For those who grew up in Hamilton, ON not to know the story of Evelyn Dick and the grisly 1946 murder of her husband John is like not knowing that steel is made from iron ore, or that Lime Ridge Mall should be avoided on Saturdays.

The grisly tale of the hacked-to-bits streetcar driver and his twisted, bed-hopping wife has been told and retold by locals for more than half a century. But it was not seen on screen until earlier this year, when CTV aired Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, the MOW with Hamilton native Kathleen Robertson (Beverly Hills 90210, Scary Movie 2) in the lead as Canada’s answer to Lizzie Borden.

‘I’d never heard of it when it was pitched to me,’ says executive producer Christina Jennings of Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films, ‘though I do know some people in Toronto whose parents know the story. I think there’s a whole generation of us out there who’ve never heard it.’

Torso shot two years ago on a $3.4-million budget in Hamilton and Toronto, produced by Shaftesbury with Telefilm Canada, Cogeco and CTV funding, and helmed by Alex Chapple (The Passion). Victor Garber (Tuck Everlasting) and Brenda Fricker (A Time to Kill) also star.

The MOW is up for nine Gemini awards this year including best TV movie or dramatic miniseries, running against Stolen Miracle and Society’s Child, among others.

Production went smoothly, but not the broadcast. Torso was originally scheduled to air Sept. 11, 2001. Following that day’s terrorist attacks it was hastily moved to November, only to get bumped again when the new airdate put it up against the rescheduled Emmys. It finally aired March 18, 2002.

The repeated bumps hurt efforts to promote the show, says Jennings. ‘When we finally did go to air there was very little press because people felt like they had already written about it,’ she says. ‘I thought maybe we’d get a TV Guide cover in March, but everyone said, ‘No, we’ve done it.”

It was yet another problem for Shaftesbury in the increasingly harsh MOW market. Broadcasters continue to move away from MOWs, says Jennings, favoring series, which are easier to promote, and cheaper reality programming. Decreasing international demand for Canadian product is also a problem.

‘Sometimes the Canadian stories…don’t sell,’ says Jennings. ‘Why? Because they’re Canadian. They’re period pieces. So you have a Canadian market demanding Canadian movies, as it should, but you need foreign sales to fill in your financing. It’s tricky.’

Trimming budgets won’t necessarily help, she says, because MOW audiences also demand recognizable talent. ‘If you’ve going to put a TV movie on the air you’re going to want Wendy Crewson’s name on there. Or Paul Gross,’ she adds.

Jennings says to make ends meet MOW production houses need to seek out more partnerships, dividing total production costs among multiple companies. ‘We as a company are looking for more broadcast partners, because the reality is everyone still needs product,’ she says. ‘So how can I take this American broadcaster and partner them with this Canadian broadcaster? They’ll both end up getting a movie without having to pay the full costs.’

Shooting in more remote areas is also an option. ‘If you can move a production into Saskatchewan or Manitoba, you’ll get a higher tax credit and possibly even some provincial support,’ she says. ‘A lot of American movies-of-the-week are shot in the Prairies because there are incentives there. There are none in Ontario.’

Shaftesbury is currently shooting the six episodes of The Atwood Stories in Manitoba.