Polish Crime Thriller ‘The Teach’ Greenlit for Season 3, Studiocanal Sells Show Wide (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough
·3 min read

Pay TV network Canal+ in Poland has greenlit a third season of local crime thriller “The Teach” after its previous runs broke ratings records, and sold around the world via the distribution arm of Studiocanal, which is also succeeding to secure international distribution for its other shows produced by Canal+ Poland.

“The Teach,” which had the best ratings of any series on Canal+ in Poland, has been sold to Walter Presents in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.; Australian broadcaster SBS; New Zealand broadcaster Rialto; M7 Group, which runs pay TV and OTT services in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania; and digital channel Polar+ in France.

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Season 1 centers on Pawel Zawadzki, played by Maciej Stuhr, a teacher who is determined to uncover the real reasons behind the death of a student. In Season 2, Zawadzki take up a new job at an elite high school in Wroclaw. A few days after he joins, a tragic event takes place at the school. As he begins to investigate, he discovers this is no ordinary school, and these are not ordinary students. A murderous game is being played and the new teacher is there for a reason.

Françoise Guyonnet, executive managing director, TV series, at Studiocanal told Variety the company is building on that success with other series from Canal+ Poland, including crime thriller “Raven,” which has completed three seasons, spy thriller “Illegals,” revenge drama “Klangor” and gangster drama period series “The King of Warsaw.”

At script stage, Studiocanal offers advice on how the global potential of the shows can be enhanced. “It’s a dialogue with the commissioner at Canal+ Poland and the producer, but of course we never interfere,” says Guyonnet, who has been attending NATPE Budapest this week.

Studiocanal offers minimum guarantees on the shows it acquires for global distribution, which helps improve their production budgets. “We can see in a few years how the production value has evolved, and is better and better,” she says. “Nowadays, the production value is at a European level, [and the shows] can travel. The audience is more and more used to international shows, but they need a certain level of production value.”

Canal+ Poland and Studiocanal have teamed regularly with Polish production company Opus TV, including on “Raven” and “Klangor.” Opus TV is part of Opus Film, which produced Paweł Pawlikowski’s Oscar winner “Ida,” and Pawlikowski’s Oscar nominated “Cold War.”

Studiocanal is a boutique studio, according to CEO Anna Marsh, an outlook that allows it to “cherrypick” projects, Guyonnet says. “We need to do few, but the best. When our partners come to the Studiocanal stand at NATPE Budapest or Mipcom they know they’ll have the best of what Europe can bring to the market.” Guyonnet says it picks up two to three Polish series a year.

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