The Laptop That Bought Time for Squid Game
While trying to develop Squid Game, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk ran short of money and sold his laptop. The sale was a practical response to a problem many screenwriters face: a finished script is not yet a film or series, and writing it does not guarantee that anyone will finance it.
A Script Ahead of Its Moment
Hwang began working on the story years before it reached the screen. Its premise—people in financial distress competing in deadly versions of children’s games—was difficult to turn into a production while it remained a script. Without backing, he could not simply hire a crew and build the elaborate sets the story required. The laptop sale captures how precarious that early stage was: the work existed, but the means to make it did not.
The project eventually found a home at Netflix, where it could be developed as a series rather than squeezed into a single film. That format gave the story room to follow multiple contestants and show how desperation shapes their choices. The laptop was not a prop from the show; it was something Hwang gave up while trying to make the show possible.
