HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Whitney Houston and her BrownHouse Prods. producing partner Debra Martin Chase have teamed with the makers of "Soul Food" to develop and produce a feature adaptation of Eric Jerome Dickey's novel "Friends and Lovers."

Writer April Claytor -- whose script credits include the adaptation of David Haynes' novel "Live at Five" for HBO-NYC and a feature update of the 1976 film "Sparkle" -- has been hired to pen the screenplay. Dickey's 1997 sophomore novel chronicles the loves, lives and losses of four Los Angelenos -- a nurse and a flight attendant who are romantically involved with two male friends who work for the same software company.

Dickey, a former standup comic, also has written "Sister, Sister" and his latest novel, "Milk in My Coffee," which will be published by Dutton in September.

Houston and Chase most recently exec-produced ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney" film "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella."

They also are producing with Will Smith's Overbrook Prods. the romantic comedy "Anything for You," slated to star Houston and Smith for Universal.

Reuters/Variety ^REUTERS@