The CTV MOW Stolen Miracle represents Portfolio Entertainment’s first foray into primetime, and the auspicious debut has reaped the Toronto prodco two Gemini nominations, including one for best TV movie or dramatic miniseries.

The 11-year-old company has thrived with youth programs such as RoboRoach, Something for Nothing and Groundling Marsh. Founded by copresidents Joy Rosen and Lisa Olfman, Portfolio was initially structured so that Rosen would oversee distribution and Olfman development and production – roles that have since evolved. Taking on the MOW was important to the partners to keep their business fresh, diversify their production slate, and particularly to satisfy a yearning of Rosen’s.

‘There was something calling Joy, and that was being able to work on creative that addressed her own concerns and interests as an adult and how we could extend the quality of the work we had contributed in children’s and family programming to primetime,’ Olfman says.

Instead of tackling a series, the company decided the best first step would be the $4-million MOW. The story was plucked right out of the headlines – a woman impersonates a nurse and kidnaps a baby from a hospital on Christmas Eve in 1993. Olfman believes a major reason for the movie’s appeal is the universality of its theme, which manifests viewers’ worst fears.

‘Obviously, that touches anybody who is a parent and anybody who has a sister or brother,’ she says. ‘It was also about the ease of being able to walk into a hospital and pick up a baby and walk out.’

The film was directed by Norma Bailey – no stranger to real-life stories following her Gemini-nominated work on The Sheldon Kennedy Story. The script was written by Peter Lauterman and Shelley Eriksen and the music was composed by John Welsman (Road to Avonlea), who is up for the production’s second nomination, for best original music score.

‘His music was quite sweeping, and he really helped embrace the viewer to the situation. His music was lovely,’ Olfman says.

The movie stars Nola Auguston (Jewel), Michael Cera (I Was a Rat), Gabriel Hogan (The Associates) and Leslie Hope (Dead Aviators). There is some retroactive cachet involving a couple of cast members – after filming Stolen Miracle, Hope went on to star on the acclaimed Fox drama series 24, and Cera is appearing in The Grubbs, one of the most highly touted comedy series of the new season, also on Fox.

The MOW was shot on location in 21 days in and around Toronto in February/March 2001 and was blessed with ample natural snow to enhance the Yuletide mood.

As to how the Portfolio execs handled the excitement of their first primetime production, Olfman offers, ‘Joy was on the front lines of it, and her fingernails have never been shorter.’

An installment in CTV’s Signature Presentation drama series, Stolen Miracle was, according to Olfman, one of CTV’s top-rated holiday movies ever when it aired last December. It was picked up by Lifetime in the U.S., which experienced similar success. Fireworks International is handling worldwide distribution. The MOW has been sold in nine territories outside of Canada.

Gnawed fingers aside, the experience of making Stolen Miracle was so positive for both Portfolio and CTV that they are going forward on the MOW Tracking the Hunters, a true story about Vancouver Detective Kim Rossmo, creator of geographic profiling, which enables police to pinpoint the whereabouts of serial killers.