Canadian kidsnet  YTV has greenlit TV movie Bruno & Boots: Go Jump In The Pool!, an Aircraft Pictures production based on the Macdonald Hall series of kids books from Canadian-American author Gordon Korman.

The first book in the series, This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall, was penned by Korman when he was in seventh grade and was published in the late 1970s. Go Jump In The Pool! takes its title from the second book in the series.

Ideally the producers would like to see Go Jump in the Pool! be the first in a series of TV movies based on the Macdonald Hall books, which includes seven titles in total, said Anthony Leo, co-president of Aircraft Pictures.

The stand-alone story format of an MOW was much better suited to the structure of the books than a TV series, Leo explained, adding that a series manufactures pressure to “create some sort of hook, an engine to keep the series going,” like having the characters solve some kind of mystery each episode. “We looked originally at making it a half-hour TV series, but we felt we were sacrificing some of the story everyone has loved growing up,” Leo said.

Production is currently underway on the TV movie, and is set to bow on YTV in 2016. Go Jump in the Pool! stars Jonny Gray (Max & Shred, Annedroids), Callan Potter, Peter Keleghan (18 to Life, Murdoch Mysteries) and Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Phineas and Ferb). The movie will be produced by Leo and Andrew Rosen of Aircraft Pictures. Adam Barken (Killjoys, Flashpoint) penned the script, and Vivieno Caldinelli is directing. Breakthrough Entertainment is handling international sales.

Last week, DHX Television’s Family Channel announced it had greenlit another Aircraft Pictures series, The Wonderful Wayneys. The live-action comedy is produced by Aircraft and Florida-based Dolphin Entertainment, and stars Molly Ringwald and Jason Priestley. Production on that series is also currently underway in Toronto.

From Playback