Wave of Independence Masks Industry Reorganization Driven by ¥10,000 Daily Fee, Resulting in Price Collapse

Recently, there has been a string of news of resignations and independence in the entertainment industry.

On April 1, popular actress Mikako Tabe announced on her official cy that she had left Hirata International, to which she had belonged for about 20 years, as of March 31.

Actor Tetsushi Tanaka, husband of actress Yukie Nakama, and actor Keishi Nagatsuka, husband of actress Takako Tokiwa, also left “Blunt Club” at the end of March.

Kuranosuke Sasaki, Ryuta Sato, and Ryoko Fujino left “K-Factory,” to which kabuki actor Ennosuke Ichikawa, who caused an incident last year, belonged. Sasaki and Fujino moved to a new agency, “Anchor,” and Sato is going independent.

Bankruptcies and closures of entertainment agencies were also major news.

On March 27, it was reported that the entertainment agency “Fit,” which includes celebrities Dan Mitsu and Risa Yoshiki, had begun bankruptcy proceedings.

On April 1, “A-Team,” which includes actresses Riho Yoshioka, Asami Usuda, and Wakana Sakai, announced on its official website that it was suspending its entertainment-related operations. Marika Matsumoto, who used to be a member of A-Team, left the company earlier last November and transferred to a major entertainment agency, Ken-ON.

Other former Johnny’s’s offices (SMILE-UP., STARTO ENTERTAINMENT) have also been affected by the late Johnny Kitagawa’s sex-abuse issues, with Okada Junichi, Ninomiya Kazuya, Ikuta Toma, Domoto Go, and Kazama Shunsuke leaving and going independent; former member of SKE48 and actress Matsui Jurina also left last New Year’s Eve for X (formerly Twitter) to report that she had left her agency, Irving, amicably.

Why is the flow of people more active than in recent years?

The first priority is money,” asserts a reporter in charge of entertainment for a sports newspaper.

A reporter in charge of entertainment for a sports newspaper asserted, “The first thing is money.

As long as a talent belongs to an agency, he or she has to hand over a portion of the fee to the agency. The share varies from agency to agency, with the most common ratio being 7:3 (talent:agency). In some cases, it is 50-50 between the talent and the agency, while in others, the talent gets 90%.

It depends on the job. TV work is 7:3, but commercial work is 6:4. For the trendy YouTube projects, if the agency takes the initiative, the agency gets almost 30% of the work. On the other hand, if the talent has been doing it voluntarily for a long time, there are cases where the talent takes all the money.

While the spread of social networking sites has expanded the range of ways to earn money, television salaries have been steadily declining.

Compared to 10 years ago, salaries have decreased by more than 30%, and there are only a few people who get paid three figures (more than 1 million yen) for a single drama. In one drama series, the fee was 15,000 yen for one day of local location shooting.

We have a 7:3 ratio, so we pay about 10,000 yen to the talent and 4,500 yen to the office. I asked myself, “Why am I coming all the way to the mountains like this?

The shortage of human resources is also adding to the problem.

The shortage of human resources is also adding to the problem. In the past, there were some people who knocked on the door of the office because they longed to work in television and the entertainment industry, but now, unless they post their jobs on job sites, they can’t attract anyone at all.

They are probably shunned because of the hard work involved. There are not enough managers, and some people manage more than 10 people by themselves. On the other hand, excellent managers and staff are being headhunted by other firms.

The booming business these days is also in the K-pop type of firms. A number of people from major record companies have moved to these companies.

From the talent’s point of view, if their income is steadily declining and they do not have an exclusive manager, it is difficult to understand why they are joining an agency.

It is no wonder that they wonder, “Why am I in an office ……?”

(music industry insider) “It’s not surprising that they would think, ‘Why am I in an agency?

The most recent success story is that of Yutaka Takenouchi, who resigned from KENKEN in 2009. Because he has a relationship with TV producers and film directors that allows him to communicate directly with them over the phone, he can handle things on his own.

He does not have to take a pay cut from the office, and he does not have to do work he does not feel comfortable with. It is said that they are on the winning side.

The very existence of entertainment production companies is likely to be questioned.