Popular Canuck lifestyle series including Bulging Brides and The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp will have life in the international marketplace for the first time following a distribution deal between Vancouver’s The Eyes Television Production and Frantic Films.

The series, both airing on Slice, are part of The Eyes’ factual entertainment library which this week was acquired for international sales by the Winnipeg company — adding over 150 hours to the Frantic library. Both series have sold well in the U.S., where they air on specialty channel Fine Living, but have not had exposure outside North America.

‘That’s why [Frantic] was so interested in the library, because there was a lot of very recent content that had not been exploited,’ The Eyes president Blair Reekie tells Playback Daily. Eyes is a division of Peace Arch Entertainment Group, which handles U.S. and Canadian sales exclusively.

The deal also includes science programming and documentary specials such as Industrious and Fantasy Lands. The Eyes has had some success with international sales of older factual programs such Campus Vets in Europe and Asia through smaller boutique distributors.

‘There are only a few distributors that have a broad enough library and a broad enough client base to handle a wide range of programs,’ Reekie notes, adding that The Eyes has other lifestyle pilots in the pipeline that are not contractually part of the deal with Frantic.

‘Obviously if there’s some real momentum with Frantic selling our library in foreign, it would be ideal to keep working [with them],’ he adds.

The deal increases Frantic’s library to roughly 500 hours of programming as it continues to bolster its live action division, strengthened by the acquisition of factual and lifestyle producer Red Apple Entertainment last year.