Actor Jang Keun-suk, who appears as a judge on ENA’s Directors Arena premiering May 15 at 11:10 PM, revealed, “I will judge as if I’m lying in bed.”
Directors Arena, which aims to present new possibilities for the short-drama content market, has unveiled its unique judging system ahead of the first broadcast.
While traditional contests or video auditions typically evaluate works by awarding points to those that leave a positive impression, Directors Arena catches attention by selecting participants in a way that directly reflects the actual mobile viewing environment.
The core of the show is the STOP system. While a participant’s work is screening, the judges and panels (the subscriber jury) can immediately press “STOP” if they feel the work is boring or lacks immersion. If a certain number of STOPs are accumulated, the work is eliminated.
This method is inspired by the short-form consumption pattern where smartphone users immediately skip to the next video if they lose interest. It essentially incorporates the reality of the short-drama market, where it is difficult to survive without capturing the viewer’s attention in a very short time, into the program’s rules.
Actor Jang Keun-suk also expressed his intention to approach the judging from a realistic viewer’s perspective. In a recently released trailer, he introduced himself as being at the level of a “short-drama addict” and stated, “A good work must have a certain ‘allure’.” He added, “I will watch and evaluate the competition between directors with the mindset of winding down my day while lying in bed.”
PD Kim Hye-jin of the production company Epic Storm explained, “This program is not simply about picking a well-made work, but a project to find content that makes actual viewers watch until the end.” She added, “Since the evaluation centers on real-time reactions and immediate immersion, it will show a completely different level of tension compared to existing audition programs.”
ENA’s Directors Arena is Korea’s first short-drama director survival program, competing under the slogan, “If you can’t capture the audience in 2 minutes, there is no next.” The works that reach the final round will be produced as actual short dramas and released through Lezhin Entertainment’s short-drama platform, Lezhin Snack.
