CJ ENM and Paju City to Create <CJ ENM Contents World>

A one-stop content production facility will be built in the Paju Unification Garden district.

Entertainment & lifestyle company 'CJ ENM (CEO Heo Min-heoi)' signed a win-win agreement with Paju City on the 12th to create <CJ ENM Contents World (tentative name)>, a broadcasting content production and complex experience facility in the special planned area of the Paju Unification Garden district. On this day, CJ ENM CEO Heo Min-heoi and Paju City Mayor Choi Jong-hwan attended the signing ceremony held at Paju City Hall and decided to work together to create a large-scale studio and experience facility of 212,884.7m2 (about 64,000 pyeong) with the goal of completion in the second half of 2023.

Through this agreement, CJ ENM will gradually build infrastructure by 2023 to provide high-quality content production, while striving for win-win growth with the local community such as job creation, and Paju City will be in charge of administrative support for business promotion.

With the creation of <CJ ENM Contents World>, CJ ENM will be able to secure a one-stop stable production infrastructure from content production to post-production at a location about 30 minutes away from the Sangam headquarters. In addition, Paju City can now expect the development of the local community through the revitalization of the local economy.

<CJ ENM Contents World> is a one-stop complex production facility that combines 10 studios, open sets, special shooting facilities, and exhibition/experience facilities for the general public. It consists of ▲ production facilities such as large-scale studios and outdoor open sets, ▲ special shooting studios capable of VFX[1] and SFX[2], and ▲ permanent sets such as police stations and hospitals, etc. In addition, it is planned to create a virtuous cycle structure that coexists with the content industry by providing some space as offices to small and medium-sized outsourced production companies.

In particular, the open set will be available to the public after the drama is filmed, contributing to the revitalization of the local economy. In the case of the drama <Mr. Sunshine>, tens of thousands visit the major filming location <Sunshine Land> in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, proving the ripple effect of the broadcasting studio.

CJ ENM and Paju are aiming to attract 1.2 million domestic and foreign tourists annually through <CJ ENM Contents World>. The job creation effect is also expected to reach 21,000 people over the next 10 years, and the production inducement effect is expected to be 2.2 trillion won.

Heo Min-heoi, CEO of CJ ENM, said, “With Paju City, we will create <CJ ENM Contents World>, a one-stop service from content production to post-production, to enhance the global status of Hallyu content and contribute to the win-win development with the local community.” And he added, “We will secure super-gap production capabilities with a stable infrastructure and increase our competitiveness in the global market with differentiated content.”

Choi Jong-hwan, Mayor of Paju City, said, ""Paju City has infinite potential as an optimal place for not only producing broadcast content but also for attracting domestic and foreign tourists as it has excellent accessibility to the metropolitan area and a natural environment. With the attraction of <CJ ENM Contents World>, Paju City will leap forward as the center of the Hallyu content industry in name and reality.”

[1] VFX: Abbreviation for Visual Effects. Visualization of virtual actors, spaces, and objects made with CG as part of reality in a scene

[2] SFX: Abbreviation for Special Effects. Adding special makeup or special props after physically creating things that do not exist in reality