Edmonton – Helping Canada win the battle of the bulge one TV-hour at a time, Edmonton’s Anaid Productions is underway on a new 13 x 60 documentary series called X-Weighted for Life Network.

Similar to Anaid’s Taking it Off, the series follows 13 plus-sized Canadians as they struggle to lose weight over a six-month period. According to executive producer Margaret Mardirossian, X-Weighted will feature one individual in each ep, as opposed to following the same group throughout the series. The participants will meet with counselors and coaches with expertise in fitness, nutrition and confidence, and face the serious personal issues that stem from their weight problems. Mardirossian insists X-Weighted is not a contrived reality program.

‘We don’t know how it’s going to end, we just follow the journey,’ she says. ‘It means a lot of work for our production crews, teams and directors. We rely on people who have both documentary and drama experience.’

The budget for the series, says Mardirossian, is about $3 million, with funding from Life, the Alberta Film Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada and tax credits.

Sophie Mardirossian is the creative director, Erin Berube is the production supervisor, and Helen Metella is executive story director.