KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ART FESTIVAL 2016

Yoshimoto Announces Original Writing Development Project

2016/10/14　Report

The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival started off Day 2, October 14, with a major announcement from Yoshimoto Kogyo. It has launched an Original Writing Development Project that will offer ordinary people the chance to publish their work, and win awards.

Yoshimoto Kogyo will collaborate with Kindle Direct Publishing (a service where users can directly publish their novels), Storys.jp (a website where writers can upload their personal stories), and Mediabang! (a manga comic creation site that offers free manga creation software) to offer awards on these platforms and promote creators from each of them.

For each winner Yoshimoto Kogyo will establish publishing opportunities via exclusive sales of physical books and e-books. It is possible these works could be used to create film or television scripts that would be made and distributed via Amazon Prime Video.

Each award will be promoted by Yoshimoto Kogyo’s two international film festivals, the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival (KIFF) and the Okinawa International Movie Festival (OIMF). Awards ceremonies and premiers of the visual work will take place during these high-profile events.

The Original Writing Development Project was created to maximize the power of original writing in this new era of online tools and promotion. It will take advantage of all the talented people who have not had an opportunity to have their work seen because they did not have a publisher or a PR agent. Yoshimoto will collaborate with the major partners mentioned to create a vibrant and visible platform for writers and creators to get their work seen and appreciated. This project will offer creative people a chance to reach millions of fans and generate hit content, whether it be books, manga or film/TV/video. The vision of this inventive program is to find new ways to discover strong work and talented people who can meet the market demand, both internationally and domestically, for great new content.