[DigitalToday reporter Son Seul-gi] "Whether someone has an agency or not, good audition opportunities should go to anyone. The goal is to build that into a system."

Entertech startup Bepple's co-CEOs Lee Chang-seon (이창선) and Jeong Eo-jin (정어진) said in an interview with DigitalToday that an analogue casting process can be converted to digital. They said they will also pursue the global market with Castic, a platform that connects entertainers such as actors and models with casting directors and fans.

Bepple launched Castic in January.

Lee said few markets are as undigitised as casting. He said paper profiles are still piled up in heaps at each company. "It's almost like the dinosaur era," he said, adding he wants to break a structure where outcomes are not determined by ability alone, such as by abusing the casting director position.

The key is automating the entire casting process. Jeong said existing platforms post a notice and recruit people, then leave the rest to stakeholders, even though that is where the most time is actually spent. He explained that Castic handles everything from applicant management and notification of results to audition scheduling with a single button. It automatically sends emails and text messages, and applicants can also check whether their application has been viewed.

Bepple also developed AI functions to improve convenience. The first is automatic profile completion. When users upload an existing PDF profile, optical character recognition, or OCR, extracts names, experience and physical information and automatically fills in the platform format. Jeong said entertainers have to enter dozens to hundreds of career references, and that the AI input function is used in more than 90 percent of cases.

The second is natural language-based candidate matching. Beyond quantitative conditions such as height, weight and age, it analyses role descriptions in notices, compares them with applicants' genres and roles in past works, and also reflects fan indicators in suitability.

Bepple has also focused on safety verification, taking into account risks that come with digital casting.

According to the company, casting directors go through a 48-hour approval waiting process when signing up. Lee said the platform blocks in advance the possibility of crimes involving impersonating casting directors, and curates whether a company has real qualifications.

Demand for digital casting is already emerging. Jeong said a large agency adopted the Castic system to recruit global members for a rookie group. He explained that instead of running its own online recruitment, it posts an exclusive notice on Castic and accepts applications only through that notice.

Bepple is focusing on the web drama and short-form market. Lee said while traditional production companies make 1 to 2 works a year, web drama studios produce 80 to 120. He said the short-form and vertical drama market is the future of entertainment. It is also targeting overseas markets. Jeong said he wants to serve as a bridge, with domestic entertainers going abroad and overseas entertainers coming into K-content.

Its revenue model is marketing-based. Income sources include banner advertising, top placement for casting notices and top placement for entertainers. Basic use is free for entertainers, and it plans to later introduce a fan support function. Registered entertainers number 6,000 to 7,000, and casting notices total about 100.

Lee said the goal is to secure 50,000 users within three months. It also plans to enter the U.S. market after proof of concept in South Korea. He said Backstage in the United States is only for the United States, and Filmmakers in South Korea is only for South Korea. "The goal is to build a system with a global audience," he said.