Vancouver: Love, connections and the lighter side of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are at the heart of My Name Is Sarah, a B.C.-shot romantic comedy from Vancouver director Paul A. Kaufman (Honeymoon With Mom) and exec producer Norman Stephens (Bang, Bang, You’re Dead).

The MOW for Lifetime wrapped mid-March after 15 days and $2 million in and around North Vancouver.

‘It’s a redemption story, and that’s always inspiring. That’s why I went to bat for this one,’ says producer Deboragh Gabler of Vancouver-based Legacy Filmworks.

Sarah features Peter Outerbridge (ReGenesis), Jennifer Beals (The L Word) and rising stars Nolan Funk (renegadepress.com) and Crystal Buble (Sandra Goes to Whistler).

The script by Julie Brazier follows a bored thirtysomething woman (Beals) who poses as a recovering alcoholic to befriend the members of an AA group, Outerbridge among them.

‘They’ve put together a great team on this project,’ says Outerbridge. ‘Kaufman knows what he wants.’

Outerbridge likes that his character, Charlie, is unpretentious. ‘He’s a straight shooter… and ultimately he teaches Sarah that she can be herself and someone will still love her,’ he says.

This is Gabler’s eighth MOW for Lifetime, following The Accidental Witness (2006) and The FBI: Negotiator (2005). ‘I’ve always had a hidden desire to do a more lighthearted piece… six of my past eight were about women in dire circumstances, this is more fanciful,’ she says.

Sarah airs on Lifetime in August and here on Showcase.