Chapter 616: Naoki-san

Naoki Nagayama saw the news in the newspaper the next morning.

"Truly impressive, to have gone there overnight..."

Looking at the underground casino in the newspaper photo, and descriptions like "The Five Tigers of the Yamaguchi-gumi" between the lines, Naoki Nagayama couldn't help but cheer for Shogo Hamasaki and the old men who were with him.

With such a huge commotion, surely no one will have any designs on the KTV anymore~

After closing the newspaper, Naoki Nagayama drove leisurely to the studio. Since he had spoken with Yuko Tanaka yesterday, it was time to start preparing for the movie *Kikujiro*.

"Naoki-san~ Good morning~"

Receptionist Xing Jiahua Xing saw Naoki Nagayama, whom she hadn't seen for several days, and revealed a brilliant smile.

"Morning~" Naoki Nagayama nodded. "Xing Jiahua-chan, are Otomo-san and Xiu Yi-san both here?"

"Xiu Yi-san hasn't come to the office these past two days; only Otomo-san is here," Xing Jiahua Xing said, recalling her memory of the morning.

"I see~ Then you continue with your work~"

Naoki Nagayama nodded and walked straight toward the office, with a continuous stream of greetings sounding along the way.

Inside the office, Otomo Fangcun, left alone, looked somewhat lonely, as if there were always endless documents to process...

"Otomo-san, are you starting to get busy so early?" Naoki Nagayama joked after pushing open the door. "Your hair won't be able to hold on!"

"..."

For someone with a Mediterranean hairline, defending his hair was one of his few obsessions. He looked at Naoki Nagayama's thick black hair and said viciously,

"Naoki-san, believe it or not, I'll pull your hair out and transplant it onto my head!"

"Yikes..." Naoki Nagayama wrinkled his eyebrows and let out a sound. "Otomo-san, you are too brutal~"

"Hmph..." Otomo Fangcun looked at Naoki Nagayama, who had walked in, and asked, "Why did you come over today?"

"It's just that I haven't seen Otomo-san for several days..."

"Get to the point!"

"Uh... actually, I wanted to understand the specific project schedule for Shuyou Film for the second half of the year." Naoki Nagayama hurriedly changed his tone and said very seriously.

"Project schedule..."

Otomo Fangcun was puzzled. "Didn't I have you sign off on it before? *Love Like Falling Rain* is currently filming, followed by *Crows Zero 2* and *Ring 2*. The release dates are July, October, and November, respectively."

"Doesn't that mean August and September are left empty!" Naoki Nagayama slapped the table, his tone full of regret. "What a pity! A good opportunity to make money!"

Otomo Fangcun's eyes turned into dead fish eyes:

"Naoki-san, there's no need to be so exaggerated... If you have something to say, just say it... Do you have a new idea?"

"Ahem~" Naoki Nagayama coughed strategically. "Otomo-san, it's just that I wrote a movie script a while ago~ and I've been very free these past few months..."

"So you're thinking of filming it in July and releasing it in September?" Otomo Fangcun finished the sentence for him.

"Hmm..."

Naoki Nagayama nodded. Although adding a project temporarily would disrupt Shuyou Film's production arrangements, if the movie *Kikujiro* were released just as summer ended, it would definitely be very popular!

What's more, he had spoken too quickly yesterday and had already made an appointment with Yuko Tanaka...

Just then, Otomo Fangcun seemed to suddenly remember something, took out an envelope, and said, "So, Naoki-san was with Yuko Tanaka yesterday to discuss this movie, right?"

"!!!" Naoki Nagayama was shocked. "Otomo-san! How did you know I was with Yuko-san?!"

"Of course, the paparazzi took pictures!"

Otomo Fangcun handed over the envelope. Inside were several photos of Naoki Nagayama and Yuko Tanaka shopping in Ginza.

Naoki Nagayama slapped his head... He had been careless... He had spent too much time at Shuyou Capital in Ginza these past few days and forgot that in such a place, one definitely couldn't go without makeup!

