novelraw Chapter 67: Ambitious! Iwata Masao is Arrogant Again!
Chapter 67: Ambitious! Iwata Masao is Arrogant Again!
Nohara Hiroshi could see exactly how much lofty ambition these marginalized 'Kanto Faction' backbones possessed, wanting to accomplish a grand undertaking.
They were like sharp blades hidden within scabbards for many years, thirsting to be unsheathed and drink blood, while Nohara Hiroshi, was the sword holder handing over the whetstone and pointing out the enemies for them.
They had also heard of Nohara Hiroshi's talent.
Moreover.
Were willing to serve him!
"Section Chief Nohara, this is Yamamoto Takeshi, the best Executive Director amongst our group. When he was at the Kanto Station, the viewership rating of the morning drama he was in charge of was number one in its time slot for three consecutive years." Sato Kenji started introducing for him, pointing at a middle-aged man not tall in stature, but with eyes as sharp as an eagle.
Yamamoto Takeshi nodded slightly without any superfluous formalities, merely speaking in a deep voice: "Yamamoto Takeshi, please advise." His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken to his heart's content for a long time.
Nohara Hiroshi's gaze rested on his body for a moment, nodding his head: "Director Yamamoto, a pleasure to meet you."
"This is Matsushita Kai, the best Director of Photography, an artist who plays with light and shadow." Sato pointed at another man with uninhibited long hair and a somewhat decadent temperament.
"And this is Oshima Nagisa, the best Art Director, best at using the least budget, to construct the most textured sets.""This is Kudo Ryosuke, our best Screenwriter. Even though he's only a Level 3 Screenwriter, his scripts aren't any worse than those Level 1 Screenwriters..."
For every person Sato Kenji introduced, Nohara Hiroshi stepped forward, earnestly meeting the other party's gaze, personally extending his hand in thanks.
He didn't speak too many polite words.
But that respect beneath his calmness, made the hearts of these veterans marginalized by TV Tokyo for a long time warm up slightly.
They had seen enough of the arrogance of those young juniors from the Tokyo Faction, and had suffered enough of the stale rules of ranking according to seniority.
A young man like Nohara Hiroshi, holding an S-class project in his hands and having works to prove himself, yet still able to show respect towards these 'defeated generals' like them, was the first time they had seen such a thing.
When the last person was introduced.
Nohara Hiroshi's gaze swept across this team before him that looked somewhat down and out yet still possessed its backbone. He turned walking towards the whiteboard, picking up the eraser, and cleanly erased that entire board full of position requirements.
This action made everyone stun for a moment.
"Seniors."
Nohara Hiroshi's voice sounded clearly and powerfully in the quiet office: "Positions and titles, are only to facilitate management. Over here with me, there is only one standard——ability."
He paused, picking up a pen, writing seven large words right in the center of the whiteboard.
『Tales of the Unusual』.
"This is the name of our project." He said, subsequently writing another line of small text underneath——"Season 1, Episode 1, 『The Frightening Touch』."
The office was completely silent. Everyone's gazes focused on those few words, their eyes carrying probing and curiosity.
Nohara Hiroshi turned towards that screenwriter named Kudo Ryosuke, a middle-aged man wearing thick glasses and looking somewhat wooden: "Mr. Kudo, the story of the first episode is very simple. An ordinary woman in the city, unexpectedly possesses the superpower to perceive other people's inner hearts by touching their belongings."
"Mhm? Superpower?" Behind Kudo Ryosuke's lenses, flashed a trace of light.
In today's Neon, superpowers are still relatively novel things.
Hearing Nohara Hiroshi drop a big ultimate move right upon coming up, he subconsciously pushed up his glasses, lips moving slightly, seemingly already beginning to conceptualize images in his mind.
"I need you, Mr. Kudo."
Nohara Hiroshi's voice carried an unquestionable trust: "Expand this core creative idea into a complete, coherent script full of suspense and twists. The character's dialogues, the emotional progression, the pacing control, I leave them all to you."
Saying this, Nohara Hiroshi handed the project proposal to him.
Kudo Ryosuke received it and flipped through a few pages.
Then his eyes were full of shock.
This story was incredibly brilliant!
He worked as a screenwriter in Kanto TV for more than ten years, then came to TV Tokyo and worked as a screenwriter for several more years, having received countless scripts and initial project proposals.
But now, Kudo Ryosuke raised his head looking at Nohara Hiroshi, his eyes full of disbelief.
Because this story was truly too novel and peculiar!
"I will also give you suggestions for the corresponding story details. I expect Mr. Kudo, will have no problems right?" Nohara Hiroshi looked at him with a smile.
"I... I understand!" Kudo Ryosuke nodded heavily. In those pair of originally somewhat dim eyes, reignited the flame of desire to create: "I will do everything in my power, to make the story even more perfect!"
