Programming Profile

StudioCanal CEO Anna Marsh discusses her production and distribution strategy while highlighting TV series on the C21 Digital Screenings slate.

StudioCanal, a 100% affiliate of Canal+ Group held by Vivendi, is Europe’s leader in production, distribution and international sales of TV series and feature films operating directly in all three major European markets – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – as well as in Australia and New Zealand. StudioCanal owns one of the most important film libraries in the world, boasting more than 6,000 titles from 60 countries.

Having joined the company in 2008 Anna Marsh was appointed CEO of global film and television group StudioCanal in December 2019. Under her reign and as a result of the pandemic there has been a surge in demand for finished content as broadcasters worldwide seek to plug significant gaps in their schedules. This is where StudioCanal can greatly benefit territory partners with a wealth of content, and an extensive film and television library available.

Marsh comments that while this is a challenging time for the industry, “It feels like the entire industry has jumped forward six years over the past six months; the way consumers are now accessing content has vastly developed and it forces us to think differently and pivot quickly in a rapidly changing market.”

Marsh continues: “With the support of Canal+ it is important to be working on a global scale. We are not just looking at our own territories but a worldwide strategy and that is one of our key strengths as a business. We produce, distribute and sell quality European content. I am proud of StudioCanal’s diverse slate and our continued ambition in the TV, film and catalogue space.”

StudioCanal positions itself as Europe’s leading production and distribution company with a keen eye for unique stories that will appeal to territories, partners and the Canal+ group of channels around the world. These include Canal+ networks in France, French-speaking Africa, Vietnam, Myanmar, Poland and Eastern Europe.

Impressively and with a significant European footprint StudioCanal is actively developing and distributing high-end TV series through its network of award-winning European production companies, including Tandem in Germany (Shadowplay), the UK’s Red Production Company (Years and Years), Spain’s Bambú Producciones (On Death Row) and France’s StudioCanal Original (Mouche). StudioCanal is also an associate of Danish-based Sam Productions founded by Søren Sveistrup and Adam Price (Ride upon the Storm) as well as UK-based Guilty Party Pictures, Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company Sunnymarch TV (Patrick Melrose) and Urban Myth Films (War of the Worlds).

Marsh confirms that “StudioCanal should be perceived as the very best home for talent and a place where – on both sides of the camera – talent has the creative freedom and ability to collaborate with us on quality content with international appeal. We take great pride in supporting the creative process with a genuine desire to seek out and develop stories that challenge and inspire us.”

Outside the StudioCanal group and affiliate companies Marsh is “encouraged to generate business and work with different partners outside the group. Invaluable partners such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Starz for example. We work with everybody. There are more opportunities for partnerships than ever before which is key for StudioCanal and integral to our continued success.”

There have been strategic moves for the business in recent months, with StudioCanal taking full ownership of Tandem in May 2020 by buying out founding partners Rola Bauer, Tim Halkin and Jonas Bauer. “We are very proud of Tandem and its trajectory. I am excited to develop the slate as we look ahead to a new era of StudioCanal bringing highly anticipated TV product to market,” Marsh comments.

“We have enormous support from the Canal+ Group and value agility in business. We remain open to exploring opportunities with top talent that will bring growth to our core television business. Our focus is on our own production slate with a strong emphasis on pre-financing. This is key, in addition to catalogue distribution. We don’t wish to build a catalogue – feeding a distribution unit for the sake of it – but to really create and own our IP.”

In an era which sees new streaming platforms launching at pace Marsh sees this as “an exciting time” and one in which it is “important to really understand the specific needs of each individual platform. Each player has a unique strategic position and audience profile. A great advantage of being part of the Canal+ Group is having real proximity to the audience and we are very much focused on data around consumer behaviors and trends. With the ability to understand what our clients want we can tailor our approach both across catalogue and new content. Each new customer provides a new opportunity for us which we certainly welcome.”

Most notably animated TV series The Adventures of Paddington underlines StudioCanal’s ambition in family programming. Having produced the TV series and films 1 and 2 with multi award-winning Heyday Films, StudioCanal also owns the Paddington IP.

Brand new TV series for StudioCanal in 2020 include Shadowplay, created and written by award-winning Måns Mårlind (The Bridge, Midnight Sun), produced by Tandem Productions and Bron Studios in coproduction with ZDF, boasting a stellar cast including Taylor Kitsch (True Detective), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Nina Hoss (A Most Wanted Man), Mala Emde (Brecht), Sebastian Koch (Homeland), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8) and Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus). Shadowplay is a gritty thriller set in a post-war divided Berlin shedding light on an unknown and violent period in time.

Darkly comic family drama Finding Alice, produced by Red Production, a StudioCanal company, stars Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, The Durrells), Nigel Havers (Coronation Street, Chariots of Fire) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous). The series focuses upon Alice’s honest, raw, blackly comic journey of grief, love and life.

All the Way Up – aka Validé, a Canal+ Creation Originale created and directed by Franck Gastambide (Taxi 5), is the first French series to dive into the world of rap.

Paris Police 1900 is created by Fabien Nury (The Death of Stalin) and co-produced by Emmanuel Daucé (Vernon Subutex, The Line) and Fabien Nury for Tetra Media Fiction and AFPI. This new Canal+ Creation Originale offers an authentic portrayal of the (not so) Belle Epoque through a gripping investigation around the discovery of a body found in a suitcase.

French-Israeli co-production Possessions is created by Shachar Magen (Sirens) written in collaboration with Valérie Zenatti (A Bottle in the Gaza Sea), directed by BAFTA-nominated Thomas Vincent (Bodyguard). The series, created by leading production company Haut et Court TV (The Returned, The Last Panthers), is produced by Caroline Benjo, Barbara Letellier, Simon Arnal and Carole Scotta and co-produced by Eilon Ratzkovsky (Sirens), Osnat Nishri and Keren Misgav Ristvedt from Quiddity, for Canal+ Creation Originale and Yes TV. Set against the backdrop of the wild Negev desert, this powerful psychological thriller features an outstanding international cast, including Nadia Tereszkiewicz (Only the Animals), Reda Kateb (Zero Dark Thirty, Close Enemies, Django), Noa Koler (Our Boys) and Tchéky Karyo (The Missing).

Award-winning hits Spiral, Baron Noir and The Lawyer also return with new seasons.

“Across the TV slate we are delivering an incredible and engrossing narrative; each twist and turn keeps the viewers holding their breath; the scripts are brilliant and the cast and creatives behind our projects first class,” says Marsh. “It is our continued ambition to surprise and enlighten audiences the world over.”