It’s a brutal world full of people who will stab you in the back, kill to get ahead and won’t hesitate to break any rule if it means finding even an ounce more of success. That description fits two worlds in the new EPIX series “Get Shorty” about a professional killer who gets involved with the film industry. It premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday.

In the series, based on the Elmore Leonard book, Miles Daly (Chris O’Dowd) works for a casino owner in Pahrump, Nev. That alone sounds like the beginning of a great joke. Daly and his partner pay their bills by leaning on those who can’t repay their loans. That leaning ranges from a few broken bones to the person dead and locked in the trunk of an auto headed for the car crusher.

Bills are being paid but killing people doesn’t look all that good on a resume (coming in just above politician and TV critic). Daly wants to change careers as a way of getting back with his ex-wife and daughter. The opportunity arises (as in someone couldn’t pay their loan) when a screen writer no longer has a need for his latest script. He also has no need for air, water or food. Daly takes what the writer declared was his best work ever, wipes off some of the brain matter splattered on the cover and begins his quest to be a movie producer. Some would argue that’s not too many notches above professional killer but it is at least going in the right direction.

This brings Daly to Rick Moreweather (Ray Romano), a struggling movie maker who is willing to get involved with the professional hitman if it means he can finally be part of a box office hit. Movie maker falls between producer and hitman on the list of jobs that don’t always scream “hire men.”

The weird, awkward and occasionally dangerous collaboration between Daly and Moreweather plays out as the script goes from pad for a dead man’s blood to feature film production.

“Get Shorty” is a wickedly funny dark comedy energized by the work of O’Dowd. The Irish actor has a great gift for giving a character who should be completely unlikable redeeming qualities. In the case of Daly it starts with his life as a father. The scenes with his daughter show that even a man who kills for a living has a human side.

The dark humor really kicks in as Daly begins to wind his way through the movie world. He quickly learns the ways of that dark world. The transition gives Daly a new direction, but all he has to do is glance over his shoulder to know his past life is on his heels.

Equally good is Romano who brings the kind of comedy angst to the role that Woody Allen would use to make his performances so intriguing. Romano plays Morewather as a man who has had his artistic soul torn out of him so many times, he’s resigned himself to a life of near misses. Romano can get that across with just a simple line reading but he also accents it with the body language he uses. This is one of the best characters Romano has played in his TV career and he answers the call with the kind of tone that makes the character both pathetic and powerful.

The biggest surprise is Lidia Porto’s portrayal of Amara De Escalones, the godmother of the Nevada crime ring who also finds an interest in Hollywood. Her ability to make De Escalones as flirtatious as she is paranoid helps redefine the organized crime element. Normally, her character would be egging on a son to be a better boss but she’s as brutal and psychotic as any male mobster in TV or film. Porto’s credits range from Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” to the TV drama “Prison Break” and all of that experience goes into making this mob mom a breakout character.

This series is as fun as it is brutal and as charming as it is revolting. That makes it a killer of a new series.