"Very good." Nohara Hiroshi nodded satisfyingly.
Even though he already had specific dialogues and plotlines, those were after all some settings from the Neon of his past life, still having some minor differences with the Neon of this world.
Especially the shooting of live-action dramas.
Requires even more carefulness.
Therefore having this highly-qualified veteran screenwriter act as a gatekeeper, is a very good help to Nohara Hiroshi.
"The rest of you."
Then Nohara Hiroshi's gaze turned towards Yamamoto Takeshi, Fujiwara Takumi, and others, opening his mouth in a deep voice once again: "During these few days while we wait for the script, I still have another matter that requires everyone's cooperation."
He pulled out his own chair, sat down, taking out a few stacks of brand-new draft paper and a whole box of pencils from the drawer.
"I will hand-draw the sequences of all stories for the first season of 『Tales of the Unusual』, completely into manga storyboards."
After these words were spoken, everyone was astonished.
"What?!"
"Completely draw into manga storyboards?!"
"You kid..."
"Can this really be achieved?!"
Within Yamamoto Takeshi's sharp gaze for the first time revealed astonishment, Fujiwara Takumi subconsciously stood up straight, even the Sato Kenji who was always smiling gently, the smile on his face also stiffened.
A Section Chief, the general person in charge of an S-class project, personally taking the field to draw storyboards? And manga storyboards at that?
In the entire industry, this is an unheard-of thing!
A director drawing storyboards isn't strange, but those are shooting rough sketches based on existing scripts.
While Nohara Hiroshi's meaning, is to clearly finalize the visual style, camera language, pacing, and atmosphere of the entire story, using the form of a manga, before the script is even produced!
This is no longer the domain of a director. This is almost equivalent to one person doing the jobs of four people: original author, screenwriter, director, and storyboard artist!
"This way, it allows all of our work, to have the most intuitive, most unified reference."
Nohara Hiroshi's voice remained calm as usual, as if speaking of an insignificant minor matter: "Director Yamamoto is responsible for dispatching, Mr. Fujiwara is responsible for operating the camera, Mr. Oshima is responsible for art design, everyone can look at the same 'blueprint' to construct, this can avoid communication costs and deviations in understanding to the greatest extent."
He raised his head, looking at this group of 'veterans' who were shocked beyond measure by his decision, the corners of his mouth curling up into a confident arc.
"Everyone, welcome to my way of working."
At this moment, inside the office there was no longer a single trace of noise.
That group of middle-aged men looked at this young man before them. The depression, loneliness, and unwillingness in their eyes, were fading bit by bit, replaced by an ignited excitement and fanaticism.
They realized that they weren't following a lucky dog who rose to the top relying on factional struggles.
But a genuine, once-in-a-century genius!
A monster possessing absolute control and execution ability!
After allocating the core tasks, Nohara Hiroshi's gaze landed on the desk in the corner of the office, on those three young people who couldn't utter a word from beginning to end and appeared somewhat at a loss for what to do.
Minamura Hoshi, Haseji Kakeru, and Kitagawa Yao.
They looked at this group of seniors with a powerful aura, looked at Section Chief Nohara's appearance of devising strategies, their hearts both excited and feeling inferior.
Nohara Hiroshi stood up, walking in front of them, the seriousness on his face transforming into a gentle smile.
"The three of you, your subsequent tasks are also very important." He looked at them and said: "The logistics support for everyone in the crew, food, clothing, housing, and transportation, budget reimbursements, venue liaisons, are all handed over for you to be responsible for. This will be very trivial, very hardering, but it's also the place that can best temper your coordination and communication capabilities."
He extended his hands, patting Minamura Hoshi and Haseji Kakeru's shoulders respectively.
"More importantly, is to follow behind these seniors, watch well, learn well. Every single one of them, is a living textbook."
Finally, his gaze became exceptionally earnest, and his voice deepened down.
"Remember, no matter how big this team of ours becomes in the future, how many newcomers arrive, the three of you, are forever that batch of people from the Suzuki Section, who walked out together with me."
This sentence was akin to a warm current, instantly striking the softest place in the hearts of the three.
All inferiority, unease, and the fear of being marginalized, vanished into thin air at this moment.
They raised their heads looking at Nohara Hiroshi, their eye sockets instantly turning red.
"Yes! Section Chief!"
The three people bowed in unison, their voices carrying a choked sob, yet filled with unprecedented firmness.
They understood, the Section Chief hadn't forgotten them.
They aren't an abandoned old squad, but the most core foundation stone of this new team!
However, right when this touch and hot blood quietly diffused within the office of the Suzuki Section, an ear-piercing undisguised loud laugh, erupted from the Iwata Section not far away, penetrating the walls, appearing exceptionally abrupt.
