Creative Cluster Evolution: The Case of the Film and TV Industries in Seoul, South Korea

Can the concept of co-evolution help to analyse and explain the dynamics of creative industries? This article tackles the question by investigating the film and TV cluster in Seoul, South Korea. The analysis of the 35 semi-structured interviews confirms the dynamics of the film and TV industries in Korea. First, Hallyu began with the export of Korean TV drama series across East Asia. The state deregulation and neo-liberal reforms during the 1990s in Korea boosted an explosion of the export of the Korean film and TV industry. Second, the core of the film and TV production is concentrated within Seoul, while dispersion of those industries occurred in Gyeong-gi province. Third, from an institutional perspective, tensions between the central government and the film and TV industry can be observed, which have been intensifying since 2006. This paper concludes that particularly co-evolution could potentially be an important concept to explain and analyse dynamics in creative industries.