By Andrew Hindes and Benedict Carver

The project is described as a love story between a female slave and an illegitimately born white man named David Sadwar, who was classified as a slave in North Carolina. It is being written by Paris Qualles, scribe of ``The Tuskegee Airmen.'' There is no director attached.

Bender, Houston and Debra Martin Chase, Houston's partner at her Disney-based Brownhouse Prods., will produce the picture, which is known as the ``The Untitled David Sadwar project.''

Chase said Houston is not eyeing the project as an acting assignment, although she won't make a final decision until Qualles hands in his script.

Bender, a partner in A Band Apart with director Quentin Tarantino, bought the project as a pitch from Qualles, using his discretionary fund from Disney-owned Miramax Films, where A Band Apart has a first-look deal. The producers paid an initial low-six fi gure sum, with the figure rising to the mid-six area as options are exercised and the project gets produced.

According to Chase, Qualles came across the Sadwar material while researching another project. The scribe is also at work on a Columbia-backed movie about Hannibal, the Carthaginian general.