"However, how did Otomo-san get these photos?"

Otomo Fangcun sighed: "The more you deal with the media, the more you will realize... these paparazzi reporters are just like other wage earners... they are just making a living."

"Naoki-san's scandal news is so abundant that it no longer attracts much attention! It's worthless! It's better to just come to the door and exchange it for some hush money..."

Naoki Nagayama was inexplicably a little angry. What did he mean by there being no attention because there were too many scandals...

Otomo Fangcun continued: "Actually, Naoki-san is fine... The worst of your negative news is just scandals. This year alone, we have spent a large sum of money just to handle the negative news of other artists in the agency and suppress the news..."

"Negative news about other artists?" Naoki Nagayama really hadn't paid much attention to this. "What kind of news?"

Otomo Fangcun glanced at Naoki Nagayama. Originally, he and Xiu Yi-san had made up their minds not to tell him about these trivial matters, letting Naoki-san focus on filming movies, while he, Otomo Fangcun, would block all other tricks from the entertainment industry~

But since he asked...

"For example, Yutaka Ozaki's alcoholism... Yuki Saito having a boyfriend... The Cat's Eye sisters going to nightclubs to party... Chikako Aoyama being photographed drinking~"

"?!!" Naoki Nagayama didn't expect that the idols under his own banner would have so many problems?

"Speaking of which, these are actually small things, but they are still very troublesome to handle." Otomo Fangcun sighed. "Fortunately, Shuyou's relationship with the media has always been handled quite well..."

Naoki Nagayama only then recovered from the revelations just now: "Why haven't I heard any negative news about Junko Ito?"

"Ah... speaking of which, although Junko Ito is our first idol, she is indeed the one who has developed the most steadily." Otomo Fangcun laughed. "Although the subsequent songs were not as excellent as the ones Naoki-san gave, they still squeezed into the top fifty of the Oricon charts..."

"As far as the current situation is concerned, releasing new songs, holding concerts, participating in announcements, variety activities... Junko-chan is already a mature idol artist!"

Naoki Nagayama asked in surprise: "Is it really like that?"

"Not too busy, but not very free either, and Junko-chan doesn't have that many ideas..." Otomo Fangcun said. "However, other artists, especially the female artists, don't have any big projects this year, so their popularity inevitably slips, and they can only rely on negative news to brush up their exposure."

Junko Ito is like the most standard idol in the entertainment industry, like a perfect doll.

Speaking of which, Yutaka Ozaki, Yuki Saito, and Chikako Aoyama all have fame mixed with controversy in his memory. Perhaps such people are like the truly vivid ones, which is why they are impressive.

However, it is too miserable to fall to the point of using negative news to support exposure.

"Since they all seem to be very free, let them participate in the subsequent movies!" Naoki Nagayama said.

"Uh... but *Crows Zero 2* and *Ring 2* basically don't have roles for female idols... It doesn't make sense to make a cameo." Otomo Fangcun said. "As for Yutaka Ozaki, it's a pity to let him go fight..."

"Hmm... let me think~"

Naoki Nagayama thought about it, and suddenly an idea came to his mind: "Otomo-san, if you want to talk about roles, TV dramas have more roles! And the exposure period is very long, at least for several months!

Don't we have two TV drama scripts stored? Why don't we let them film TV dramas!"

Otomo Fangcun thought for a while: "Naoki-san is talking about... *Love Generation* and *Tokyo Love Story*?"

"*Love Generation*! The emotional line is more complicated! There are more characters..." Naoki Nagayama still didn't want to film *Tokyo Love Story* just like that.

"I see... Then let me check the schedules of the idols."

Otomo Fangcun took out a thick notebook and recorded the schedules of the artists under his banner on a form... and then compared them,

"Naoki-san... if we want to film, the artists are concentrated in August."

