ReGenesis is Shaftesbury Films’ signature series, now airing in nine languages – including Japanese – in over 100 countries, including the U.S. syndication market.

The hit show is also indicative of Christina Jennings’ personal trademark: she strives for perfection.

‘The pilot of ReGenesis in season one wasn’t good enough, so we re-shot 15 minutes,’ explains Jennings. ‘No one had to ask me to do that. I just needed it to be better.’

ReGenesis recently wrapped shooting season four (13 one-hour episodes), which takes viewers deeper into the world of possible bio-terrorism. The Movie Network/Movie Central drama imagines a world gone amuck, where disease will rage worldwide unless the right group of scientists and doctors prevent it.

Jennings freely admits, ‘It was my idea. I wanted to do something in the world of science, but it had to be interesting, you know? Not just for the geeks.’

Jennings commissioned and fired two sets of writers before finding veteran showrunner Tom Chehak (Diagnosis Murder), who was, she says, able to create ‘a really plausible balance between science and entertainment.’

A team that included Chehak, Jason Sherman and Avrum Jacobson finally developed scripts that met Jennings’ standard. Then it was time to pick the series’ director.

Winning candidate John L’Ecuyer recalls ‘the interview process was amazing. There were 15 people around the table. I loved the bio-terrorism aspects of the show. This is what Christina wanted to explore: the state of the world today, showing people trying to find solutions to the things that are threatening us.’

L’Ecuyer concludes: ‘We just meshed. During the meeting, she basically said, ‘You’re hired.’ People around her were saying, ‘Hold on, we have other directors to interview.’ And she said, ‘No, this is the guy.” Of course, Shaftesbury did engage other directors, but L’Ecuyer has helmed 24 of the 52 episodes shot to date.

With creative solutions settled and a cast led by Peter Outerbridge contracted, ReGenesis was financed mainly through TMN/MC and various levels of government support, including the Canadian Television Fund. But some funding was missing and Shaftesbury chose to invest its own money.

Says L’Ecuyer: ‘Christina took an enormous risk, which is something that producers in Canada don’t often do. And that’s how she maintains her integrity.’

Shaftesbury president and co-CEO Jonathan Barker has always backed the risky decisions. ‘We’ve had to put the company at risk at times,’ says Barker. ‘It’s always traumatic, but we’ve done it.’

The results are obvious – an award-winning series airing in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia.