WorldScreenings: GoQuest Media

Over the years, India-based GoQuest Media has established itself as an internationally relevant company that can curate content from one part of the world that will then resonate with audiences on the other side of it. Its catalog boasts top titles from Eastern Europe and is growing with programming from Asia and elsewhere that can connect with viewers in Western Europe, Africa, Latin America and so on. Vivek Lath, founder and CEO of GoQuest Media, sat down for a video interview with World Screen’s Chelsea Regan to talk about the company’s growth and future plans.

“We are absolutely positioning ourselves as a global distributor of content coming from any country, any region,” says Lath. “Any international content, with respect to any country, is what we work with. If folks in India want to watch Narcos or consume content that is not locally produced in India, that’s where we come in and help the platforms acquire the right content—we do this globally across LatAm, Europe, Africa, MENA and Southeast Asia. We look at ourselves as a company specializing in acquiring foreign content and globally distributing it.”

Some of the highlights from our catalog currently are three shows—an Estonian spy thrilled named Traitor, which looks at what happens when Estonia decides to join NATO, and the Russian intelligence gets involved. It’s uncanny how it matches the scenario in Eastern Europe right now. The second show is a Serbian espionage drama Civil Servant, and the third title that is getting a lot of interest is a Czech co-production with Warner Bros. called Rats.

Though GoQuest did not set out to pick up content for its catalog from any particular market, many of its highlights hail from Eastern Europe. “When we started looking at titles, there were a lot of good shows produced in Eastern Europe [that] weren’t getting the right distribution legs,” says Lath. “Today, we have successful titles from Ukraine, Serbia, Canada and Estonia in our catalog. In addition, we’re currently signing up shows from Poland and Croatia.”

“We’ve moved to content from other countries as well,” Lath adds. “We’re signing up titles from the Philippines and currently negotiating two shows out of Korea as well. Our shows don’t fit any particular criteria in terms of where they come from—as long as they appeal to the audience that we are trying to cater to.”

Current viewing and programming trends around the world are aligning with GoQuest’s mission to be a global distributor of international content, putting them in a positive place as a company. “We took a bet about three years ago that content viewing would become significantly global because of the way that streaming platforms are expanding and the programming that they’re going with,” says Lath. “The simple phenomena that we always talk about in the trade and markets is how Narcos and Money Heist, shows from two Spanish-speaking regions have become global hits. The latest example is Squid Game—a Korean show with such massive reception worldwide. We decided to bet on this trend three years ago, and the hypothesis we had then is now proving to be true.”

Lath and GoQuest believe that, in another three to five years, audiences in most countries will be watching a 50/50 split of local and international content.

Looking ahead at the year to come, GoQuest has three priorities top of mind: expanding its catalog of global dramas and distribution base, branching out into creative development through its first production arm and getting into the financing side of the business.

“We are at an incredible moment in time now to build the entertainment trade category even more,” adds Lath. “I’d say good luck to everyone, and hopefully, 2022 will be amazing for all of you.”

See GoQuest Media’s Spring 2022 Showcase here.