A touch of magic may help ignite a hit TV show, but the real secret behind CTV/Comedy Network’s Corner Gas series was creative freedom and cash, according to the producing team.

Corner Gas is now shooting its sixth and final season, but from the get-go, the producer/broadcaster relationship has been unified by enough coin, a single creative vision and smart promotion to create the winning formula.

‘I don’t believe it was simply lightning in a bottle,’ says executive producer Virginia Thompson of Regina’s Vérité Films.

‘CTV gave us a huge amount of support and freedom and created this dream situation for us so that we could design the show [putting] creative first,’ Thompson explains. ‘The important point that needs to be made is that there was a method to the madness. I look at a TV series like building a house. If you don’t build a strong foundation, then your chance for the kind of success Corner Gas enjoyed is difficult.’

Currently shooting its final season in Saskatchewan, the half-hour series is Canada’s most successful sitcom, with more than a million weekly viewers tuning in to the escapades of a group of locals living in the fictional small town of Dog River. 

The series’ origins began more than six years ago, when then Comedy VP Ed Robinson (now CTV executive VP programming and Comedy president), told director/producer David Storey (Blackfly, The Sean Cullen Show) that the specialty was interested in developing a comedy in Western Canada.

Storey was living in Vancouver at the time, so he spoke with some of his comic friends, including Brent Butt.

Butt told Storey his idea for a series set in small-town Saskatchewan, where he’d grown up. The premise was based on what Butt felt his life might have been like – pumping gas at the local station – if he hadn’t left to pursue stand-up comedy.

Storey pitched Butt’s idea to Comedy execs and they greenlit the series, to air on both the specialty channel as well as the main network, bringing CTV’s VP of program development Louise Clark on board.

Butt and Storey formed a production company, and then teamed up with Thompson as the Saskatchewan producing partner. Mark Farrell (Made in Canada, This Hour Has 22 Minutes) was tapped to co-write the initial scripts with Butt.

The first and second seasons of the series were financed primarily through the $230-million benefits package that resulted from BCE’s takeover of CTV in 2000.

‘They cash-flowed the project right away, so we were able to design a schedule for writing, for casting and for production that was absolutely tailor-made to our creative, and that is unusual in Canada,’ says Thompson. ‘So often producers are put under such financial pressure when launching a series that it is hard to keep an eye on the prize. You are distracted by trying to fill funding gaps or cash-flowing the show in a limited period of time.’

With funding secured, the producers were able to take the time to put together their dream production team, wait for the writers they wanted to wrap up other commitments, and work as long as required developing the scripts. They crisscrossed the country several times to cast the series, and they had the financial means to create the right look and design for the show.

‘What we achieved with Corner Gas is creating a sandbox for these comedians to play in,’ explains Thompson. ‘We kept all the noise away from the sandbox so they had this wonderful place in which to play.’ 

Susanne Boyce, president, creative, content and channels for CTV, says the philosophy that directed the development of Corner Gas, and continues to guide the network, can be boiled down to a simple mantra: creative first, the deal second.

‘It is important to get the money in the hands of the creators,’ she explains. ‘The value of a Brent Butt is in writing and acting and being funny, not in lining up for money. That can overshadow what your job really is.’

The producers also point out that while CTV and Comedy were active partners, they allowed the creative team the freedom required to develop the show according to Butt’s vision.

‘Maybe it was because we were in Saskatchewan and they forgot about us,’ jokes Storey. ‘CTV let the funny people write the funny show – they knew they weren’t the comedians. Brent Butt and Mark Farrell have toured the country making people laugh. They know what is funny.’

Butt adds that the network honored his request to have final say on the comedy.

‘At the end of the day, there was nothing that I felt was comedically wrong that I was forced to put on the show,’ says Butt. ‘There were no big battles. CTV is very respectful of the creative process. I know this sounds like a big kiss-up session…I wish I had some dirt.’

Boyce notes that it is critical that a series maintains the voice of its creator, and the entire team respected and protected Butt’s vision of the show and his unique brand of humor.

‘You can have collaboration and everyone brings their particular expertise to the table, but you can’t have seven creative voices,’ says Boyce. ‘Look at Desperate Housewives. Only Marc Cherry could have created that show – it was the story of his mother. And only Brent could have created Corner Gas. It is the story of what he would have done if he hadn’t become a comic. It is so authentic. It was our job to support in whatever way possible Brent’s vision.’

As a result, Storey says the creative team had the support to take chances and design a sitcom that was unique at the time of its launch: a show set in a small town instead of a big city; with gentle instead of cynical humor; a smart, dialogue-driven comedy that didn’t resort to a laugh track or cartoonish, wacky characters that bump into things in order to elicit laughs. 

‘I think we came way out of left field with a show that was really different in comparison to everything else on TV at the time and took everyone by surprise,’ he says.

The producers also give kudos to CTV and Comedy for investing heavily in promoting the series. 

‘They pulled out all the stops for us, and you don’t see that all the time,’ says Storey. ‘They put their money where their mouth is.’

Most notable was the cross-Canada free gas giveaway for the launch of season two, where cast members actually pumped gas at local stations for motorists. There was also a live theatrical touring show, a companion book, and – Thompson’s favorite – a website game where the grand-prize winner received a piece of land in Climax, SK.

‘The winner was such a fan of Corner Gas that he actually moved from Quebec to Saskatchewan and fixed up the property,’ recalls Thompson, laughing. ‘We had a lot of fun with the marketing campaigns. And it was a team effort between us and the network. Each season we brainstormed and did something new. We never sat on our laurels and said, ‘Okay, we are a hit, our work is done.’ We kept reaching out to our audience.’

And while Corner Gas is reaching the end of its run, everyone involved hopes its legacy includes numerous more successful Canadian series that are beloved by fans across the country.

‘I hope the model under which Corner Gas was created is emulated again and again,’ says Thompson. ‘It shows that if you are given the support and resources you require it is amazing what you can achieve. And the more hit TV shows we make in this country, the better it is for our industry overall.’