CBS buys new Canuck cop drama Flashpoint

With no end in site to the prolonged Hollywood screenwriters strike, one American television network has broadened its search for content and picked up a Canadian show for its fall 2008 season.

CTV announced Tuesday that U.S. broadcaster CBS has bought 13 episodes of the Canadian network's new police drama Flashpoint, originally known under the working title Sniper. 

The one-hour drama series, which was given a go-ahead for fall 2008 by CTV in December, is currently in pre-production. Production begins in Toronto in April.

CTV says the series will air on both American and Canadian network TV.

The story of an elite tactical police unit will star Enrico Colantoni of Veronica Mars fame, Hugh Dillon, the former punk rocker-turned-actor who starred in Durham County and David Paekau of CTV's Whistler.

It is being written and created by Canadian actors Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern.

"Today's announcement is a significant achievement for CTV's development team and Canada's independent production community," CTV's Susanne Boyce said in a statement.

CTV has also sold series such as Due South and DeGrassi:The Next Generation in the U.S.