Long-established entertainment production companies are closing their doors one after another due to the TV recession… What is required of “Reiwa’s Entertainment Agency”?

Ai Iinuma (22), who played the role of a genius hacker in the Sunday theater series “VIVANT” (TBS), has become the talk of the town after it was learned that she will not appear in the sequel scheduled to air next year.

On the day the dropout was revealed, the Tanabe Agency, to which Iinuma belongs, announced in response to a media interview that her contract “will expire next spring.” It is unusual for the agency to make a comment nearly six months before the exit.

Akitomo Tanabe, 87, the founder of the agency and a leading figure in the entertainment industry, has already retired from the agency, and Masato Sakai, 52, a leading actor, has also gone independent. Including Iinuma, there are currently four talents in the company. Tamori, who has long been the face of the company, is now 80 years old and working at his own pace. Some people involved in the company believe that ″the company will gradually streamline its operations. Iinuma is a promising young man, so they may have decided to leave him to another firm.

An increasing number of long-established entertainment production companies have been forced to close or downsize their operations due to a decrease in programs and pay cuts caused by the prolonged TV recession.

Last April, “A-Team,” to which several popular talents, including Riho Yoshioka (32), belonged, closed its entertainment business. It is still fresh in our minds that all the talents were forced to transfer to other companies or become independent. In November of the same year, “SAMDAY,” to which Kika Fujiwara (54) and Mariko Shinoda (39) belonged, was ordered by the Tokyo District Court to begin bankruptcy.

Why is a well-established production company in such a difficult situation? A senior entertainment industry executive pointed out, “It may be because their business models no longer match the times.

Many of the long-established production companies have a small number of elite employees. Many long-established firms are elite few, and their specialty is to support their clients and nurture them into long-lived talents over a long period of time. On the other hand, they are not good at immediately discovering and managing “seasonal talent” such as tick-tockers and influencers who match the distribution business.

It has also been unable to stop talents from going independent since the former Johnny’s’s office was warned by the Fair Trade Commission for allegedly pressuring former “SMAP” members not to appear on TV.

In the case of long-established companies, many of the talent members feel indebted to the founders for having brought them up. Therefore, it is not uncommon for them to leave the agency when the top management is replaced. If you are a successful talent, you will get offers even if you keep quiet, so there is no point in staying.

A director of a production company says that entertainment agencies of the future “will need to do more than just management work.

Television salaries are going down every year, so management alone won’t generate much sales. Even long-established companies with stage production and video business divisions, such as Hollypro and Yoshimoto Kogyo, will probably be safe for a while. Firms such as “Asobi System,” which started out as an event planning company and has developed a business that charges directly to fans, are also doing well.

Marketing is also essential to anticipate the times and to find out what the public needs. On top of that, they must discover and nurture talent that matches the needs, build a system that allows talent to participate in auditions one after another, and build strong relationships with the talent. It is difficult for an agency that cannot do that to survive.”

The power structure of the entertainment industry is about to change dramatically.