Toronto: Blueprint Entertainment has nearly wrapped its romantic comedy Playing House, and – after a few exterior shoots this month in New York and editing by Teresa Hannigan – will deliver to CTV by September.

The MOW, directed by Kelly Makin, is adapted from the novel by Patricia Pearson and shot around Toronto in June under exec producers John Morayniss, Noreen Halpern and Anne Marie La Traverse.

Playing House had been waiting to shoot for some time, having been caught in the CTF shortfall of 2003, back when it and La Traverse were both attached to Alliance Atlantis. The project followed her to Blueprint and had better luck at the fund last year, winning $1.75 million of its approximately $3-million to $4-million budget.

‘It’s been gestating,’ says Halpern with a laugh.

Calgary’s Alberta Filmworks was also attached for a short while but backed out over creative differences.

The story follows Joanne Kelly (Slings & Arrows) as Frannie, a Canuck ex-pat whose dreamy life in the Big Apple turns sour when she gets pregnant, leaves her job, and winds up back in Canada living with her parents. Lucas Bryant (Crazy Canucks), Colin Ferguson (Coupling), Michael Murphy (This Is Wonderland) and Kristin Lehman (G-Spot) also star. Thom Best was DOP.

‘The book isn’t exactly a romantic comedy in the traditional sense,’ says La Traverse. ‘[It] also deals with important, relevant issues like careers, motherhood, love – but in a comic way.’

Playing House will air in the U.S. on Lifetime. The cable channel recently upped its yearly MOW quota and, in the process, has touched off a small avalanche of work in Canada.

MOWs are still ‘hard to make and hard to sell,’ says La Traverse, and overseas territories prefer to watch their own, homemade shows.

Sales often rely on package deals and star power, she says. ‘The genre and the star are a big part of the deal, and romantic comedy is a softer sell.’