"So, if we film a month in advance, and then broadcast while filming, it will be released in September." Naoki Nagayama estimated using the broadcast-while-filming model.

"Yes, so it might conflict with Naoki-san's movie."

"That doesn't matter too much... If I film it, I will definitely have finished filming in July and be editing in August..." Naoki Nagayama was very confident in his filming speed. "At that time, filming *Love Generation* by the way will be a good adjustment."

"This..."

Otomo Fangcun was still very confident in Naoki Nagayama's filming ability, and he didn't object, but he soon thought of another problem,

"Naoki-san, if we don't finish filming everything in advance this time, there is another problem."

"What aspect?"

"The TV station side... The previous two TV dramas were finished by us, and Fuji TV purchased them directly." Otomo Fangcun said. "Generally speaking, TV dramas are led by the TV station's production bureau, and if we broadcast while filming this time, will the TV station buy it? At what price will they buy it?"

"Fuji TV has such a good relationship with us, they should be very straightforward!" Naoki Nagayama didn't believe it. "Besides, we still have a framework agreement!"

"The framework agreement is just program cooperation... Purchasing TV dramas is a purchasing behavior..." Otomo Fangcun said. "After all, TV stations also have ratings considerations, and the production bureau doesn't want outsiders to compete with them for credit..."

"But... this is my, Naoki Nagayama's, script! It will definitely be a big hit when filmed!"

"Naoki-san is indeed trusted in movie production, and the screenwriter is also very talented." Otomo Fangcun said. "If the script is sold to the TV station, they will definitely accept it immediately, but if you want to broadcast while filming at the TV station... plus our protagonists are all idol artists under our banner, in business terms, there is still a probability of being rejected."

"........"

Naoki Nagayama didn't believe it... He decided to talk to an acquaintance at Fuji TV today about this matter to see if the other party really needed to think twice.

He called the familiar Taishi Shotoku and Rumi Nishi and invited the two to go to the coffee shop where they met before to have coffee.

Naoki Nagayama drove straight to the coffee shop near the Shinjuku building of Fuji TV... He still remembered that when he came last time, it was here that he and the two of them settled the *Boys Over Flowers* project.

It was winter then, and there was still snow on the road.

But now, the brilliant sunshine passed through the transparent showcase, illuminating the originally dark interior without reservation, adding some heat to the originally quiet coffee shop.

"Naoki-san!"

Taishi Shotoku and Rumi Nishi were naturally a step ahead and greeted Naoki Nagayama.

"Daitai-san, Rumi-san, is everything okay recently?" Naoki Nagayama hadn't been in frequent contact with them during this time.

"Haha, why does it seem like grandfathers meeting?" Rumi Nishi joked with a smile. "Naoki-san, we clearly just met before~"

"That might be because I've been busy with other things these past few days, and it feels like a long time has passed~" Naoki Nagayama explained while asking the clerk for an espresso.

"Naoki-san can come to the TV station to see us!"

"Isn't this why I invited you to have coffee~"

After a few pleasantries, Taishi Shotoku said: "Suddenly receiving Naoki-san's call today, we were also startled... Naoki-san is someone who doesn't go to the Three Treasures Hall without anything to do... and it's in this coffee shop again."

"So, what exactly is the matter, Naoki-san?"

"Haha, there is a TV drama script, and I want to ask you to take a look." Naoki Nagayama handed the copied *Love Generation* script to Taishi Shotoku and Rumi Nishi. "I plan to film it in a while, what do you think?"

"Oh? Naoki-san's TV drama script?" Taishi Shotoku took it. "Then I must take a good look!"

"Please give me more advice~"

Thus, Taishi Shotoku and Rumi Nishi began to look at the *Love Generation* script.

By the time Naoki Nagayama's coffee was delivered, both of them had expressions of relish on their faces, watching very intently... and by the time Naoki Nagayama's coffee was finished, the two were still watching very intently...

Taishi Shotoku was the first to look up: "Modern urban romance drama... Naoki-san really has a lot of research on love!"

