Singapore's Raintree Pictures is teaming up with Toronto-based production company Spaceworks Entertainment to co-produce two English-language films.

The first to go into production will be romantic comedy Leap Of Love, adapted from the novel by Singapore author Catherine Lim. Seah Wee Thye, who previously directed two of Singapore's top-rating TV sitcoms - Under One Roof and Phua Chu Kang, is attached to direct the US$2m film.

The project participated in last year's Pusan Promotion Plan where it won the Busan Film Commission award of US$10,000. Production is expected to start in Singapore this October.

"Singapore is a cosmopolitan, English-speaking city and makes an ideal setting for an Asian romantic comedy with Western appeal," said Raintree CEO Daniel Yun.

Raintree and Spaceworks will also co-produce Under Arrest, a Canada-set drama about a man who dies mysteriously in prison. Director and cast have yet to be confirmed.

Raintree, which is owned by Singapore's MediaCorp, plans to increase output to five or six movies a year via a mixture of co-productions and locally produced films. It recently teamed with Warner Bros on the studio's first foray into Chinese-language production, Turn Left, Turn Right, and will co-finance Zhang Yang's upcoming Sunflower with China's Asian Union Films.

Its most recent domestic production, Jack Neo's Home Run, is scheduled for release in Singapore on August 7.

Spaceworks, formerly called Danforth Studios, was founded ten years ago by producers Daniel D'Or and Philip Jackson. Its credits include comedy Wish You Were Dead, starring Mary Steenburgen and Christopher Lloyd, and sci-fi TV series Starhunter.