behind the scenes

- stories from the front lines

Japanese Distribution for International Independent Film

Japanese film companies, maybe most of the Japanese business people do not tell you “Yes” or “No”. They never give you an answer. They never make a decision. This is very frustrating.

Several years ago, I cold-called a lot of film production companies to get financing to make our first feature film, Homesick Blues. I looked up the companies’ names, called them, made appointment and showed up!

But a lot of companies (even big ones) agreed to meet me. I met the head of the department or sometimes the president of the company. They even showed strong interests to our project. They kept in touch with me for long time, but nothing happened. They were so nice and responsive, I believed that they would finance our film. Many years passed with the expectations that money would come.

Two years ago, we hit the bottom, we could not wait any more. We made a short, went to international film festivals, but still nothing happed to our dream project. We decided to make a feature film with the money that we might be able to raise. A story that doesn’t require a high budget: small characters, small number of locations and focused on characters’ psychology.

It was very fast once we made our mind. And it was very quick to raise some money to go to production. I kept in touch with all the industry people and companies while we were making the film. They slowly started to show some help. Soon after, they strongly supported us and collaborated with us for all the Japanese shooting and casting process (no money but in-kind support). I got to know the film industry in Japan a lot and I got to really close to them. They all know what we do very closely A lot of them have been guiding me regarding Asian festivals and making Asian distribution deals.

Now, we are finishing the film, not Homesick Blues, The First Breath of Tengan Rei. In a week, I am heading to Japan to seek distribution. Some of the people I have been “bothering” for years are distributors. They still don’t say yes or no. But since they can not decide, I will make their decision for them. That is the way that we make things happen. As always, full of naïve attitudes, strong positive energy and (this time) a realistic view of the Japanese industry, I try to finally step into the deal-making process.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Powered by Wordpress | WP Premium theme by WP Remix
Copyright 2007. behind the scenes. All rights reserved

• Home
• About
• IFP
• Podcasts
• Projects