KOCCA will put 40 Korean projects—from early scripts to released works—in front of investors, publishers and platforms. The experiment treats market access as part of creative development, not a prize that arrives afterward.
A story does not have to be finished before its creator needs a producer, publisher or platform. Korea’s latest content-industry matchmaking program is built around that premise.
On November 18, the Korea Creative Content Agency will present 40 projects through the 2026 Creative Talent Partnership Business Consultation. The group includes early scripts, projects in preproduction or production and works that have already been released. Buyers and industry partners can request one-to-one meetings with the creators and planners behind them.
The range is the point. A finished webnovel may need a webtoon or screen adaptation. A script draft may need a producer before it can become a film. A game prototype may need investment and distribution while its design can still change. Instead of waiting for a completed hit, the program moves the commercial conversation into development.
That can give emerging creators more routes to market. It can also give outside partners more influence over what gets made.
Forty projects, not one definition of readiness
KOCCA’s lineup divides into 16 film and animation projects, 12 webtoon and story projects, seven games and five music or performance projects. The agency says the meetings can cover investment, co-production, studio matching, publishing, platform placement, distribution, streaming, adaptation, translation, overseas distribution and film-festival strategy.
Those are different needs at different stages. A creator looking for translation support is not making the same pitch as a team seeking production finance. By putting draft, production and released projects in one program, KOCCA is treating intellectual property as something that changes form rather than a fixed product handed from one company to another.
The approach reflects how Korean content already travels. A webnovel can become a webtoon, printed comic, drama, animation or game. An original screenplay can move through several production companies before reaching an audience. A stage work can build proof of concept before licensing another production.
What matters is whether the creator meets the right partner at the right moment.
The webtoon and story slate makes the route visible
KOCCA identifies three examples from the 12 webtoon and story projects.
첫사랑에 실패한 마녀는 화친혼을 원한다 (The Witch Who Failed at First Love Wants a Peace Marriage) begins with a completed 214-episode Naver Series webnovel and is being presented as an East Asian-inspired romance fantasy. It arrives with a full narrative and an existing publication history. A prospective partner can evaluate the finished story, its reader response and its potential in another medium.
좀비캣타워 (Zombie Cat Tower) is an action-survival story about a killer climbing a tower overrun by zombies to rescue a family cat. Its premise is legible in one sentence and visually suited to comics, film, animation or games. The project demonstrates why high-concept genre work can enter commercial discussion before every production decision is settled: partners can immediately imagine the format choices.
닥터 하프문: 달이 뜨면 찾아오는 구원자 (Doctor Half Moon: The Savior Who Comes When the Moon Rises) combines medical drama, court politics and romance. A gifted doctor tries to save a poisoned crown prince and disrupts the existing power structure. The concept has recognizable genre anchors but still leaves adaptation questions open, including length, audience and the balance between medicine and palace conflict.
The three projects are not presented as a ranking. They show three different starting positions: a completed source novel, an easily transferable action premise and a genre hybrid that may change substantially as it finds a production home.
Early meetings can prevent expensive mismatch
Creators often hear that commercial considerations should wait until the work is ready. That advice can protect a project from premature interference, but it can also postpone practical questions until they are costly to answer.
A platform may need episodes at a pace the original team cannot sustain. An animation partner may need a character design that works in motion. A foreign publisher may see translation or format problems that require new material. A producer may discover that the budget implied by a script is far beyond the available finance.
Discussing those issues during development can prevent a creator from completing the wrong version for the intended market. It can also reveal that the intended partner is wrong for the work.
The value of a structured consultation is therefore not only the number of contracts it produces. A useful meeting can end with a clear reason not to proceed, a narrower revision request or a better understanding of which rights should remain separate.
The creator still needs leverage
Early market access has an obvious risk. An emerging creator may enter a room with an unfinished project while the company across the table controls capital, distribution and audience data. “Industry feedback” can quickly become unpaid redevelopment or pressure to transfer broad rights before the project’s value is established.
The Creative Talent Partnership program is designed as more than a single pitch event. KOCCA says 15 platform institutions and roughly 300 mentees are participating this year, working with established professionals on real projects. That mentorship can help creators prepare business plans and understand production expectations.
It does not remove the need for independent advice. Before accepting investment or adaptation terms, a creator needs to know which rights are being licensed, for how long, in which territories and media, and what happens if a partner does not produce the work. Translation, merchandise, sequels, games and screen adaptations should not disappear into a general promise to “develop the IP.”
Meeting access is useful only if creators can negotiate after the introduction.
Buyers are being asked to choose earlier
The program also changes the buyer’s role. A company evaluating a released title can study public reception and sales. A company evaluating a draft has less proof and more responsibility. It must assess the creator’s execution, the project’s development needs and whether its own intervention will improve or flatten the work.
That uncertainty can benefit unusual projects. A finished-market filter favors concepts that already resemble past successes. Development-stage meetings can give a producer time to understand a work that needs explanation or a format that has not yet been tested.
They can just as easily reward the most instantly pitchable premises. 좀비캣타워 can be summarized quickly. A quieter project may require a longer conversation before its commercial shape becomes visible. The design of the meetings—who reads materials in advance, how long consultations last and whether follow-up is supported—will influence which kind of project gets remembered.
What should count as success
KOCCA describes the event as a bridge from creator development into the content business. The immediate measures will be meetings, follow-ups and agreements. Those numbers will not be enough.
The stronger test is what happens to the projects afterward. Did a creator retain meaningful ownership? Did a draft become more producible without losing its distinctive idea? Did a released webnovel reach a new medium or territory? Did a partner provide financing, editorial labor or distribution that the creator could not secure alone?
Korea’s content industries are good at turning stories into chains of intellectual property. The weakest link is often the space between making a promising work and reaching the company that can move it forward.
Putting 40 projects into direct conversations is a practical attempt to shorten that distance. It will matter if the meetings do more than teach creators to pitch. The real outcome should be partnerships that add capacity while leaving creators with a durable stake in what their stories become.
