"Australian Entertainment in Japan - Behind the Scenes"
In November Cindy Lineberg took us behind the scenes of Austrade (The Australian Trade Commission). This Federal Agency exists to help Australian exports succeed in international markets. Currently Japan is Australia’s biggest trade partner so this is no small undertaking.
Austrade works like a business consultant – if you think your product is good enough to export, they have market specific consultants that, for a fee, will create a tailored package for your business. Cindy’s market is Entertainment & Leisure. Some may think more of manufacturing and tangible products when they think of exports but there are many more exports than that. Have you ever heard of The Wiggles? Yes, they are Australia’s biggest entertainment export.
Cindy admits she can’t take credit for The Wiggles, but Austrade was very successful with “Burn the Floor”, a dance show and one of Kansai TV’s biggest events. They have had three successful tours to date. This success left the door open for Cindy to take on some interesting and lesser known exports.
After receiving a PowerPoint presentation of some trick dirt bike riding, she was intrigued. A self-proclaimed woman of extremes, living in a land of extremes – what better place to focus her talents but extreme sports? She took a producer for a meeting in Australia and the event was scheduled to be held in the Osaka Dome.
The show sold an impressive 16,000 tickets but it was just shy of the 20,000 needed to break even. Kansai TV used to be more inclined to take more risks but after the “Horiemon” scandal they are more reluctant.
Working in this business takes great amounts of flexibility, patience, and the ability to wear many different hats. Cindy found herself doing everything from translating during rehearsal to working as ER staff at the event. She was sure to point out that these qualities can’t be emphasized enough in doing any business in Japan. Especially when you find the producers ripping up the manual at 10:30pm the night before the show!
Cindy entertained and enlightened us as to how Australian arts and entertainment make it in Japan and shared the thrill of being behind the scenes of it all!
