[jitterbug13]

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 11) - Spike Lee will follow his documentary on Hurricane Katrina with a scripted drama for NBC set in New Orleans.

Titled "NoLa," after the local slang for the Big Easy, the project is a multicultural ensemble exploring the post-Katrina lives of New Orleans residents from different social and economic backgrounds.

"It's a show about the city trying to rebuild itself and the people who are trying to put their lives together," said Lee, who will travel to New Orleans this week with screenwriter Sid Quashie to meet with residents.

Lee began thinking about a TV series set in post-Katrina New Orleans while he was filming his HBO documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts." Like the documentary, "NoLa" will be infused with humor. Lee is set to executive produce and direct the project if NBC decides to turn the script into a pilot.

"It's our goal to make great cinema for television," Lee said of his approach to the show.

Stylistically, he will pay homage to the great tradition of Italian neorealism, a 1942-52 movement in Italian cinema that involved such acclaimed filmmakers as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini and spawned such films as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" and "Miracle in Milan."

Set among the poor and working class and filmed on location, Italian neorealist films contend mostly with the difficult economic and moral conditions of postwar Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: defeat, poverty and desperation.

Lee is taking similar approach to the stories of Katrina survivors who are picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.

"NoLa" would be filmed on location in New Orleans.

"We don't have to build sets," Lee said wryly. "Things there still look like the city's been bombed out."

Taking another page from the book of Italian neorealism, Lee plans to add to the authentic feel of the show by having some of the most colorful people featured in the documentary -- like Phyllis Montana LeBlanc -- written into the script as supporting characters and appear as fictional versions of themselves.

What does everyone, especially those who live in the NO area, think about this? Good idea or bad?