"......." What gave you such an idea.

Rumi Nishi also looked up and said: "The ex-girlfriend became the eldest brother's fiancée... Isn't this the future sister-in-law?... The current girlfriend is a happy enemy, and there is someone who has a crush on the current girlfriend, someone who has a crush on the protagonist..."

"Naoki-san, this love line is so complicated!" Rumi Nishi revealed a smile. "So attractive! Sure enough, only Naoki-san can think of such tangled feelings!"

"......" I thank you...

This is one of the ceilings of romance Japanese dramas, mainly because the Japanese screenwriters are capable...

After Naoki Nagayama complained in his heart, he asked: "Do you think it's good?"

"Yes, it can be said to be a very excellent script in recent years." Taishi Shotoku gave an affirmation directly.

"Then Daitai-san, will Fuji TV support the production of this TV drama?" Naoki Nagayama asked next.

Taishi Shotoku and Rumi Nishi looked at each other: "Does Naoki-san mean to sell this script to Fuji TV?"

"No, I mean, if Shuyou Film produces this TV drama entirely, will Fuji TV purchase it?" Naoki Nagayama asked.

"Of course, if it is produced, I guarantee that the TV station will purchase it!" Taishi Shotoku nodded confidently. "Naoki-san's script is very good, and it will definitely be excellent when filmed."

Naoki Nagayama asked next: "Then, what if it is broadcast while filming?"

"Broadcast while filming?" Taishi Shotoku hesitated for a moment. "Naoki-san, broadcast while filming is generally a model used by TV dramas within the production bureau. For external purchases, they are all purchased as a whole."

"That is to say, if the script of this drama is sold to the TV station, and then the TV station's production bureau takes the lead in production, is it okay?"

This is actually just the difference between me being the main one or Shuyou being the main one.

Rumi Nishi nodded: "Naoki-san, if you want to sell it, we can acquire the script and then entrust Shuyou Film to produce it."

It seems that there is no difference. Relying on the relationship between Taishi Shotoku, Rumi Nishi, and himself, the commission fee for production will definitely not be low, and the dominance in the production process will definitely be in his own hands...

However, it is inevitable that they will intervene in the selection of some characters, and then the plot direction will also have to listen to the TV station's decision. Maybe the director will be changed temporarily...

But Naoki Nagayama was still a little uncomfortable. He didn't want anyone to restrict *Love Generation*, a TV drama destined to be a big hit. He wanted to keep all the copyrights on Shuyou Film's side...

"Hmm... I heard that there are also TV dramas produced entirely by external parties, right?"

Taishi Shotoku nodded: "Yes, Toho and Toei's TV production companies, TV stations occasionally entrust them to produce some TV dramas entirely..."

Rumi Nishi hurriedly explained: "However, that is already very rare. Current TV dramas are basically produced under the leadership of the production bureau, and TV production companies are just cooperating."

"It seems that Shuyou still doesn't have the fame of an old company~"

Through the reactions of the two, Naoki Nagayama also knew that as an emerging movie production company, in the field of TV dramas, Shuyou indeed did not have a hard brand.

"Naoki-san..."

Rumi Nishi wanted to persuade him, but Naoki Nagayama stopped her words,

"Rumi-san, I just wanted to come and ask, the specific production is still just in the imagination~"

Taishi Shotoku thought for a while:

"Naoki-san, why don't you leave me a copy of the script, and I will take it to fight for it with Department Manager Kazuhiko Suda... Maybe the Department Manager is willing to give Shuyou Film a chance."

"Haha, then thank you very much."

Naoki Nagayama left the script to Taishi Shotoku, but he also knew that it was unlikely that the TV station's production bureau would support Shuyou in producing it entirely and broadcasting while filming.

In the following time, the three talked about other programs, such as *Twilight Meow Meow* and the Kitten Club, etc., as if they had put this matter behind them~ ===== CHAPTER 617 =====