Number Three Pictures pledges to pay appearance fees to ‘High School Return of a Gangster’ 119 actors

The South Korean media outlet Edaily reported that The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union announced that Number Three Pictures pledged to pay the appearance fees to High School Return of a Gangster's 119 actors on July 2. The Union revealed that a representative from the production company Number Three Pictures visited them in the early hours of the morning and promised to resolve the unpaid appearance fees by the end of August 2024.

The issue of non-payment to the actors was previously raised by The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union. The Union stated that the Number Three Pictures company has concluded the production of revenge and Sci-Fi drama High School Return of a Gangster and the upcoming webtoon-based drama Spirit Fingers in 2023. However, the production company did not pay the appearance fees to 119 actors after a year.

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Korea Broadcasting Actors Union revealed that unpaid fees exceeded $65,025 for High School Return of a Gangster actors

The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union stated to the outlet that Number Three Picture's unpaid fees for the actors of High School Return of a Gangster exceeded $65,025 from the members of their Union only. They also disclosed that the unpaid fees for the actors of Spirit Fingers amounted to over $158,996. In the provided amount, the Union did not add the unpaid wages of non-union actors and staff. Hence, the total unpaid amount could be even bigger.

However, as per the reports, Number Three Pictures has ensured The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union that they would pay the exorbitant unpaid amount to the actors of High School Return of a Gangster and Spirit Fingers by the end of next month (August 2024) and would share the source of funds for the payment.

The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union stated that they provided a chance to the Number Three Pictures and understood the circumstances behind the delay in payment and stated to Edaily:

"Although the unfortunate incident of unpaid appearance fees occurred, we took into consideration the circumstances of the production company producing the drama in difficult circumstances. We have also requested the production company to come up with measures to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future."

The Union further concluded by announcing they would be keeping an eye on whether the production company of High School Return of a Gangster and Spirit Fingers would pay the unpaid fees by the promised date and stated:

"We will watch to see whether the issue of unpaid appearance fees is resolved by the payment date promised by Number Three Pictures and devise response measures going forward."

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High School Return of a Gangster aired from May 29 to June 19, 2024, on platforms including TVING, Wavve, Watcha, and Viu. It featured Yoon Chan-young, Bong Jae-hyun, and Lee Seo-jin and was adapted from a manhwa by Horo. The eight-episode drama delved into the story of a gangster who wanted to pursue a college education and thus possessed the body of a 19-year-old high school student.

Meanwhile, Spirit Fingers, adapted from the webtoon of the same name by Han Kyoung-chal, features Park Ji-hu, Cho Jun-young, Choi Bo-min, and Park You-na and is an upcoming twelve-episode drama. The release date of the series has not been revealed.