Movie Central and The Movie Network are touting a robust summer schedule of Canadian production, including two new drama series and a fourth cycle of ReGenesis.

The eight-part ZOS: Zone of Separation hones in on the life-and-death challenges of peacekeepers struggling to enforce a UN-brokered ceasefire overseas. The series begins shooting in Bosnia in mid-June, returning to Toronto to wrap in October, and will premier on the pay-TV channels in spring/summer 2008.

Produced by Whizbang Films (H20, Men with Brooms), ZOS is helmed by Mario Azzopardi (Savage Messiah) and exec produced by Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa and Azzopardi. Malcolm MacRury (Canada Russia ’72 ) is writer and showrunner.

Meanwhile, The Weight, another eight-parter, follows two cops who may not be any better than the criminals they’re after. Created and written by playwright/screenwriter George F. Walker (This Is Wonderland, Criminals in Love) and Dani Romain (This Is Wonderland), Nightingale Company is producing. Shooting begins in Toronto in mid-August, with eyes on a spring/summer 2008 debut.

‘Both ZOS and The Weight are extraordinarily well-written dramas, with a very clear voice and an original point of view — wonderfully layered characters in surprising but entirely believable, highly entertaining situations,’ Shelley Gillen, head of creative and business affairs for Movie Central, tells Playback Daily.

Rounding out the slate is season four of ReGenesis. The drama series, which examines the threat of science on society, is shooting 13 new episodes in Toronto this summer, bringing back season three stars including Peter Outerbridge and Wendy Crewson.

Shaftesbury Films produces, with a spring 2008 launch expected.

‘ReGenesis has sold to more than 110 countries, including the U.S., and people I meet here — from travel agents to bank tellers to science geek computer techie waiters — are constantly telling me what fans they are of the show,’ Gillen says.

In describing the pay channels’ approach to original programming, Gillen says they look to offer subscribers quality on a silver platter.

‘Today that platter is commercial-free television, exclusive first windows on high-quality, boundary-pushing drama and comedy series, HD and subscriber video on demand,’ she says.