Louise Clark flew the CTV coop on Aug. 15, leaving the conventional network to find a new development head.

The Vancouver-based exec - who has had a hand in virtually all CTV programming, including TV movies and documentaries - would not be drawn on her future plans, except to say she plans a long and "unstructured" European vacation.

Her departure as VP of program development, responsible for CTV's original series development, comes after 11 whirlwind years with the network.

"It's been an amazing journey, as Susanne [Boyce] and Ivan [Fecan] took the company through varied morphings, and growth and expansion, and all of that has been fully exploited," says Clark.

"It created an extraordinary opportunity to work in original Canadian television," she adds.

Clark's 15 years of prior indie production experience in Toronto and Vancouver, most notably with Rhombus Media, Atlantis Productions, Cadence Entertainment and Pacific Motion Pictures, makes her a valuable property for both broadcasters and indie producers.

"It's very important for me to not make decisions right now. I want to take advantage of some time to be open to all the opportunities out there," Clark insists.

She also pours water on speculation that she will stick-handle a comedy pilot for CTV's development slate for 2008/09 that was created by and stars Brent Butt (Corner Gas) or another project from Corner Gas writers/producers Mark Farrell and Kevin White.

Clark was in on the creation of Corner Gas with former CTV comedy exec Brent Haynes, who most recently joined MTV as SVP of series development, based in New York City.

Her other recent peaks: Flashpoint and The Listener, original CTV dramas that were picked up by drama-hungry CBS and NBC, respectively, during the recent Hollywood shutdown.

"I just kind of felt in the last year, with Corner Gas ending, and Robson Arms ending, and two new series coming up with U.S. network sales - Flashpoint and The Listener - that it's time," Clark says.

Her departure is the latest in a series of changes in CTV's development office.

Besides Haynes leaving for MTV, veteran programmers Bill Mustos and Tecca Crosby left CTV last year, Mustos to coproduce Flashpoint and Crosby landing at indie TV producer Temple Street Productions as head of drama.