Vitality Media Productions has optioned the film and TV rights to Trevor Cole’s true-crime book The Whisky King.

Toronto-based Vitality, led by president Jeff Kopas, is adapting the novel as a three-season TV series (13 episodes a season). The Whisky King is based on Canada’s infamous bootlegging duo Rocco and Bessie Perri and the undercover mountie attempting to stop them.

The deal was arranged by producer/lawyer Michael A. Levine on behalf of Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists. In Canada, The Whisky King was published by Harper Collins in April of this year. Author Cole has written the spec script, which is currently being pitched to broadcasters.

The option deal comes as Vitality transitions away from film and into scripted television. “The business of film has not been a working business model for quite a few years now, so it’s really difficult to support a business under the model that I began Vitality,” Kopas told Playback Daily, adding that his prodco has a couple of scripted TV projects in late-stage development with U.S. networks.

And while TV is now Vitality’s primary focus, Kopas said the prodco will still continue to develop and produce films in the future. The next of these is the feature film Blood Honey, coproduced with Lumanity Productions and Manitouwabi Films. The project stars Shenae Grimes-Beech, Gil Bellows and Don Mckellar and is set for release in Canada this September through Raven Banner. California-based TriCoast Studios is distributing the film in the U.S. as well as handling international sales.

Vitality’s previous credits include the feature film An Insignificant Harvey, written and directed by Kopas. The feature was repped internationally by sales agent Shoreline Entertainment and was released in Canada through Kinosmith and in the U.S. via Film Movement.