Sayako Aoki (Nippon TV) and Michael Nakan (Envision)
Nippon TV has officially initiated a co-production partnership with the London-based premium scripted specializing company, Envision Entertainment. The companies plan to collaborate on various scripted projects aimed at a global audience. ”We’re thrilled to partner with one of Japan’s most storied media organizations, Nippon TV, and to work directly with Japanese creative talent to create innovative projects which are organic collaborations between Eastern and Western creatives," Michael Nakan, Founder of Envision Entertainment, said.
The deal will unite creators from both, Eastern and Western sides of the globe to develop the titles. “The greatest asset we have is our in-house creators with their unique ideas and spirit of challenge which will be essential to this great opportunity,” Sayako Aoki, Business Producer, International Business Development, Nippon TV, said. “What we are planning to do is to combine a great story with an innovative format to deliver to the global market and I cannot wait to see how our story expands beyond borders.”
The two companies intend to develop a slate of projects based on Japanese properties with international appeal and have already begun discussions with some of Japan’s premiere manga publishers to source IP. The first film to be among the first titles to be added on the slate is a Japanese version of a show slated with the storyline leading directly into an international English language series. “We are confident of creating a totally unprecedented series full of elements from our modern world where we interact both online and off,” Mizuno said.
The show, currently being developed, is an innovative crime drama series that takes place largely online and alligns with today’s digitally connected world. The concept is inspired by the successful scripted format “Double Booking” produced and broadcast by Nippon TV in 2020.
Further details of the coproduction will be unveiled later this year. “I have already witnessed great chemistry that happened by the encounter of the Japanese and UK creative teams,” Itaru Mizuno, Creative Director of “Double Booking”, Production Division, Nippon TV, said. ”It is so exciting to see an Asian narrative being elevated into something universal through this partnership.”