entertainment

Simultaneous production of Fuji TV drama begins in Japan, China and S Korea

0 Comments

Production has begun simultaneously for the upcoming April Monday night Fuji Television drama series, “The Confidence Man JP” in Japan, Korea and China. This was announced at one of the Asia’s largest entertainment market, the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market, which was held last week.

“The Confidence Man JP” is an exhilarating and entertaining comedy about a bizarre plan to steal a large sum of money from people consumed by desire. The main character, Dahko (Masami Nagasawa) and her partners in crime, a serious and dedicated young confidence man Bokuchan (Masahiro Higashide) and battle-hardened veteran confidence man Richard (Fumiyo Kohinata), resorts to any means necessary to steal money from money-mad unscrupulous company bosses and mafia dons.  

In recent years, Fuji TV has had 20 drama remakes in China. As the international demand for Ryota Kosawa’s scripts are becoming very high, and also looking ahead to the upcoming broadcast in Japan, production companies such as Studio INVICTUS invested in by KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and some of China’s biggest production companies have begun simultaneously producing their own versions of the drama tailored for their own country, based on Fuji's original script. All of this has been reflected in the titles, “The Confidence Man KR” for Korea and “The Confidence Man CN” for China. Even though there have been similar cases in Hollywood, whereby contents were produced for other languages and cultural regions before its main broadcast, this is a remarkable first time accomplishment in the history of the Japanese drama industry.

Also via Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications provider PCCW Limited, “The Confidence Man JP" will be streamed immediately after the main broadcast, in various Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, the broadcast and streaming of the drama has been confirmed in 82 countries and regions around the globe.

"All of this feels like, I’m embarking on a whole new adventure," said scriptwriter Kosawa. "I believe that there are no boundaries, when it comes to the world of entertainment. Nowadays, I feel that creators from around the world are searching for original stories and scripts. In the midst of all of this, based on the original script, Fuji Television offered me the idea of simultaneously producing a drama content in three countries, completely different from remakes. This entire process is something which is sure to shudder any scriptwriters. So, I feel a great deal of responsibility, in order for this to be successful. I would be so happy, if the quality of the Asian contents steps up another gear, because of this. I also hope that this will be another challenging step, for influencing the Japanese drama industry, whereby the competitiveness nature for viewers in the domestic industry, moves forward to a new era."

Hiroaki Narikawa, director, Fuji Television’s Programming and Production, commented: "The idea for this project first came up when I was having a conversation with Ryota Kosawa, at a script meeting for the Chinese remake of 'Dating: What It's Like to Be in Love?' in Shanghai. We were all excited, as we discussed about the possibility of simultaneously producing a drama between Japan, China and Korea, and this will also be a fresh new challenge for his works. This was all possible due to staff members with a high-calibre of experience in bridging the Japan and the world. It would be even more wonderful, if the Chinese and Korean production versions also becomes a global phenomenon alongside the Japanese version.”

Satoshi Kubota, director, Fuji Television's Worldwide Production and Sales, added: "In recent years, the production quality of dramas in Asia has rapidly risen. So, it is now becoming increasingly difficult for Japanese dramas to establish their high status globally like they enjoyed in the past. So, in this kind of turnout, I had always been hoping for more fantastic Japanese dramas to be acclaimed and recognized in foreign countries. This is why I had been spending a lot of time, working with remakes of Fuji Television’s dramas as well as co-productions in countries such as China and Korea. This groundbreaking accomplishment wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous reputation of Ryota Kosawa’s works in the world. I’ll be working side by side with the Chinese and Korean versions of the drama, and I believe that each version of ‘The Confidence Man’ will be able to take a quantum leap forward in the world.”

The first episode airs in Japan from 9 p.m. on April 9.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

No Comment
Login to comment

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites