With an assistance grant from the HBF, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has held a workshop this year on “The production of high quality and attractive dramas.”

TV dramas are one of the most watched programme genres in the countries in Asia. Considering an effective way to improve broadcasters' production abilities and produce more attractive dramas, we decided to hold this workshop for the drama producers of the ABU member organisations. The five day event was carried out at NHK's broadcasting center in Japan from 25th to 29th June, inviting a lecturer from NHK headquarters that has a little more experience in drama production. The eight producers participated are, in random order, from BBS (Bhutan), EBS (Korea), RTB (Brunei), RTM (Malaysia), MBS (Mauritius), IRIB (Iran), DDI (India) and SLRC (Sri Lanka).

On the first day, Mr Koji Matsuoka, who used to be a senior member of NHK's drama production division, gave a lecture on the basics of drama production from script writing, film planning to sound creating. After the lecture, all participants were given the same 4-minute script, with which each of them was assigned to produce his/her own TV drama. On the second and third days, they shot the scenes at NHK's in-house studio, followed by editing and adding sound-effects on the fourth and fifth days respectively to complete their works. Then on the final day, all the accomplished dramas were screened, including the one produced by Mr Matsuoka as a "good model."

Although working on the same script, every one of them edited the footage and added music in different ways. It is so interesting to see how each drama reflects each producer's sense and taste that provide the optimum effect on his/her work. In the screening, we did not have the participants exchange views, but let them keep in mind what they thought about other dramas.

Although the five days passed too soon, the workshop received highly favorable reactions from the participants. Most of them gave us positive comments such as, "I wish you could provide a workshop like this at least every two years," and "We will definitely introduce NHK's drama production method we have learned here into our broadcasting system back home." Drama production takes considerable labour and time, and that is why detailed plans and operations are essential. I believe firmly, therefore, that this workshop was extremely valuable for all the participants. (July 2007)