‘Tokyo Vice’ Producer Alex Boden Talks Next Steps For Shooting In Japan; VIPO Reveals Ten Projects Approved For New Incentive

deadline.com:

Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden talked about next steps for inbound production in Japan, including the need to expand the crew base, during his MPA/DHU/TIFFCOM masterclass at Tokyo International Film Festival.

And the need for more crew couldn’t be more urgent as Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) revealed that ten projects have already been approved for the country’s new 50% location incentive.

Max/Wowow’s Tokyo Vice, which filmed two seasons in Japan from 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, served as a test case for the incentive, which was officially launched in late 2023.

During his masterclass, Boden outlined some of the challenges the production faced when it first came to Tokyo, including securing notoriously difficult locations such as Akasaka, and finding enough experienced bilingual crew.  “But I would say that it’s so important that we’ve established this precedent,” said Boden, whose producing credits also include the Wachowskis’ Sense8 and Cloud Atlas. “We’ve shown that it can be done and hopefully everyone on all sides has seen that it isn’t such a big upheaval after all.