Baek Mi-kyung (born 1971) is a South Korean television and film screenwriter. She has written dramas such as Strong Girl Bong-soon (JTBC, 2017) and The Lady in Dignity (JTBC, 2017).
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Early life
Baek won numerous writing awards during her elementary school years, though she initially did not aspire to become a writer. At the time, she associated the profession with financial difficulty. During high school, a disciplinary incident resulted in a year-long assignment to write reflective essays, which prompted her to begin chronicling her life. Recognizing her talent, a teacher subsequently encouraged her to pursue writing as a career.
Career
Beginning
Baek's writing career began in 2000 when she won the Excellence Award at the 1st MBC Production Film Screenplay Contest. However, following the plagiarism of her winning work, she temporarily abandoned the profession. She relocated to Daegu, where she opened a successful private English academy and established herself as a prominent instructor.
She eventually resumed writing and gained recognition after winning the Grand Prize at the 2013 SBS Screenplay Contest. Her winning script was adapted into the one-act drama The Story of Kang-goo, a series depicting the lives of a man and a woman in Ganggu Port, Yeongdeok, which marked her official debut as a television screenwriter.
JTBC dramas
Following her Grand Prize win at the 2013 SBS Screenplay Contest, Baek received numerous scriptwriting offers from major terrestrial networks. In an unusual move, she declined these offers and chose to partner with JTBC instead. Her first full-length television series was My Love Eun-dong (JTBC, 2015). Rejecting an offer from MBC to air the project on a terrestrial channel, Baek opted for JTBC because she preferred a deliberate, unhurried approach to production over simply rushing to a major network.
Her subsequent project, Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (JTBC, 2017), focused on a female protagonist with superhuman strength passed down through her maternal lineage. Baek later noted on a television talk show that this was the project she held the deepest affection for. The series achieved critical and commercial acclaim, with its final episode recording 8.96% nationwide viewership, which temporarily made it the highest-rated drama in JTBC history.
Baek incorporated elements of her past experiences into her next series, The Lady in Dignity (JTBC, 2017), notably featuring a character who directs an English academy, mirroring Baek's earlier career. Although two terrestrial channels expressed interest in the project, she chose to work with JTBC once more on a fully pre-produced format. The drama held the record as JTBC's highest-rated series for a year and a half until Sky Castle surpassed it in 2018. Through these consecutive successes, Baek played a central role in revitalizing JTBC's dramatic programming block following a period of declining viewership.
Branching out to other networks
Following her success with JTBC, Baek expanded her work to other networks. The Miracle We Met (KBS2, 2018) is a human melodrama starring Kim Myung-min, Kim Hyun-joo, Ra Mi-ran, Ko Chang-seok, and Joseph Lee, which follows an ordinary family man who unexpectedly finds himself living the life of another man who shares his name and age but possesses a completely opposite lifestyle.
She later collaborated with tvN for Melting Me Softly (2019), starring Ji Chang-wook, Won Jin-ah, and Yoon Se-ah. Created by Studio Dragon and produced by Baek's own company, Story Phoenix, the series centers on a man and a woman who participate in a 24-hour cryogenic freezing project only to wake up twenty years later.
Baek continued her work with tvN in 2021 by partnering with director Lee Na-jeong on Mine. Initially titled "Blue Diamond," the series explores the lives of wealthy family members and their servants, focusing on women who defy societal prejudices to find their true selves. Mine made history as the first Korean drama to feature a lesbian character in a leading role, broadening representation in the industry.
Baek subsequently returned to JTBC with Strong Girl Nam-soon (2023), a spin-off of her 2017 series Strong Girl Bong-soon. Starring Lee Yoo-mi alongside Kim Jung-eun, Kim Hae-sook, Ong Seong-wu, and Byeon Woo-seok. The series aired on JTBC and streamed globally on Netflix, achieving strong commercial success with its final episode recording a nationwide rating of 10.42%.
