Japan’s TBS seeking new copro partnerships after opening LA, Seoul outposts
Katsuaki Setoguchi is executive officer of TBS Holdings and president and CEO of The Seven
TIFFCOM: Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS) is searching for new coproduction partners as it builds on the momentum of Netflix dramas Alice in Borderland and Yu Yu Hakusho and grows the slate for its international studio The Seven.
Like some of its peers in the local industry, TBS is undertaking an aggressive plan to grow internationally, with the company coalescing around a strategy of transitioning from a Japanese media group to a global content group.
Speaking at the Tokyo International Film Festival Content Market (TIFFCOM) on Thursday, Katsuaki Setoguchi, who serves as executive officer of TBS Holdings and president and CEO of The Seven, said international coproduction will be an important part of TBS’s “next chapter” as it looks to deepen ties with global studios, broadcasters and platforms.
To that end, the company last year established outposts in LA and Seoul with a view to forging new coproduction partnerships, with hopes to build on its robust pipeline of well-known IPs, including unscripted formats Ninja Warrior (known locally as Sasuke) and Takeshi’s Castle, dramas Eye Love You and Love is for the Dogs and animes Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun and Takopi’s Original Sin.
Those global expansion efforts have already started to bear fruit. One recent deal saw Banijay picking up the worldwide distribution rights to Ninja Warrior.
TBS Television president Masamine Ryuho described it as an important deal, and one that builds on a pact with Banijay’s Endemol Shine Australia, signed earlier this year.
It is also enhancing ties with Vietnamese national broadcaster VTV, including a deal to revive the local Vietnamese adaptation of Ninja Warrior and a commitment to co-develop new content and share other resources.
TBS’s content studio, The Seven, has become a pivotal part of its international growth ambitions. The prodco has collaborated with Netflix to great effect, with Alice in Borderland and Yu Yu Hakusho both emerging from a five-year partnership signed in 2022.
It has also secured wider international distribution for its original series through a deal with Japanese streamer U-Next and Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max, as well as working with transatlantic prodco Fulwell73 and Korean studios CJ ENM on various projects.
From TIFFCOM on Thursday, TBS announced a collaboration between TBS Television, The Seven and U-Next for the first live-action adaptation of manga Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem, a Kyoto-set drama following the intense and passionate lives of the strongest samurai group, the Shinsengumi.
The project is produced by Akira Morii (Alice in Borderland, Yu Yu Hakush), Mamoru Inoue (Double Face) and Kazuya Shimomura (Yu Yu Hakusho), written by Masaaki Sakai (Cold Case) and directed by Kazutaka Watanabe (Naotora: The Lady Warlord), with a cast led by Yuki Yamada.
Going forward, The Seven is looking to continue partnering with global streamers, including Netflix and Prime Video, said Setoguchi, and wants to work in a mixed economy of producing projects owned by streamers and IPs owned by TBS and The Seven.
