“You with a radius of 1 meter ~Let’s walk with our heads turned up~” Yoshimoto Kogyo’s producer Isohide Kanatsu talks about the new possibilities of film production during the coronavirus pandemic [CINEMORE ACADEMY Vol.15]

What was the intention behind having a comedian with no film production experience participate as a creator?

Q: This time, various comedians and writers are not only performing but also working as scriptwriters and directors. What were your criteria for offering them the roles?

Kaminatsuiso: First of all, it's about whether they agree with the idea behind the project. The actors have to read the script in a short period of time, and we start by asking the scriptwriter to "write a new script now," so we have to see if they have the passion to do it.

Q: There are some collaborations between comedians, but most of the time it's a collaboration between a comedian and an actor.

Kanatsuiso: We often see collaborations between comedians, so we wanted to realize a collaboration that we don't usually see, so that was a major premise. The comedians at our company, Yoshimoto Kogyo, are not only entertaining with their material and conversation, but we also think of them as top creators when it comes to creating things, so we proceeded with the casting with the perspective of what kind of outside actors and creators we could pair with these comedians to create something interesting.

© “You with a radius of 1 meter ~Let’s walk with our heads turned~” Production Committee

Q: This is Soshina's first script and first time as a director. Jarujaru's Fukutoku and 3ji no Heroin's Fukuda are both writing scripts for the first time. It must be a challenge to offer this to unknown people.

Kaminatsuiso: The core of my work is producing talent, so there are many times when I think, "This talent has amazing talent that hasn't been revealed to the world yet." M-1 and R-1 champion Soshina, King of Conte champion Fukutoku, and THE W champion Fukuda definitely have the "talent for creating things" and "talent for creating stories."

However, asking someone to suddenly write a script for a major production all by himself would be a heavy burden in many ways. I also had the idea that if I could do an anthology piece of about 10 minutes that was within the scope of what I was in charge of, it might open the door to new talent.

Q: The stories are very diverse, including comedies, emotional stories, and even stories of unknown genre. What kind of requests did you make to the creators who wrote the scripts?

Kaminatsuiso: First of all, the length. The story has to be around 10 minutes long. The other thing is, "Please don't make the ending feel bad." As long as it ends with the characters feeling upbeat and happy, it doesn't matter if there are violent or sad scenes before that. It doesn't matter if it's comedy or if the characters are crying the whole time, but the only rule is that the characters have to feel positive at the end.

Within these two common themes, we thought about how much freedom we could give creators to express their individuality and have fun.

The sensibility of comedians and the affinity of omnibus movies