online story platform Wattpad and Thai media firm GMMTV have joined forces to adapt digital comic “My ID Is Gangnam Beauty!” for TV.
The show will begin production this summer and be known as “Beauty Newbie” when it begins airing on GMMTV in early 2024.
The adaptation will follow Liu, a young woman who feels the need to get plastic surgery, and Guy, who is seen as having a perfect face. The show asks whether, in a world that judges and criticizes based on appearance, romance can blossom between two people who see themselves so differently?
The underlying webtoon by Maenggi Ki has been viewed 1.4 billion times and has a significant following in Thailand, where Korean culture is popular and beauty pageants remain a mainstay of mass TV.
“Beauty Newbie” features some of Thailand’s biggest young talents, including Baifern-Pimchanok (“The Desire,” “The Leaves,” “The Curse of Saree”) as Liu, Win-metawin as Guy (“2gether The Series,” “F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers,” “Devil Sister”) Fah-Yongwaree (“Nabi,” “My Stepdarling,” “The Warp Effect”) as Fay and Great-Sapol (“Catch Me Baby”) as Sense.
AtichaTanthanawigrai (“F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers,” “The Shipper,” “Girl From Nowhere”) will direct all fourteen episodes of the series.
Aron Levitz, David Madden and Dexter Ong will executive produce for Wattpad Webtoon Studios alongside Sataporn Panichraksapong and Darapa Choeysanguan from GMMTV.
GMMTV is one of Thailand’s most successful media groups with hit shows including “2gether The Series,” “1000Stars,” “Bad Buddy Series” and “My School President,” the latter credited with accelerating the “Boys Love” genre.
Wattpad Webtoon Studios emerged as a result of the acquisition of the Wattpad online literature platform by Korean tech giant Naver in 2021. It now positions itself as a purveyor of data-backed, audience-driven TV shows, films, and books. In Southeast Asia it has deals with MediaCorp, Vidio, GMA-7, Screenplay Indonesia and Astro and has been involved in “My Nerd Girl,” “Cool Boy vs Cool Girl” and “LUV Is: Caught in his Arms.” Webtoons, which emerged in Korea with the advent of smartphones, have also been behind dozens of films and TV series.
