Story platform Wattpad is deepening its presence in the Asian market through a development deal with South Korean talent agency Huayi Brothers Korea.

Under the pact, Wattpad will work exclusively with Huayi Brothers in Korea, with the companies collaborating to develop and coproduce Wattpad stories for TV and film in the Korean market. In addition to managing and representing actors, screen writers and directors, Huayi Brothers is also a producer of film and TV content.

Wattpad says it now has more than 70 million users globally and a total of more than 565 million stories.

The new partnership will be overseen by Wattpad Studios’ head of Asian operations Dexter Ong (pictured). The company hired Ong last April with a view to expanding its presence in Asian markets, with a particular focus on China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Based in Hong Kong, Ong’s role includes collaborating with local producers, writers and studios to develop and produce local adaptations of Wattpad stories.

The deal follows the recent announcement that CBC is partnering with Wattpad. Although more details about the agreement are still to come, a CBC spokesperson said the partnership will see Wattpad select some of its leading Canadian writers to develop content ideas for the pubcaster’s digital platform Gem. In addition, Hulu last week greenlit a second of season of Light as a Feather, based on a Wattpad story. The project is produced by AwesomenessTV and Kelsey Grammar’s  prodco Grammnet.