Film & TV production services
Film and television production services in Japan
You have the script, the schedule and the budget. What you do not have is a producer in Japan who can read a location agreement, argue with a ward office, and tell you on day one which of your shooting days is going to fall over.
Streetshow is a bilingual production company in Fukuoka and Tokyo. We work as the Japanese side of foreign film, television and commercial productions: line producing, crewing, locations, permits and on-the-ground fixing, from recce through wrap.
Start a productionWhat we take on
Line producing
Budget, schedule, vendor negotiation and day-to-day control of the Japanese side of the production. You keep creative authority. We own delivery.
Production management and coordination
Call sheets, movement orders, accommodation, transport, and a production office that works in Japanese business hours and answers you in English.
Crew
Camera, grip, electric, sound, art, hair and makeup, drivers and runners, assembled for the job rather than from a fixed roster. Bilingual where the role needs it and monolingual Japanese where that gets you the better technician.
Locations
Scouting, negotiation, agreements and the relationship work that decides whether a location says yes the second time. We cover Fukuoka, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and the rest of the country.
Permits and permissions
Roads, public space, transport, drone, and the private agreements that are not technically permits but will stop you just as hard if you do not have them.
Fixing
The job that has no job description: the thing that was agreed and then was not, the vendor who will not say no out loud, the schedule that assumes a Japanese crew works the way a crew at home does.
Equipment and post
Rental through local houses, and finishing in Japan or handover to your own post, whichever the schedule wants.
What is actually different about shooting in Japan
Not a culture lecture. Four things that change a schedule.
Permission is a relationship, not a form
A location that agreed in writing can still go quiet two weeks out because something was not handled the way it should have been. The work that prevents this happens months before the shoot, in Japanese, by someone who will still be here next year.
"We will consider it" is usually no
Foreign productions lose days waiting for a confirmation that was never coming. Reading the answer correctly the first time is worth more to your schedule than any amount of chasing.
Crew structure is not interchangeable
Departments here are organised differently, the hierarchy is real, and a call sheet written for a crew at home will quietly misallocate people. Set it up wrong on day one and you carry it for the whole shoot.
Lead times are longer and firmer
Many things cannot be accelerated with money. They can be accelerated by starting them in the right order, which is a producing decision and has to be made early.
How a production runs with us
- 01
Before you commit
Tell us the script, the territory and the window. We come back with what it actually costs here, what in your schedule will not survive contact with Japan, and what we would move. This is the conversation that saves the most money, and it happens before anyone is hired.
- 02
Prep
Recce, locations, permits, crew, vendors, budget. You get one point of contact who is accountable, not a relay of coordinators.
- 03
Shoot
We run the Japanese side. Your director directs, your DP shoots, and the things that would otherwise take a producer out of the day are handled before they reach you.
- 04
Wrap
Reconciliation, vendor settlement, and clean handover of footage and paperwork in a form your production office can actually use.
Who this is for
Production companies, broadcasters, streamers and agencies shooting in Japan from outside it. Features, television, documentary, branded content and commercials.
It is also for productions who tried once already and found that a translator and a local camera operator did not add up to a production service.
If you need a crew and nothing else, that is a different page: English-speaking video crew in Japan.
If you are producing a live event or activation, see Japan execution.
What it costs
Honestly: it depends on the shape of the production, and anyone who quotes you before reading the script is guessing.
What we can tell you is the structure. Line producing and production management are a fee against the scope. Crew, locations, permits, equipment and transport are costed at local rates and passed through, with the actual quotes visible to you. Nothing is marked up quietly.
Send the script, the schedule and the territory. You will get a real number and the reasoning behind it.
Why Streetshow
We are in Fukuoka and Tokyo, not representing Japan from somewhere else. The team is bilingual, which means negotiation happens in Japanese and your updates arrive in English, with nothing lost at the handover.
We have produced in Japan for New Balance, SHEIN Japan, The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, Charles & Keith, KUOE Kyoto and others, and delivered event programmes in Japan for global brands through international agency partners. That work is on the work page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you line produce, or only fix?
Both. Some productions want a full line producer running the Japanese side with budget authority; others arrive with their own producer and need someone who can open doors and solve problems. Tell us which, and the scope is written to match.
Do you work outside Fukuoka and Tokyo?
Yes. We are based in Fukuoka and Tokyo and produce nationwide, including Kyoto, Osaka and rural locations.
How far ahead do you need to be brought in?
Earlier than most productions expect. Permits and locations have lead times that money does not shorten. For a scripted shoot, the first conversation is best held while the schedule is still movable.
Is the crew English-speaking?
Where the role needs it, yes. Where it does not, we would rather give you the better technician and handle the language ourselves than give you a weaker crew that happens to speak English.
Can you handle permits for drones, public roads and transport?
Yes, including the private permissions that are not formally permits but will halt a shoot just as effectively.
Do you take a markup on crew and vendors?
No hidden markup. Our fee is for producing; pass-through costs are shown at the rates we are quoted.
Tell us what you are shooting in Japan.
Send the script, the window and the territory. We will tell you what it takes here, and what in your schedule will not survive the trip.