Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Koreeda is supporting a fundraising effort aimed at making radical reforms in working conditions in Japan’s film industry, as part of his attempts to push the country to better compete with countries like South Korea globally.
K2 Pictures Inc, a Tokyo-based start-up led by veteran producer Muneyuki Kii as well as a group of film and animation creators including Koreeda, is seeking to raise ￥10 billion (US$62.44 million) from domestic and foreign investors by the end of this year, the company said.
The fund hopes to improve incentives for industry workers by boosting financial rewards and ensuring diversity, the director said.
Photo: Reuters
Although Japanese films are enjoying a period of global success, with Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron winning Oscars this year, production companies are not reaping the benefits and continue to work under tight budget constraints placed by major film distributors.
“I think there’s a Japan culture boom happening now and it’s on the upswing,” said Koreeda, who plans to direct a film through the fund. “It is equally important to create an environment where workers make enough to feed themselves and make a living.”
Koreeda, who won the top award at Cannes in 2018 with Shoplifters and more recently made last year’s hit Monster, has been vocal in fighting exploitation in the industry.
There is a “sense of crisis” in the industry as young people are no longer choosing film as a career due to poor conditions like long hours and low wages, he said.
The K2 fund plans to use the money raised to invest in making films, and if the production is a success at the box office, creators and staff members are entitled to receive a rate of profit of up to 30 percent divided among them.
It also aims to make films without using the production committee system, a complicated structure comprising different stakeholders that screens movies and often ends up constraining resources.
The fund would instead raise money and reduce risks for filmmaking by having a diverse collection of titles in its portfolio. It would also make sure that the working environment at the film sets are in line with international standards.
Director Koji Fukada, who is working with Koreeda on improving industry conditions, said that when he was a junior staff member he was paid about ￥300 an hour.
“People are tested not on talent or hard work, but whether they can withstand poverty,” he said at a rally on labor rights earlier this month.
Koreeda, who worked with South Korea’s CJ ENM Co for his 2022 film Broker, said the experience showed him how the country had managed to improve working conditions in its film industry, thanks to government regulations as well as financial support from the public and private sectors.
The government-backed Korean Film Council Equity Fund for Film Production raised 430 billion won (US$309.5 million) between 2019 and last year, and invested in 280 films, the council said.
Studios receiving investment from the fund must follow strict guidelines on working hours and wages.
Japanese creators are negotiating with four major companies to allocate 1 percent of box office revenue from the local market to a newly established film organization to cover the potential rise in the production costs, Koreeda said.
A 30 to 50 percent increase in production cost is necessary to apply stricter labor standards, he added.
“This will have the merit of increasing the overall pie by bringing in money from outside, and the merit of showing a different way of making films,” he said. “And it will be more business-oriented.”
The Japanese government has said it would conduct a survey in the industry next year to investigate cases of exploitation. It also plans to help form a committee specializing in films under its umbrella.
“I don’t think this will lead to some sort of ideal state, but I think it will be the beginning of something new,” Koreeda said.
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