‘Squid Game’ Creator Revealed Netflix Hasn’t Given Him Any Bonus After Massive Success

Despite ‘Squid Game‘ being the biggest hit that brought millions of new subscribers to the streaming service Netflix, it doesn’t mean that the creator has turned into a millionaire. Writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk spoke to The Guardian in an interview regarding his successful show.

The series is a story about people brought together in a game of death to win a big prize. The similarities between these people are how they’re also drowning in debt and would do anything for the money.

The show has become Netflix’s most-watched series with more than 111 million subscribers.

It has beaten ‘Bridgerton’ as the most-watched easily, with over over 142 million subscribers having watched it. The show has also given Netflix 4.4 million new subscribers and is estimated to be worth around $892.2 million for Netflix.

Based on leaked documents, the 9-episode series total cost of production is $21.28 million. The Guardian interviewed the creator and director and jokingly asked if he’s become as rich as the ‘Squid Game’ winner in the series.

Hwang replied, “I’m not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it’s not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract.”

Hwang also revealed that directing the series was so stressful he’d lost six teeth in the process.

“It was physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. I kept having new ideas and revising the episodes as we were filming, so the amount of work multiplied,” said Hwang.

Hwang was inspired during the financial crisis in 2009 that made his family take out loans.

“I was very financially straitened because my mother retired from the company she was working for,” recalled the man. “There was a film I was working on, but we failed to get finance. So I couldn’t work for about a year.”

“We had to take out loans – my mother, myself, and my grandmother.”

During those hard times, he often destressed in comic book cafes in Seoul and would drown in classic stories, “I read Battle Royal and Liar Game and other survival game comics. I related to the people in them, who were desperate for money and success.”

“That was a low point in my life. If there was a survival game like these, in reality, I wondered, would I join it to make money for my family?”

That was how he began his idea of creating his own story of a death game. He continued, “I realized that, since I was a filmmaker, I could put my own touch to these kinds of stories, so I started on the script.”

The show pitted 456 contestants against each other in many minigames that are popular all over the world.

Hwang revealed, “When I was working on the project, the goal was to rank No 1 on the Netflix US chart for at least a day. But it ended up being much more successful, the most-watched show on Netflix ever.”

“It’s very surprising. It shows that the global audience is resonating with the message I wanted to reflect.”

Hwang does not shy away from the fact that he does want material success, and there’s a possibility of a sequel. But he’s currently more eager to get his previous three movies out on Netflix. The man laughed, “It’s possible that I have to do season two to become as rich as Squid Game’s winner.”