Shaftesbury Films’ Life with Derek Scores Penguin Book Deal

TORONTO, February 11: Shaftesbury Films’ live-action kids’
comedy series Life with Derek has been
licensed to Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group,
for chapter novels.

The deal was brokered Joy Tashjian Marketing Group (JTMG),
and lays plans for a summer 2008 release of the first novel in North America.

Life with Derek is a
half-hour comedy series about a modern blended family, which has brought
together two teenagers used to being in charge and each are determined to keep
it that way. The series is created by Daphne Ballon and commissioned by The
Family Channel in Canada. The series currently airs in more than 100 countries and
has been translated into more than 12 languages.

“Penguin has a distinguished reputation for producing books
with strong characters and the kind of engaging stories that make us confident
they are an ideal book partner for Life with Derek,” said Shane Kinnear, the VP of marketing and sales
for Shaftesbury Films.

“We are very excited about our partnership with
Shaftesbury,” said Debra Dorfman, the president and publisher of Grosset &
Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan. “Life with Derek is a perfect television show to transition into books for middle-grade
readers.”

—By Ned Berke