"Thank you for your support for the first chapter of The Newcomer. I will continue to work hard and not let you down with the rest of the series."
On his Twitter page, Hikigaya Hachiman expressed his gratitude to readers for the excellent response. The content was very formal, and he didn't include one of his usual partial selfies. He felt that since he had already made a public appearance, there was no longer a need to attract readers' attention in that way.
"It's the new, serious Hachiman! Hey, where's the picture?" "The serious Hachiman is also cute, but why does this tweet feel like something is missing?" "Why didn't you post a photo?"
Netizens quickly took over the comment section, expressing their regret that Hachiman no longer posted his signature selfies.
"I'll just say it, I want to see the selfies Mr. Hachiman used to post, the ones that only show a certain part of his body. The full-body shots make me short of breath." Some netizens had certainly developed strange habits because of Hachiman.
If there was anyone happier than Sakuraba Publishing or Hachiman himself about the explosive popularity and stellar reputation of The Newcomer, it was NHK TV. As the producer and distributor of the TV drama Malice, the first work in the "Kaga Kyoichiro" series, NHK naturally hoped for as many sequels as possible. After all, the Detective Kaga from Malice, with his tough appearance and soft heart, had already captured the hearts of the audience.
Of course, NHK also felt a sense of crisis. The actor who played Kaga had not signed an exclusive contract, meaning another TV station could buy the adaptation rights for The Newcomer and continue the series with him. To prevent this, the head of NHK's film and television production department immediately decided to find Mr. Hachiman as soon as possible to discuss the adaptation.
NHK was always efficient and resolute. Hachiman himself hadn't expected them to come knocking just after the first chapter of The Newcomer was serialized.
Frankly, NHK TV didn't have much to offer in terms of dramas outside of its annual, year-long historical epics known as Taiga dramas. Both Fuji TV and NTV were stronger in this regard. Therefore, they needed to hold on to Hikigaya Hachiman's powerful influence, which was the guarantee of their future TV drama business.
In the end, Hikigaya Hachiman and NHK TV agreed on a one-time copyright fee of 15 million yen, plus a share of 1.5 million yen per episode, for a pre-tax total of 30 million yen. This price was nearly the highest for a literary adaptation in the industry today. No matter how successful The Newcomer became in the future, there would be no room for this price to increase.
Even as the rights for The Newcomer—a series that was only one-tenth serialized—were being sold, Hachiman's biggest trump card, Confessions, remained unplayed.
Recently, however, he had learned from the publisher that the sales of Confessions had finally shown a significant downward trend. He felt it was time for his debut work to make its way to the big screen.
Many companies had approached Hachiman about a film adaptation, but he ultimately chose Toho Co., Ltd., one of the three largest film and television companies in Japan. Toho had extremely rich experience in film production, a massive scale, and powerful distribution and public relations methods, which would also give the film a great advantage when it came to awards season.
The representatives sent to negotiate with Hachiman were Director Shimada of Toho's film production department and the famous director, Tetsuya Nakashima. Nakashima had won many prestigious awards, including the Japan Academy Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He was particularly skilled at filming movies adapted from literary works and was an all-rounder who could both direct and write.
Of course, Hachiman could not attend such a meeting alone. After all, this would determine the signing of a contract worth an astronomical sum, so he naturally invited a professional lawyer to accompany him.
This lawyer was none other than Mr. Hayama, Hayato Hayama's father. Hachiman had consulted Mrs. Yukinoshita beforehand, hoping she could recommend an excellent lawyer. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Yukinoshita took the initiative and directly introduced Mr. Hayama, who provided legal services to the Yukinoshita family. She also insisted that Hachiman not worry about the fees, as the Yukinoshita family would pay for them directly.
"Hello, Director Nakajima. I've long heard of your work," Hachiman said, shaking hands with the director with a bright smile. Beside him, Mr. Hayama maintained a serious poker face as he observed the two men from Toho.
Hachiman was shocked that Toho had brought such a big-name director directly to the negotiation. It was a clear sign of their sincerity and how badly they wanted this project.
"The sentiment is mutual, Mr. Hachiman," Tetsuya Nakashima said frankly. "Your novel Confessions is a story I have dreamed of turning into a movie." The book was, in every way, a perfect fit for him.
However, the main players in this negotiation were still Hachiman and Director Shimada. The two engaged in a long tug-of-war over the film's copyright fees, with Mr. Hayama occasionally whispering advice into Hachiman's ear.
The final result was as follows:
Toho would first pay Hachiman a 20 million yen copyright fee.
In addition, Hachiman would receive 3.35% of the movie's box office share and a 3.35% share of all DVD sales.
The initial fee would be transferred to Hachiman's account shortly after signing the contract, while the box office share would be settled after the movie's theatrical run concluded. The DVD share was a long-term matter, but it would certainly not be a small amount.
A simple calculation laid out the potential earnings. Assuming a final box office of 5 billion yen, Toho, as the producer and distributor, would receive about 40% of that, which is 2 billion yen. Hachiman's 3.35% share of that would be 67 million yen before tax. Even if the DVDs sold for a modest 10,000 yen per set, selling 200,000 sets would generate another 2 billion yen in sales, a share of which would go directly to him.
In short, if these expected revenues were taken into account, the movie adaptation of Confessions would bring Hachiman more than 150 million yen in pre-tax income. Furthermore, the adaptation would also greatly promote the sales of the original work. In the end, it was all about the money.
"It's a pleasure working with you, Director Shimada."
After Mr. Hayama carefully reviewed the terms of the contract word by word, the two sides finally reached an agreement. When they shook hands, Hikigaya Hachiman felt as if the other man was putting every ounce of his strength into the grip.
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