It’s time to bury the myth that the Canadian drama is doomed.

In a state of flux, yes. But the sheer numbers of Canadian series showing up on international TV schedules puts paid to the idea of a ‘Canadian drama crisis’ that reluctant domestic players must solve on their own.

What’s changed during the current recession is Canadian drama producers can no longer rely on traditional financing. They have to look beyond our borders for new ways to complete their patchwork quilt of financing.

And sometimes this leads to fascinating partnerships.

Take the Canada-U.K. script incubation program at the Canadian Film Centre, where Canadian and British scriptwriters are set to collaborate on potential TV coproductions. The BBC and BBC Worldwide think enough about Canadian drama writers to join Global Television and dangle development deals for cross-border dramas that come out of the CFC.

What’s more, Julie Gardner, the Los Angeles-based EVP for BBCW, ideally wants to see dramas with storylines used and understood around the world.

‘Stories are often universal. You look at Shakespeare. Why do his plays survive? They’re universal stories about unrequited love, about star-crossed lovers, about old men facing personal tragedy,’ Gardner observes.

Such universal storylines unite audiences everywhere, she adds: ‘We want to look at drama series offerings that would be very global in their view; that would speak universally to both audiences.’

This is significant on a number of counts. First, such dramas are collaborative. The CFC isn’t looking for producers from either Canada or Britain to develop a local drama and, needing to complete their financing, make a few creative tweaks to line up a coproduction partner. That’s the old model.

Instead, the British and Canadian writers and producers at the CFC will collaborate from the get-go on drama scripts for international markets.

Second, the BBC is on board. Heads will turn.

Third, it’s more proof the industry is looking internationally for solutions to what ails our TV dramas: a shortage of financing and confidence at home for a business turned topsy-turvy by audience fragmentation and the Internet.

Christine Shipton, SVP of drama and factual content at Canwest, says the CFC’s cross-border coproduction lab springs from a realization that homegrown dramas need added dollars that can’t be found at home.

‘We can’t rely on the Canada Media Fund as a [financing] model. And not all shows will find investment,’ she argues. Shipton adds the drama incubator springs as much from change and disruption in Britain, as in Canada.

‘They [the CFC] are astute in seeing the U.K. has undergone a big shift – more productions from indies, less in-house. It’s coming out of their shift, as much as Canada’s need,’ she observes.

No one is under any illusion that truly collaborative drama coproductions are easy to execute. Far from it.

‘They’re really hard. It’s the holy grail,’ BBCW’s Gardner says. But they’re also necessary in hard times.

‘We’re in a time of world recession. That has to have a bearing on the way each country develops shows. Each territory wants to pay less for drama, and the way is to join hands in a meaningful partnership where everyone shares the cost and editorial control,’ Gardner says.

The BBCW executive doesn’t minimize differences between the North American and British TV markets. The way Canadians and the British develop dramas, and film them, often differs. And as much as Gardner and Shipton want to take the best from both countries to make better dramas, there’s the all-important U.S. market to consider.

‘Part of my time is to develop titles just for America. I know what the running length is: 22 episodes on a network, cable looks at 13,’ Gardner says.

That means seemingly endless conversations to put together a U.K.-American drama partnership. For starters, the BBC prefers dramas that last 58 minutes. You can imagine the chin-scratching to complete a Canada-U.K. drama at the CFC coproduction lab.

‘If we’re going to make a genuine global coproduction, that has to change. Part of the discussion would have to be about how an episode is 42 minutes. What would be scheduled around it,’ Gardner says of the BBC programming grid requirements.

There’s more. Canadian broadcasters have embraced the U.S. network pilot model. The U.K. pilot system works differently: after a season of pilots, British networks commission the most popular for full series, usually either six or 13 episodes.

That said, Gardner sees at the end of the current CFC dialogue over potential coproductions with shared story sensibilities a stream of scripts for funding and production.

‘This is not a little development exercise. Frankly, we’re all too busy and the world is too competitive. The writers deserve as much support and editorial guidance and sharing of ideas as possible. But it’s all for a concrete goal,’ she says.

‘This is about finding really robust titles that people want to work on and we would fund and really properly look at,’ Gardner adds.

Canwest Broadcasting’s Shipton agrees the CFC lab promises a unique experiment and training exercise for participating Canadian and British scriptwriters. But Canwest Global also has its eyes on the prize.

‘At the end of the day, we’re both hoping for a show out of this,’ Shipton insists.