Heat Vision is reporting that TV director Seith Mann (The Wire) is going to write and direct Miss: Better Living Through Crime. This is an adaptation of a graphic noir novel and it will also be his feature debut.

Spike Lee is executive producing.

The graphic novel is set in 1920s New York. This crime tale follows "Nola, a white femme fatale who grew up an impoverished orphan, and stylin' Slim, a smooth-talking Harlem pimp with gambling troubles. The unlikely interracial pair partner as murderers-for-hire."

"It's really held together by their love story, which is what allows them to keep going," states Vigilante Entertainment's Hicham Benkirane. "What is interesting is that it's a period of racism, and they use that to their advantage. It's a weapon in their arsenal."

Humanoids Publishing put out the book in 2002. Spike Lee met Mann when Mann was at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. It was Lee who suggested that Benkirane bring the project to Mann.

"Watching Seith's work, you see he really knows how to develop characters and show their humanity," Benkirane offered. "In addition to that, he really gets that universe, that particular time in American history and the noir world."