GoQuest Media Embarks On Polish Crusade

GoQuest Media represents a slate of diverse dramas across a range of categories for the international stage. One area in which the company is rapidly expanding its catalog is the crime drama space. A current highlight is the Polish police procedural Crusade, in which detectives from the crime and criminal terror division of the Warsaw Metropolitan Police investigate a spate of murders and kidnappings of celebrities.

“Crusade came up when we were discussing acquiring Erinyes from TVP,” says Jimmy George, VP of sales and acquisitions at GoQuest. “We found it to be the perfect binge-watch for crime drama enthusiasts. It was pacy, had an exciting storyline and, like most procedurals, you could pick up where you left off, and it would suck you right back into the action.”

“After the success we had placing crime action thrillers like Civil Servant and Traitor on international networks and OTT platforms, Crusade was a natural fit that expanded our offering in the genre,” George adds.

The 13-part series sees an organized terrorist group murder people who are pillars of society, including an influential TV journalist and an MP, in an attempt to turn the social and economic order around and influence cultural transformation. “They firmly believe that is the natural way human civilization will develop,” George explains. Director Łukasz Ostalski “has kept this honesty of purpose intact. There is no lens of moral judgment presented to you. People’s motivations are made clear. The terrorists finding kinship in an investigator who had a troubled childhood and manipulating him to push their agenda just goes to show that there is a complicated vortex of history, Polish politics, technology and psychological manipulation at play here.”

The show also allows viewers to “see a wide cityscape of Warsaw and across social strata,” he says. “We get into the homes of the elite and rich, witnessing their wild shenanigans and exploitations. But we also get to sit with the underprivileged young men in their modest homes internalizing their suffering and understanding the purpose of their action—to cause mass terror. The eternal battle of the haves versus the have-nots set against the workings of a flawed criminal justice system set in a new but quite familiar landscape will be interesting to watch.”

Adding Crusade to the catalog helps to feed the growing interest GoQuest is seeing for Polish content. “When Poland became the focal point of Netflix’s investment last year in Central and Eastern Europe, it brought to the international market a slate of high-quality and critically acclaimed crime dramas,” George says. “We see this interest only growing and have made important investments in our slate to cater to this appetite.”

The Ostalski-directed series is one example of a title that feeds this appetite, allowing audiences to “find comfort in watching competent, capable heroes working together to solve problems,” notes George. “It is very much in the format of prevalent procedural dramas currently popular worldwide, so its familiar narrative combined with suspenseful action, undiscovered locations, strong acting and a new mystery to solve in every episode makes it appealing to audiences across the board.”

Ultimately, adding the show to the catalog fits in with GoQuest’s overall mission: “to continue building a strong catalog of titles that can help a platform bring the best of international drama to their audiences.”