Julia Louis-Dreyfus has just finished a five-year run on The New Adventures of Old Christine. (Canadian Press)

HBO has picked up the political series Veep, about a U.S. female vice-president, which may feature Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Veep is the brainchild of Armando Iannucci, the Scottish-born writer and director of the highly acclaimed political film farce In the Loop. Iannucci is set to co-write and direct the project, which got the go-ahead from HBO to produce a pilot.

In the Loop, about the British-American-run up to the war in the Middle East, earned an Oscar nod in 2009 for adapted screenplay.

Louis-Dreyfus, best known as Elaine on Seinfeld, is just off a five-season run in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.

The 49-year-old actress is in negotiations to take the role of Senator Selina Meyer.

Veep is a half-hour show about the travails of being in a female second-in-command at the White House and the unexpected situations that crop up.

Iannucci also created The Thick of It — a British series which spawned the film In the Loop — widely lauded as a satirical, though realistic, examination of the inner workings of the British government.

The Thick of It has been renewed for a fourth season by the BBC.

Veep, co-written by Iannucci and Simon Blackwell, promises to have all the hallmarks of The Thick of It, with plenty of improvisation and swearing.