiens.
Kim has more than two decades of experience across the industry, working as head of domestic and international business at Mirovision before founding Hive Filmworks in 2019. He is also the proud co-owner of Hive office dog Kkul (translation Honey), a Maltipoo whose salary is paid in the form of food and snacks.
What is your office like?
My Seoul-based office is quiet with literally hundreds of restaurants nearby, making it a cosy place to stay for very long hours. I feel at home there, so much so that I nearly replicated it in my study at home.
What’s the first thing you do at your desk each morning?
Organise my to-do lists and write notes on each task so I don’t miss any details.
What was your first job in the industry?
It was as a sales assistant at Mirovision in 2004. Working as a seller, buyer and distributor helped to broaden my perspective.
Who helped you most when you first started out?
I nearly left the industry after leaving my former company. Without the support of my dear friend and partner Wayne Chang, my wife Sun-young and company partner Beki Lim, I would not have established Hive Filmworks nor sustained it.
Who do you look up to in the industry?
Newcomers who stay and make a difference. This is a tough industry, yet a few not only survive, but outshine people with decades of experience. I look up to their passion and unwavering determination.
What do you like best about your job?
That it cannot fit into a box, and how every project surprises me with the beauty of its chaos. And the endlessness. It never ends.
With whom would you most like to take a meeting?
Director Sean Baker. One of my goals is to remake a classic Korean IP as an English-language feature film. The IP is about classes in society, and we still live in a world where invisible yet quite visible barriers between classes are real.
What would you do if you didn’t work in film?
I always wanted a physical labour job but would probably be a corporate worker giving headaches to management. Or something in the games industry.
What is your favourite festival?
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival [Bifan]. I like genre, raw imagination and the audience at the heart of the festival.
What is the biggest challenge facing the film industry right now?
Increasing costs exceeding the potential market worth and how this has led investors to become more conservative. As a result, stories and their edges are dulled, as if with safety cushions. Also, the audience’s shorter attention span. We need to figure out how to satisfy the audience.
What was your favourite film growing up?
I’m still growing up. Favourites include the opening of Up, the story of Life Is Beautiful, the encounter in Wall·E and the ending of The Mist.
What book are you reading?
Korean fantasy novel Dragon Raja by Lee Youngdo again to remind myself how to find a way to neatly squeeze a twisted, complex human story into a feature-length film.
How do you unwind?
I am a workaholic. I work on easier or simpler tasks to relax. I walk our office dog by lakes late at night, although he tries to resist. My wife walks me by the lakes on weekends, which I also attempt to resist.
Who would play you in the biopic of your life and who would direct?
Edward Norton directed by Roberto Benigni. I like sad endings in films, but I hope to not have a sad ending for this one.
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