Netflix, NHK Partnership on ‘Trial’
TOKYO — Netflix and Japan’s public broadcaster NHK are partnering on a four-part historical drama to be broadcast next month.
NHK will broadcast “Tokyo Trials” about the post-WWII court hearings of Japanese war criminals, on its terrestrial channel, while Netflix will stream it abroad. Then, after the NHK On-Demand VoD service has aired the series for a period, Netflix will also offer it to users in Japan.
Both companies contributed to the production costs, with NHK concluding co-production deals with L.A.- and Toronto-based Don Carmody Television and Amsterdam-based FATT Productions. Pieter Verhoeff and Rob King are the drama’s co-directors.
After launching in Japan in the fall of 2015, Netflix has made shows with Japanese with broadcaster Fuji TV, talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo, and ad agency Dentsu. For NHK, however, this sort of production and broadcast arrangement with Netflix is a first.
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