Shochiku Film Fund

[Sven Koerber]

I wonder how strong the influence of these "individual investors" on the
film itself will be. It would certainly not be the first time in Japan that
a film-investor who spends a big amount of money will noticeably shape the
film. Since the 60ies / 70ies this was done a great many times mostly by
advance ticket sales, to the extend that films were made to "support" things
like carpet sales or make kind of propaganda for big industrial projects
like dams and skyscrapers.

Are the investors now really only there for things like preview-tickets ?
(And by the way, how will money return if there is no profit ?)

Sven Koerber-Abe

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Gerow" <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
To: "KineJapan" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 8:30 PM
Subject: Shochiku Film Fund


> Shochiku announced that its planned jidaigeki, Shinobu, starring
> Odagiri Jo and Nakama Yukie, will be partially financed by a "film
> fund" collecting money from individual investors. This is a system that
> already exists in Europe and Korea, but has not really been done in
> Japan. Individual investors will buy a share at 100,000 yen apiece,
> obtain various special goodies (like updates on production, invitation
> to the preview, one's name on the DVD, etc.), and then a share of the
> profits if there are any (even if there is no profit, some of the money
> will return). Shochiku argues this is a new way to finance Japanese
> cinema and involve regular fans and investors in production.
>
> Aaron Gerow
> KineJapan owner
>
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
>
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