When Reunion Pictures executive producer Matthew O’Connor describes how he managed to bring the TV drama Olympus to life, it sounds like an effort that would challenge even the gods themselves.

But for indie producers trying to make it in the increasingly global TV business, O’Connor said he sees international collaborations as the way forward.

“I really think this is the model that we see,” O’Connor told Playback Daily ahead of Olympus‘ premiere on Super Channel and Syfy on April 2. “The Holy Grail of big licence fees for Canadian shows – I think we all believe that is going to be tougher and tougher to achieve.”

The idea for Olympus started about three years ago, when creator Nick Willing reached out to Reunion Pictures about an idea he had for a show on Greek mythology. (Willing had worked with Reunion before on series such as Alice.) Liking the idea, Reunion and Willing pitched it to a few Canadian broadcasters in 2012, but received a lukewarm response.

A few years later, O’Connor said he learned that producer Robert Halmi Jr. was launching a new venture, London-based Great Point Media. Having worked with Halmi Jr on previous series (Alice, Tin Man), the prodco reached out to gauge his interest in Olympus.

Securing Halmi’s participation, the companies took the series to Syfy, which liked the concept and agreed to pick up the show ahead of production.

With Syfy on board, the team moved to structure the series as a 60-40 Canada-U.K. copro,  eventually deciding to shoot in Vancouver for the Canadian tax credits and moving most of the post and VFX to the U.K.

But, as with any treaty coproduction, financing the series was a bit harrowing.

Great Point Media provided a distribution advance for Olympus and brokered early sales for the series, including deals with Tele Munchen Group in Germany and Amazon in the U.S.

With the pre-sales in place, Reunion was able to secure interim financing to get preproduction started while the final coproduction approval was underway – which Olympus only received very shortly before cameras were slated to start rolling.

“That made our cash flow issues challenging,” O’Connor recalled.

But in the end, the teams built a budget of $2.4 million an episode, O’Connor said. The series includes 13 episodes.

Despite the complications of structuring a coproduction, the combination of the British team’s experience in historical dramas and Reunion’s eye for fantasy/sci-fi content made them ideal partners for Olympus, O’Connor said. In addition, a project based on historical event and figures, rather than a modern-day drama, has a better shelf life, O’Connor said.

“With all the giant feature films occupying this market niche, it really made sense for us to approach the Greek mythology side of things,” O’Connor said.

He points out that the series’ lack of a single commissioning broadcaster allowed the prodcos and Willing “incredible creative freedom.”

“We don’t have a traditional broadcaster who is giving us input every single step of the way. Nick and I have been very much on our own, which has been hugely liberating and terrifying at the same time,” said he describes.

Olympus is executive produced by Lisa Richardson along with O’Connor for Reunion Pictures, with Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve executive producing for Great Point Media. Reunion Pictures is a Thunderbird company, and Thunderbird is handling Canadian sales of the series.