TV exec Michael Poryes wants Miley Cyrus to know that on the set of Hannah Montana she is allowed to make mistakes.

BANFF -- Michael Poryes knows what a struggle it is for Miley Cyrus to have the best of both worlds.

As a teenager, the 15-year-old daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus is prone to the same growing pains as any of her peers.

But as a pop-culture phenom, she must also cope with paparazzi, critics and a white-hot media glare that dissects her every move -- as when news of a topless Vanity Fair photo spread (she was, in fact, covered with a sheet) sparked headline-making controversy.

For Cyrus, it's a very dark but real mirror image of the fantastical role that made her famous: Hannah Montana, a teen who leads a double life as a rock star by night, and normal school girl by day.

"To say the tabloids are paying attention to her is a very kind way of saying it," says Poryes, co-creator and executive producer of Disney Channel's hugely popular Hannah Montana series. "It becomes like Miley Cyrus bites her finger nails is news at 11. They don't give her a break for being able to go through the aches and pains of being an adolescent. Everyone has the right to go through being an adolescent. They blow everything out of proportion and a little misstep becomes the biggest tragedy that ever struck mankind. The challenge of that is to do our best to make Miley feel -- at least in this circle of people -- that it's fine to make mistakes, (that) you're not going to be judged or scrutinized on set."

Poryes, a comedian-turned-sitcom writer, is attending the Banff World Television Festival this week. The annual event, located in this Rocky Mountain ski town, unites producers, writers and networks from around the globe to talk shop, shake hands and begin the process of creating new shows. This year will host more than 1,400 delegates from at least 24 countries.

Last year more than $680 million in deals were signed in Banff.

Poryes got his start working on some of the most popular shows of the '80s (Who's the Boss?, Saved By the Bell, The Facts of Life), before creating two of the Disney Channel's biggest hits: Montana and That's So Raven.

"People always ask me how to create a successful show, what's 'the new,' the next thing -- well, I say the new is just to write good characters, has a hook -- the rock-star part -- but that's not the reason it's successful, the reason it's successful is because it's genuine and truthful. The characters are relatable," says Poryes.

"It's not just a show, it means a lot to the audience. One of the nicest comments I get is from parents who say, 'Finally a show I can sit down and watch with my children.' "

One prerequisite for his job? Staying in touch with his inner youngster.

"You have talent that hasn't gotten into their own thing yet, they're sponges for knowledge and they come across really genuine. One of the secrets is not to over-direct them and over-constrain them."

FOX BIG ON LITTLE MOSQUE

The producers of the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie have announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Studios which aims to get an Americanized version of the show on the Fox network.

"It's taken a long time to get here, some due to the writers' strike and some due to just making sure that we had the right collaborator," Mary Darling, head of Westwind Pictures, said after announcing the Little Mosque deal yesterday in Banff.

The deal also involves another Westwind Pictures show currently in development; Fox will help Westwind develop the show and then determine if it wants to buy it.

The CBC show, about a community of devout Muslims living in a small prairie town, won't be changed drastically for an American audience, Darling added.

"It'll be 'Little Mosque in Minnesota,' if I have my way," the Minnesota-born Darling said with a laugh.

-- With files from Canadian Press