The process of bringing Armistead Maupin’s popular Tales of the City novels to the small screen has been as intricate as the ensemble character pieces themselves. But given strong ratings and three Gemini noms for the third in the series, Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City, Montreal’s BBR Productions (part of the L’Equipe Spectra group) feels it was worth every twist and turn.

The four-hour miniseries, tracking the lives and loves of various characters in 1970s San Francisco, is up for this year’s best TV movie or dramatic miniseries award, as well as best actress for Barbara Garrick (Pollock) and best supporting actress for veteran Canadian-based performer Jackie Burroughs.

Further Tales of the City is based on the third of U.S. author Maupin’s six-novel series – which originated in 1976 in his San Francisco Chronicle columns, and transformed into novels starting in 1989. Working Title Television and Channel 4 bought the rights to the first book and adapted it into a six-hour miniseries that received record ratings for PBS when it aired in the U.S. in 1994.

PBS was looking to produce a follow-up mini in 1996, More Tales of the City, but, according to BBR president and producer Suzanne Girard (Nuremburg), abandoned production because of phone threats and bomb scares brought on by the series’ depiction of drug use and homosexuality. At the time, Girard was producing at Montreal’s Productions La Fete with Kevin Tierney (P.T. Barnum), and the prodco decided to pick up the project.

‘We brought on 35% of the budget and produced [almost all of] it in Canada,’ says Girard. Showtime, Hallmark Entertainment, WTTV, Channel 4 and Bravo! covered the remainder of the budget.

After producing More Tales, which was nominated for a pair of 1999 Geminis, Girard left La Fete to take on the third series under BBR. The program was broadcast on Showtime (U.S.), Showcase (Canada) and Series+ (Quebec), and distributed internationally by Hallmark.

Girard recalls the winding road to seal the funding on the third mini. Channel 4 had pulled out its investment and as a result BBR had to get more money from its other U.S. and U.K. investors.

‘It wasn’t until MIPCOM ’99 that we finally got our financing,’ recalls Girard. It was at that market that Showtime, Hallmark and WTTV came back on board with 67% of the budget. Showtime has U.S. rights, BBR Canadian and Hallmark international. The mini had the same Canadian broadcasters and has been picked up as far away as Ireland, Australia, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia and Belgium.

After the $10.7-million budget was in place, Girard began drawing up an intricate shooting schedule that would accommodate the other films and series to which cast members were committed. Returning for the third series were actors Paul Hopkins, Billy Campbell, Laura Linney, Whip Humley, Mary Kay Place, Henry Czerny, Olympia Dukakis and Burroughs.

Directed by Pierre Gang (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), from a script by James Lecesne and Maupin, Further Tales of the City shot from May to July 2000. The characters’ nesting place, San Francisco’s fictitious 28 Barbary Lane, was constructed in an L.A. studio and used initially on More Tales. On Further Tales, BBR reassembled that set and shot four days on the L.A. lot, with the rest being done in Montreal.

Three books in the series – Babycakes, Significant Others and Sure of You – have yet to be adapted to the small screen, but BBR is currently in negotiations for the fourth in the series, which would be a Canada/U.K. copro, although likely with different partners. Girard is looking to ink the necessary deals at the upcoming MIPCOM.