Toronto prodcos Aircraft Pictures and WexWorks Media have partnered on a TV adaptation of the middle school book series The Popularity Papers from American author Amy Ignatow.

The 26 x 30-minute children’s series has been greenlit to broadcast on Corus Entertainment-owned channel YTV in Canada, produced with financing from the Canada Media Fund.

BBC Studios is attached to co-finance the series and handle international distribution. Production is scheduled to take place in Toronto and Hamilton this spring.

The adaptation is co-created by Vivian Lin (Holly Hobbie, Killjoys; pictured left) and Amanda Brooke Perrin (The Croods: Family Tree, Kim’s Convenience), with Lin serving as showrunner and executive producer. The Popularity Papers follows two best friends who try to develop a scientific method for determining middle school popularity, conducting social experiments on their middle school classmates.

Additional executive producers on The Popularity Papers are WexWorks Media CEO Matthew Wexler, Aircraft Pictures’ Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen and BBC Studios’ Amelia Johnson.

“From the moment I read Amy Ignatow’s series of books I was determined to share the timeless and hilarious world she had created with audiences everywhere,” said Wexler in a statement. “I’m thrilled to be working with Aircraft Pictures again to bring these stories to life.”

The greenlight follows the announcement earlier this month that private broadcaster Corus Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in Aircraft Pictures to help the prodco build up its development and production capacity.

Image of book cover courtesy of Amulet Books, image of Lin by Andrew Gordon Macpherson