Flashpoint’s international recipe for success is a mix of classic ingredients and perfect timing, according to Carrie Stein, CEO of Los Angeles-based Alchemy Television, which handles the series’ foreign sales with the Munich-based Tele München Group.

‘The world is not that difficult when you have a good show,’ says Stein with a laugh during a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

‘Flashpoint was one of those shows that the buyers leaned forward in their chairs from the minute they walked in the room,’ she explains. ‘We have a nice slate of shows [at Alchemy] and have done very well selling them around the world, but Flashpoint has been fun. The other sales I wouldn’t describe as fun, but as hard work. But a good strong one-hour primetime crime series is what everybody is looking for.’

Stein says that all the elements – from instant genre recognition to the recent American writers strike – worked in Flashpoint’s favor, even on a global scale.

‘We are completely sold out,’ she says. ‘I think the fact that it’s such a good show, and that it was released at a time that there weren’t a lot of good dramas, really benefited this show. And it’s a genre show, so people just grabbed it.

‘We started a hard sell at the May market before the premiere [July 11, 2008 on CBS], and once it got moved to Thursday night and did great in that slot, any deals that were still pending were closed immediately,’ she continues.

Stein is referring to the fact that when Flashpoint dominated Friday nights for its first two weeks on air this summer, CBS moved the series to the coveted Thursday night 10 p.m. ET timeslot, with CSI as its lead-in. She believes that show of confidence clinched any pending foreign deals.

The worldwide sale of the series includes key broadcasters in lucrative territories, such as RAI in Italy, ITV in the U.K., Canal+ in France, Antenna 3 in Spain, TVNZ in New Zealand, Nine Network in Australia and RTL II in Germany.

A veteran of the international television scene, Stein adds that the CBS order made all the difference to global sales.

‘I think that the buyers internationally are way more sophisticated than ever before,’ she adds. ‘They do their homework. They don’t buy on buzz. They buy a show because it will work and stay on the air,’ and Flashpoint measured up. ‘It wasn’t too unique. It wasn’t too controversial. It wasn’t too different. It was a really well-done crime series. And the foreign buyers today want to buy a show that’s got legs. They don’t keep rescheduling every day.’

Foreign buyers have generally acquired all 31 episodes ordered by CBS and refer to the entire package as ‘season one’ (as opposed to the 13 episodes referred to as season one in Canada). Because the series launched in the summer instead of the fall (and seasonal orders in L.A. are based on fall launches), the American and international definition of season one includes everything ordered by the U.S. networks by May 2009. That includes the upcoming 18 episodes ordered by CBS and CTV after the initial 13 episodes performed well in North America.

Consequently, the 18 upcoming episodes – which begin airing in January ’09 on CBS and CTV – will be considered part and parcel of season one for the rest of the world. And the performance of those episodes will ultimately determine if there is an international ‘season two’, according to Stein.