Director Ishiro Honda and writer Takeo Murata, then began drafting screenplays from Kayama's treatment. Sometimes the idea for the monster came first, or a basic premise, and then writers were assigned to come up with a story outline.Īs we know from various sources (including Steve Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Monster), GODZILLA was an idea cooked up by Tomoyuki Tanaka, who hired popular pulp writer Shigeru Kayama, once the project was green-lighted, to draft a treatment. Toho also accepted story ideas from any company employee, who would be paid if their idea was produced. Sure, I make note of some of them in my upcoming book! But, seriously, the info is available in a number of different English-language sources, although none of them have been compiled (to the best of my knowledge), so here you go:Īs many are aware, like most US studios of the period, Toho had a Literary Department (aka Story Department), which was manned by writers who would come up with original stories, and also scout and secure the rights to novels or short stories, to be developed into treatments, before being handed over to the screenwriters.