Producers Steven Siebert ("Endless Bummer") and Christian Taylor ("Angela and Diabola") have optioned the best-selling novel "Hick," by first-time author Andrea Portes says The Hollywood Reporter.

The coming-of-age story centers on 13-year-old Luli McMullen, who runs away from her ramshackle Nebraska home after being abandoned by her deadbeat parents and heads to Las Vegas.

Along the way, she learns the truth about American rootlessness and discovers both the power and peril of her own sexual curiosity.

The producers hope to mold the project with a lead character in the vein of "Paper Moon" and "Taxi Driver." Portes is in talks to adapt the screenplay.