Joseph Boyden drama among new Movie Network projects

Joseph Boyden holds the Giller Prize after winning it in Toronto on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO -- Dramas from acclaimed author Joseph Boyden and Oscar-nominated filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski are among 14 new projects being developed by The Movie Network.

The premium Canadian cable channel says Toronto-raised Boyden, who won the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize for "Through Black Spruce," wrote "Thunderhouse Falls."

It's about a wayward daughter who "returns to her family and is haunted by past and present dangers."

Meanwhile, Montreal's Lavis and Szczerbowski -- 2008 Oscar nominees for the stop motion-animated short film "Madame Tutli-Putli" -- co-wrote "The Siege."

Andrew Wreggitt also wrote the fantasy/genre series, which is set in New France in the early 1600s and features warriors, Jesuit assassins and "monstrous Wendigos."

Other projects announced Tuesday include "Prons," a comedy written by "Clerks" filmmaker Kevin Smith as well as Aaron Martin of "Saving Hope" and "Being Erica."

It's being co-developed in partnership with Movie Central and follows a famous porn star who returns to his childhood home in Brantford, Ont.

"The Trotsky" filmmaker Jacob Tierney and "19-2" star Jared Keeso wrote the hockey comedy "Letterkenny," based on the web series "Letterkenny Problems."

"Brothers & Sisters" scribe Stephen Tolkin penned the drama "Uncommon Youth," based on the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Rome.

"Divorce Party," from "Being Erica" writers Jessie Gabe and Linsey Stewart, is a half-hour comedy "about a group of young, divorced women living the very definition of the term 'hot mess."'

And "Rookie Blue" and "Saving Hope" scribe Sherry White penned "Feral," a drama about a slightly unhinged, hard-working child protection worker. It's also being co-developed in partnership with Movie Central.