The comedy romance Tokyo Crush, from France and Japan, has won the Series Mania Forum best project award at the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.
Tokyo Crush is produced by Jonas Ben Haiem and Jean-Félix Dealberto for Salle Commune and Hiroko Oda for Flag Inc. It is written by Clémence Dargent. It centers on Mona, a bold Parisian chef, who is hired to reinvent a struggling Tokyo izakaya, if only Toshiro, the talented and handsome grandson of the founder, would let her.
The jury selected Tokyo Crush out of the 15 projects pitched on the first day of Series Mania Forum.
“After a good amount of debate, we chose Tokyo Crush because we loved the potential we saw for the story IN and OUT of the kitchen,” said M-K Kennedy, executive managing director of TV series at STUDIOCANAL and president of the jury. “It felt fresh, like a series with multiple points of entry for audiences. Featuring an ensemble of characters and conflicts that are ripe for great comedy: clash of cultures, tradition versus modernity, competition and will-they/won’t-they romance. All of which made it singular.”
“The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are one of the most anticipated parts of the Series Mania Forum, and we are delighted to be giving the €50,000 prize to Tokyo Crush,” added Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania. “In the difficulties of today’s world, I’m delighted to see that a romance comedy took the top prize. This is just what the audience needs during this time.”
The jury featured Kennedy; André Béraud, head of scripted, programs and feature films at ICI Radio-Canada Télé (Canada); Henriette Marienlund, head of drama at DR Drama (Denmark); José Pastor, head of drama and fiction at RTVE (Spain); and Frank Seyberth, head of co-production, international fiction, at ZDF (Germany).
