Indie producer Peter Raymont of White Pines Pictures has secured a blind script development deal with CBS, thanks to the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles.

Raymont led one of eight Canadian producer teams that pitched 10 potential dramas to senior development execs at eight U.S. networks and cable channels during an all-day session last Tuesday in Los Angeles.

By Thursday, CBS had agreed to finance script development for an ensemble cop drama from White Pines that is set in a town straddling the Canadian-U.S. border.

“There may some other development deals in discussion. The feedback was really positive,” David Fransen, Canada’s consular general in Los Angeles, told Playback Daily.

Indie producer Kevin DeWalt of Mind’s Eye Pictures, who was also pitching U.S. commissioning editors on Tuesday, is also thought to be in the running to snag a development deal.

The original idea for the Hollywood pitch session by Canadian drama producers came together at the 2009 Banff World Television Festival where Fransen and Carl McMullin, consul and trade commissioner at the Consulate General in Los Angeles, fielded interest from Canadian producers.

“The question was there something we could do… to help put the best Canadian producers with the best projects in front of the people who make decisions in Los Angeles,” Fransen recalled.

As McMullin secured interest from U.S. studio development execs stateside, the Canadian Media Production Association and provincial funding agencies began securing drama ideas from Canadian producers that were eventually whittled down to the 10 pitches made Tuesday.

“It was a very successful,” John Barrack, COO for the CMPA, said Friday after attending the Aug. 3 pitch session in Los Angeles.

“We’ve heard a few deals have come out of this. We’re committed to doing more of this in the future,” he added, including possible pitch sessions for Canadian comedies and factual series.

The Canuck pitch session came at the height of the current pitch season for the U.S. networks, who have returned to scripted fare in big numbers after an extended reliance on reality TV series.

Canadian actors Mark Wilson and Patrick McKenna, who performed in another cross-border drama for White Pines Pictures, The Border for the CBC, brought the idea for the potential CBS police drama to Raymont.

Wilson and McKenna will now join showrunner David Barlow to produce a script, which potentially could go to pilot with CBS.

Barlow and Raymont will also executive produce the project.

Wilson played a detective in The Border for its entire 38-episode run, while McKenna had a recurring role.

The Border was eventually sold by Fireworks International and BetaFilm into 25 countries.

The CBS development deal also signals the eye network still has an appetite for Canadian cop dramas after yanking the Canuck drama The Bridge from eOne Entertainment after only three episodes on air.

CBS network entertainment president Nina Tassler recently told the Television Critics Association that she is undecided on whether to renew Flashpoint. from Avamar Entertainment with Pink Sky Entertainment after the third season of ensemble cops series gets underway Aug. 6.

CBS’s continued enthusiasm for Canuck cop dramas may well stem from a sideways glance at ABC, where the new Canadian cop drama Rookie Blue is going gang-busters.

ABC and Canadian broadcaster Canwest Broadcasting have already put in a second-season order for Rookie Blue from Thump Inc. and eOne Entertainment.