"Double Brain", "Seriously! Life After That", "Dream Period" -- Projects I pushed through from scratch -- 100 projects pushed through in 30 years: Broadcast Writer Keizo Matsuda's Report Card (Part 1)
Every Tuesday is "Broadcast Writer's Planning Theory" day.
I am writing about the things I have thought about regarding planning during my many years as a broadcast writer.
The previous series, "A Broadcast Writer's Work is Completely Different Depending on the 'Genre'," concluded last week after six installments. And starting today, a new Tuesday series begins.
The series title is, "100 Projects Pushed Through in 30 Years -- Broadcast Writer Keizo Matsuda's Report Card".
In this series, I will introduce three projects each time that I thought of from scratch and that were actually broadcast on television during my long career as a broadcast writer. Some of the projects that were approved went well, while others did not go as planned. There is something to be learned from looking back at all of them. Therefore, I want to make this a series where I grade my own career, hence the name "Report Card".
Today, in this first installment, I will write about the first three.
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I will start with the conclusion.
"It is easy to come up with a project idea. It is ten times harder to get it approved. It is ten times harder still to actually have it broadcast."
And one more thing.
"But it is those approved projects that build 'who I am' as a broadcast writer."
A little bit about the new series
During my many years on the front lines as a broadcast writer, I have brought new projects into the world. Things I thought of from scratch, turned into proposals, got approved in meetings, and were actually broadcast as programs. I haven't counted them exactly, but I think there are nearly 100 of them.
I will introduce those 100 projects, three at a time, over the course of about 30 installments in this series.
"100 projects in 30 years" -- that is a pace of 3 to 4 projects per year. This might seem small, but since I think the odds of a project being approved are about 1 in 50, I think I actually did quite well. Projects I thought of from scratch are like my own children. I have always wanted to work on launching programs based on my own ideas rather than just managing someone else's project.
The result is these 100 projects. Some became regular series, while others were only broadcast once. (Mostly the latter, haha). Some projects overturned industry common sense, while others were swallowed up by it.
I will look back on all of them as honestly as I can. Now, I will write about the first three.
1. TBS "Double Brain"
The first one is the quiz show "Double Brain," which was broadcast on TBS.
The MCs were Tutorial. The most novel aspect of this program was that a duo would work together to solve the quiz.
At the time, in the world of quiz shows, the format was almost exclusively "one person answers" or "multiple panelists answer individually."
"Two people pair up to solve a single quiz question together" -- this format was almost non-existent back then.
The inspiration for this project came from the TBS drama "Double Face," which was a hot topic at the time.
It was a drama about undercover investigation and betrayal, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima and Teruyuki Kagawa, which aired in October 2012.
It was a time when the word "double" was resonating strongly on television.
Taking inspiration from the drama's title, I combined "double" with "brain."
"Double Brain" -- two brains solving one problem.
This is a typical "naming-first" project where the title was decided first, and the format was designed from there.
If I were to give it a report card, it would be: "The aim was good, but it was a missed opportunity."
The format of "a quiz solved by two people working together" began to appear in similar structures in several programs afterward.
If I had persisted a little longer and managed to keep this program going, I might have been a pioneer of that trend.
That is what I mean by a missed opportunity.
(2) TV Tokyo "Seriously! What Happened Next in Life"
The second one is "Seriously! What Happened Next in Life," which aired on TV Tokyo.
"What kind of life is that kid who was called the genius who studied the best in class living now?"
The reason I came up with this project was probably because I suddenly remembered a classmate from when I was a child.
That kid who was exceptionally good at studying and was called a "genius" in class.
What are they doing now?
I turned this simple curiosity into a project.
A program that tracks the later lives of "people who once made waves in society" and "geniuses who grasped glory."
This project was first broadcast on TV Tokyo in December 2016 as "Tracking the Later Lives of Those Geniuses... Now," and from 2017, it was turned into a special program titled "Seriously! What Happened Next in Life."
The MCs were Hiromi and announcer Miho Ohashi (initially), and it has been broadcast many times as a special program since then.