...
In stark contrast to the tense yet orderly atmosphere of the Suzuki Section, the Iwata Section at this moment, was immersed in a hypocritical carnival.
"Hahahaha! Hashishita-kun, you are truly a great contributor to our Iwata Section ah!"
Iwata Masao's face was flushed red. One hand enthusiastically draped over Hashishita Ichiro's shoulder, the other hand pointing at him, loudly announcing to the room full of subordinates: "From today onwards, Hashishita-kun is the Deputy Section Chief of our section! Specifically responsible for the ace project we've placed our earnest hopes on——the production of the third season of 『Yamishibai』!"
"Oh oh oh!"
"Congratulations Deputy Section Chief Hashishita!"
"As expected of Senior Hashishita, forsaking darkness for light, the boundless future ah!"
That group of lapdogs under Iwata Masao immediately erupted with thunderous applause and compliments.
They surrounded Hashishita Ichiro tightly. Various words of praise were thrown at him as if they cost nothing.
Hashishita Ichiro's face was already flushed red by now.
Half from excitement, half from embarrassment.
His personality was originally honest and naive, when had he ever enjoyed this kind of treatment like stars surrounding the moon?
In the Suzuki Section although he was a senior.
But everyone's gazes focused on Nohara Hiroshi's body.
He was like a planet revolving around the sun, never emitting his own light and heat before.
And now, in the Iwata Section, he instead became the center, became a hero!
This massive sense of satisfaction made him somewhat floatily complacent.
That bit of guilt generated because of betrayal, was also washed completely clean within this echo of flattery.
"Not at all, not at all... this is all what I ought to do." Hashishita Ichiro dizzyingly waved his hands. Under everyone's crowding, he felt his life had already reached its peak.
"Deputy Section Chief Hashishita, don't be modest!" A clever subordinate immediately handed over a cup of hot tea: "I heard you brought all the secrets of 『Yamishibai』's success over? Quickly broaden our horizons!"
"Yeah yeah! We're all dying of curiosity, how on earth did that Nohara Hiroshi come up with such wonderful creative ideas?"
Driven by massive vanity, Hashishita Ichiro stuck out his chest, complacently taking out a few notebooks he compiled for a long time and regarded as treasures from his briefcase.
"Hmph, that kid has a lot of ideas, but having followed him for so long, I've long figured out his routines thoroughly!" He said loudly, slapping the notebook onto the table: "The crucial points to the success of 『Yamishibai』, are all inside here! As long as we follow this, the third season can absolutely recreate brilliance!"
The crowd immediately gathered around, scrambling to flip through those notebooks.
"Hiss——So that's how it is! The story of every episode, all originate from widely circulated urban legends!"
"This processing of the storyboards, deliberately imitated the pull-and-push feeling of 'Kamishibai', so that's why it's so distinctive!"
"And this soundtrack! To actually use dissonant chords to create a sense of horror... my god, the person who came up with this idea is truly a genius!"
Exclamations of amazement rose one after another.
However, listening and listening, Hashishita Ichiro's complexion gradually turned ugly.
Because he found out, although everyone was looking at his notebook, what they were exclaiming about in their mouths, were entirely "Nohara Hiroshi's fantastic odd ideas", "Nohara-kun's talent", "how is that young man's brain structure different from ours".
Not a single sentence was praising him, Hashishita Ichiro.
He was like a jester presenting a treasure. Having painstakingly offered up the treasure, as a result everyone was praising how miraculously skillful the original owner of the treasure was.
A surge of humiliation and unwillingness welled up in his heart, Hashishita Ichiro's face thoroughly flushed into the color of pig liver.
"Ahem!" He coughed heavily, interrupting everyone's discussions, stiffening his neck saying: "Nohara Hiroshi is formidable, but... but I have also already learned many essences! That set of his, I have already completely mastered!"
He completely failed to notice, when he was blushing arguing in defense, Iwata Masao and a few core subordinates, exchanged a gaze full of complacency within the gaps of the crowd.
Like a group of experienced old hunters, watching a self-smart prey, step by step walking into the trap they meticulously set up.
A trace of unhideable contempt flashed in Iwata Masao's eyes, immediately putting on an earnest expression of thirsting for talents again.
He signaled with his eyes, the surrounding lapdogs immediately understood tacitly.
"Right right! We believe in Deputy Section Chief Hashishita's capabilities!"
"Deputy Section Chief Hashishita being able to compile these things, is in itself a massive contribution ah!"
"Exactly! No matter how formidable Nohara Hiroshi is, didn't he go shoot some live-action drama now? The future of 『Yamishibai』, still relies on our Deputy Section Chief Hashishita!"
A new round of flattery, once again allowed Hashishita Ichiro to regain a bit of self-confidence.
Seeing the time is ripe, Iwata Masao then slowly opened his mouth, his voice seemingly carrying a kind of magic power: "Hashishita-kun, since you've already mastered the essences, then why not tell us. The reason why the first two seasons were so successful, what is the most crucial point, exactly?"
This question, played right into Hashishita Ichiro's hands.
He couldn't wait to prove himself, immediately replying: "It's 'urban legends'! The core is urban legends! The audience naturally has a sense of immersion towards these seemingly familiar, horrifying stories circulating around them! This is the foundation of 『Yamishibai』's success!"
"Well said!" Iwata Masao slapped his thigh, his face full of approval: "Then in your opinion, how should we do our third season?"
"Of course strictly following the genre of the first and second season to produce!" Hashishita Ichiro said without thinking: "We don't need to do any innovations, as long as we continue excavating those classic urban legends, returning to using the original style and techniques to present, we will definitely succeed! This is exactly the safest, and also most correct path!"
This spiel, of course closely coincided with Iwata Masao's thoughts.
What he wants, isn't surpassing, but replicating.
He needs to use the success of 『Yamishibai』 Season 3, to prove he, Iwata Masao, understands how to operate a mature IP better than Nohara Hiroshi, to solidify his standing in the Production Bureau.
As for innovation?
That is a risk only reckless youths like Nohara Hiroshi would take.
"Good! Very good!"
Iwata Masao abruptly stood up, raising his arm high, using an extremely inciting tone to announce: "Starting from now, the production of the third season of 『Yamishibai』 officially begins! Everyone follows Deputy Section Chief Hashishita's commands! We only have one goal——"
He paused, his gaze sweeping across everyone.
"To launch on time in the July Summer schedule! Using viewership ratings, tell everyone, who is the true ace of TV Tokyo!"
"Oh!!!"
The entire Iwata Section, once again erupted with earth-shattering cheers.
Amidst the fanatical atmosphere, the corners of Iwata Masao's mouth, hooked up into a cold smile.
His line of sight passed through the wall, as if seeing the figure of that young man burying his head working hard next door.
S-class project...
The moment he recalled this broad road that was supposed to be his promotion to Level 2 Director, ultimately becoming that kid Nohara Hiroshi's stairway to the heavens, the fire of jealousy and anger in his heart burned uncontrollably blazing.
However, so what?
Iwata Masao sneered thinking.
Your Nohara Hiroshi's concepts are formidable, but a live-action drama, is it something someone making anime like you can play around with?
Budget management, actor communication, on-site dispatch, post-production... the water inside here, is bottomless!
If an anime fails, the loss is merely the production cost.
If an S-class live-action drama fails, then what gets smashed in is astronomical figures, sufficient to make any producer suffer eternal damnation!
Furthermore, the war of the sub-prime time, has never merely been playing house internally within TV Tokyo.
Rumor has it, Kansai TV and Osaka TV, both invested massive capital this year, preparing to do something big in the Summer schedule.
Whether it's the golden hour or sub-prime time, both prepared extremely finely produced programs.
That is the true Asura's arena (bloody battlefield)!
Nohara Hiroshi a newcomer, thinks relying on the backing of the Kanto Faction, means wanting to cut out a path in this bloody sea?
Simply a fool's dream!
In Iwata Masao's mind, emerged Bureau Chief Takada Toshihide's meaningful instructions to him.
"Iwata-kun, don't be anxious. The Station Chief's meaning is very clear, this is an 'open conspiracy'. Just let that kid of the Kanto Faction charge forward, make a break for it. If he succeeds, it's the station having good leadership; if he fails, it's exactly the opportunity to beat the entire Kanto Faction, letting them understand, in TV Tokyo, exactly who has the final say. What you need to do now, is to stabilize the basic foundation of 『Yamishibai』, and then... just watch the show well."
Watch the show.
Exactly, he only needs to prepare a bench, brew up hot tea, and quietly watch how that kid who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, step by step walks into the abyss, ultimately smashed to pieces by the massive waves of reality.
When that time comes, the forces of the Kanto Faction behind him, will also thoroughly lose power.
Wanting to continue surviving in the television station, they must lower those arrogant heads of theirs, and integrate into their Tokyo Faction's camp.
Thinking up to this point, the smile on Iwata Masao's face, grew ever more complacent and cruel.
Especially thinking about an important project proposal like 『Yamishibai』, such an important IP, could be held in his hands.
Even if his own 『Onibo Samurai』 previously failed.
So what?
The current him, isn't he once again preparing to welcome an even better life relying on the wedding dress embroidered for him by his enemy (reaping the fruits of others' labor)!?
Iwata Masao's laughter grew increasingly arrogant, as if returning back to his former arrogant appearance.