The winners of the 24th TV Asahi Newcomer Scenario Grand Prize were announced on October 22nd, and out of 957 entries, Tonari Natsu's "Would You Not Support Me?" won the grand prize.
The story is a love story that begins with an encounter between an "extreme corporate slave" woman and an unsuccessful comedian. While the protagonist becomes more energetic by supporting her favorite comedian, the man who is being supported becomes corrupted and can no longer write material, so they finally decide to write material together... The story depicts "support activities x love."
Tonari is a yoga instructor living in Kanagawa Prefecture. Attending the awards ceremony held at TV Asahi headquarters (Minato Ward, Tokyo) on the 22nd, she expressed her joy, saying, "I applied to the TV Asahi Newcomer Scenario Grand Prize many times. I was rejected many times, so it still doesn't feel real that I'm here talking to you like this. I'm glad I didn't give up and kept writing... That's all I can say. I want to keep writing for the rest of my life! I want to aim for an Academy Award!"
She also commented, "I wanted to incorporate the theme of 'chasing dreams' into the theme of 'love story' in the winning work. I myself had been writing with the aim of becoming a screenwriter, but dreams are very cruel, and only time and age are taken away from you... But there is life even after you give up, and there is life even if you don't give up. I wanted to portray the idea that 'whether you choose something or not is your life.'"
Since its establishment in 2000, the award has produced many screenwriters, including Kosawa Ryota and Sakaguchi Riko. This year's award, the 24th in its kind, called for submissions on the theme of "love story," and the three winning works were selected at the final selection meeting by selection committee members Inoue Yumiko, Okada Yoshikazu, and Morosawa Kazuyuki. The Excellence Award went to Tanaka Norie's "What if I Tried Matchmaking in the Reiwa Era?" and Nara Sawa's "Rental Trash."