If I were to give it a report card, it would be: "The aim was dead center, but I lost completely on the title."
After that, a program called "Vanished Geniuses" started on TBS in 2018.
It is a program with almost the same theme of tracking the later lives of geniuses.
My "Seriously! What Happened Next in Life" started broadcasting first.
But I felt I had lost completely to the strength of the title "Vanished Geniuses."
I also liked the title that included the emotion of surprise, "Seriously!," because it was easy to understand.
But the strength, mystery, and fleeting nature of life packed into those five characters, "Vanished Geniuses."
I couldn't beat that.
The strength of a title determines the life or death of a project.
This project taught me that.
(3) Fuji TV "Dream Period"
The third one is "Dream Period," which aired on Fuji TV a long time ago.
The trigger was a request from the production floor to "make a program like Golden Legend."
At the time, "Ikinari! Ougon Densetsu." (Suddenly! Golden Legend), which was airing on the NTV network, was the talk of the entire industry.
It was a time when methods of showing human life through long-term close coverage, such as living on a deserted island or living on 0 yen for a month, were attracting attention as a new type of television variety show.
How to create that "Golden Legend-style documentary variety" with the Fuji TV color.
The answer I came up with was the idea of "releasing the article about the goal first."
For example, first show a newspaper article saying, "A certain comedian ate at X number of ramen shops in one month."
Create a flow where the challenger then goes on to achieve the results described in that article.
A documentary-variety show where the goal is visible provides a sense of security for the viewer.
However, the struggles and twists and turns along the way are not visible.
I want them to enjoy that gap.
In fact, a certain comedian really did eat a ton of ramen and made the project a success.
My gratitude to that comedian who threw themselves into the ramen challenge still remains today.
If I were to give it a report card, it would be: "The structure of the project is interesting, but it didn't last long."
The idea of a "documentary-variety show where the goal is decided in advance" doesn't maintain its freshness if repeated, because the viewers can predict the goal.
The first time, you can hook them with how the goal is presented.
From the second time on, you are relying solely on the expectation of "what will they achieve next?"
As a structure, it might have been a project unsuited for a long-running program.
My project style as seen through three projects
By lining up these three, I realized something myself.
1. Double Brain: Inspired the naming from a trending drama title
2. Seriously! Life After That: Converted curiosity about childhood classmates into a project
3. Dream Period: A proposal from a new angle for an existing popular format
Each one has a completely different starting point for inspiration.
However, there is one rule common to all three.
That is, "I am the first one to find it interesting."
For Double Brain, I myself was attracted to the word "double."
For Seriously! Life After That, I myself wanted to know "what that genius is doing now."
For Dream Period, I myself wanted to see "a documentary-variety show that works backward from the goal."
When thinking of projects, I have always used whether I am excited about it as the starting point.
I believe it is impossible to deliver a project that I am not excited about to viewers and tell them, "Please be excited."
This style has not changed even after 30 years.
And I think it probably won't change in the future either.
Preview for next time and beyond
Next time, in Part 2, I will look back at three different projects.
There are projects that were approved, and projects that didn't go as planned.
I will write about the 100 projects, three at a time, slowly.
"100 projects pushed through in 30 years -- Broadcast Writer Keizo Matsuda's Report Card," look forward to the next installment.
To companies
"I want to launch a new company project starting with the naming."
"I want to come up with project ideas from the simple curiosity of viewers and customers."
"I want to approach existing popular formats from a new angle."
Please feel free to send such inquiries via DM on X (@newtownave51st).
As the representative of A-FLAG (an alliance of 70 broadcast writers) and UPiNE, I accept consultations on planning, content, PR, and program development.
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[Weekly Update Schedule]
Sunday: A broadcast writer's struggle with business and life (currently serializing on UTZ)
Monday/Friday: Press releases I want to put in textbooks
Tuesday: A broadcast writer's theory of planning (this series: 100 projects pushed through in 30 years: Broadcast Writer Keizo Matsuda's Report Card)
Wednesday: A broadcast writer critiques the corporate video scene
Thursday: I'll show you everything behind the scenes of TV
Saturday: The era of selling with content
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