Eyes of Dawn began filming in advance in June 1990, with overseas shoots in the Philippines and Harbin (despite the fact that Korea and China hadn't yet established diplomatic relations), a budget of ₩7.2 billion (five- to ten-times the cost of an average drama at the time), over 270 actors and 21,000 extras.
Starring Choi Jae-sung, Park Sang-won and Chae Shi-ra, the series spanned Korea's painful modern history from the Japanese colonial period to the Korean War.
Set during the politically tumultuous period of 1970s through 1980s Korea (including a reenactment of the Gwangju Massacre interspersed with archival video footage), Sandglass (1995) recorded a peak rating of 64.5%, the third highest of all time, and launched Choi Min-soo, Go Hyun-jung, Park Sang-won and Lee Jung-jae into stardom.
Critics and viewers praised the dramas' outstanding production values (editing, cinematography, acting, writing), and for their realistic portrayal of individual lives amidst dark political times.
Her 2002 Joseon period drama Daemang (also known as Great Ambition) was again directed by Kim Jong-hak and starred Jang Hyuk and Lee Yo-won.
[5][6][7] But despite excellent ratings (its peak was 35.7%) and solid overseas sales, The Legend wasn't able to recoup its huge ₩60 billion budget, so it became (in terms of profit) the biggest flop in Korean drama history.
[10] For her next project, Song returned to the genre of campus drama; she had previously written KAIST in 1999, about students attending the titular premier science university, and the series boosted the careers of young stars such as Chae Rim.
In What's Up, an ensemble cast composed of Im Joo-hwan, Daesung,[11] Lim Ju-eun, Oh Man-seok, Jang Hee-jin, Kim Ji-won, Lee Soo-hyuk and Jo Jung-suk portray students and teachers of a university's musical theatre department.
A fantasy epic about a 21st-century plastic surgeon who time travels to the Goryeo era and falls for royal bodyguard Choe Yeong, the series initially cast Lee Joon-gi and Kim Hee-sun as the protagonists.
"[17] In 2014, Song cast Ji Chang-wook as the titular character in Healer, about a not-so-ordinary errand guy who becomes embroiled in a decades-long mystery involving two reporters (played by Park Min-young and Yoo Ji-tae).