It’s been almost a year since the last episode of Hannah Montana aired and with the popular tween show living in syndication, Corus Entertainment saw an opportunity to capitalize on the trend with Life With Boys from the same co-creator.

“Jocelyn Hamilton [Corus VP of original programming of kids, comedy, drama] wanted to develop more live-action content,” supervising producer Tracey Dodokin tells Playback Daily. “We were conscious of creating a show for a North American audience because we wanted it to be accessible.”

And for good reason. Dodokin says that Corus has been fielding international interest in the series, including presales in the UK, and at the time of the interview, was in discussions with US partners. Life With Boys, which is in production at the CBC Studios in Toronto until June 20, revolves around 13-year-old Tess Foster’s life with her father and three brothers.

“We want to nurture sitcoms and multi-cam (shows) in Canada,” says Dodokin. “Sitcoms don’t happen in the same volume as they do in the US and there are strong scripts here.”

With the exception of one American actor (Madison Pettis), the rest of the cast is Canadian, including protagonist Tess (Torri Webster, pictured) and the “boys” of the show title: Sandy Jobin-Bevans as the father Jack, with brothers played by Nathan McLeod, Michael Murphy and Jake Goodman.

Dodokin says that YTV will heavily promote the series on-air as it approaches its fall air date, and will also unveil its online components closer to the launch.

Hannah co-creator Michael Poryes noted that Nelvana and YTV were interested in developing a series beyond a pilot, and he’d had this series in mind.

“I wanted to do something without “the big hook” — with Hannah, it was that she’s a pop star,” Poryes tells Playback Daily. “I was ready for something that relies on character and smart writing.”

Along with executive producer/writer Steven Peterman and head writer Doug Lieblein, the trio decided to take what they learned from their years of working on Hannah together, and focus on a series that focuses more on character and relationships.

“Life With Boys is like a very small car on a very long car ride,” says Peterman, noting that Poryes has honed a keen sense of kids’ silliness from working on series like That’s So Raven.

Whether or not any U.S. broadcasters will pick up the show remains to be seen, but Poryes remains confident. “We believe they’ll all be trying to get it.”

Webster is repped by Noble Caplan Abrams, as well as Nathan McLeod. Sandy Jobin-Bevans is repped by Butler Ruston Bell, and both Michael Murphy and Jake Goodman by AMI. Madison Pettis is repped by WME Entertainment.