Pretty Little Liars, a drama based on Alloy Entertainment's series of young-adult novels by Sara Shepard, is nearing a deal with ABC Family.

The network is close to giving a pilot order to the project, and Privileged star Lucy Hale is finalizing a deal to star in the show.

Adapted for TV by Marlene King, Liars is set three years after the disappearance of the manipulative and vindictive Queen Bee Alison. It revolves around her four 16-year-old girlfriends, Aria (Hale), Emily, Spencer and Hanna, who have lost touch with one another until each of them begins to receive mysterious messages suggesting that Alison is watching them and knows every secret they're desperate to keep. The messages don't stop even after Alison's body is discovered.

Alloy and Warners have been trying to turn Liars into a TV series for several years. In 2005, it was set up at the WB Network with a different writer.

Hale, who recently appeared in the Lifetime original movie Sorority Wars, also appeared in another Alloy screen adaptation, the 2008 feature The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.