By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Hallyu star Bae Yong-joon and star producer Park Jin-young are teaming up to produce the television drama ''Dream High.''

Bae's company Key East and Park's company JYP Entertainment announced Tuesday that they reached an agreement to co-produce a drama about the lives of students attending a school for performing arts.

JYP Entertainment and Key East will invest in the joint corporation to be formed this month. Both companies will be directly involved in the drama production. Park will be personally in charge of music production and choreography. Bae will supervise the screenplay and production.

The drama, which is expected to air in 2010, appears to be similar to the worldwide hit Disney movie ''High School Musical.'' ''Dream High'' will feature students singing, dancing and acting as they try to achieve their dream to become entertainers. There are plans to hold open auditions to find young talented actors, singers and performers for the drama.

''We have the advantage of having an actor (Bae) and a music executive (Park). Combing the two companies' experience and expertise in the Japanese and U.S. markets and their established networks, we hope to create a world-class production that will appeal to people around the world,'' a Key East representative said.

High expectations are already building up around the drama production, particularly due to the star power of Bae and Park. Bae is perhaps the most famous Korean actor in Japan, where he is affectionately called ''Yonsama.'' Park is an influential Kpop figure who is credited with creating hit songs and stars like Rain and Wonder Girls.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr