The Sexy Tanaka tragedy is a turning point?　TV stations are getting serious about using young screenwriters.

Autumn Drama Series Showcasing Selection of Young Screenwriters

Among the October drama series starting one after another, “Then, You Make It” (TBS), starring Kaho (34) and Ryoma Takeuchi (32), has become a hot topic among TV people.

The number of views of the missed broadcast of the first episode exceeded 3.65 million. This is the highest number ever for a TBS Tuesday drama. Initially, Ryo Yoshizawa (31) and Shuri Shuri (35) were in talks to play the lead roles, but due to the drunken invasion fiasco, it didn’t happen. However, when they opened the door, Takeuchi’s scruffy character became popular and the drama became a hit, so they were lucky,” said a sports newspaper reporter.

The drama is based on a popular manga of the same name, but the scriptwriter is also attracting attention.

The two main characters are from Oita Prefecture, and the script is written by Kei Ando, 32, the leader of “Gekidan Ampersand” who is also from Oita. I can feel his spirit to express the world of the original work in every detail. This is the first time Mr. Ando has been the main scriptwriter for a key station drama. This season has seen the selection of young scriptwriters, especially from TBS,” said a TV magazine editor.

Fake Mommy” (TBS), starring Haru (34) and Rina Kawase (30), is the first production to come out of the station’s “writers’ room.

The “writers’ room” is a system often seen in foreign dramas where multiple scriptwriters come together to compose a story and create a work of art. Fake Mommy” was conceived and written by Sono Murazo (46), who won the grand prize in the first edition of the “TBS NEXT WRITERS CHALLENGE,” which TBS launched in 2011 to discover and nurture the next generation of scriptwriters.

The first step in the expansion of the use of writers’ rooms in the drama industry was the “WDR Project,” a script development team established by NHK in 2010. The drama “30 Million” (2012), which was produced by the first term members of the project, was highly acclaimed by drama fans.

This year, the second term members were selected, including comedian Mikie Onuki (44), and they are even more unique than before. Using hit foreign dramas as teaching materials, we get together regularly to study the composition of scripts. NHK has finally realized that if the script is not interesting, no matter how good the actors are, the drama will not be interesting,” said an NHK official.

One of the reasons for the TV stations’ serious efforts to discover and nurture scriptwriters is the trouble caused by “Sexy Tanaka-san” (NTV), which aired in the fall of 2011.

As the “missed delivery” service took root, the number of drama slots that could be easily monetized increased. TV stations, troubled by a shortage of scriptwriters, jumped on the bandwagon by adapting popular manga and other works into dramas. However, the tragedy of “Sexy Tanaka-san” occurred as they struggled with a tight schedule to determine how far to go in adapting the original work. At Nippon TV, an original script by popular comedian Bakarhythm (49) became popular, and “silent” (Fuji TV), by new scriptwriter Miku Ikata (32), was also a big hit. This led the stations to turn their attention to discovering and nurturing screenwriters. It is easier for young scriptwriters to get the stations to listen to what they want.

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From the November 7, 2025 issue of FRIDAY