In Development
The Lovesongs of Nathan J Swirsky
Magic pharmacist + pre-teen rebel = trouble!
In 1951 Johannesburg, a flamboyant new English pharmacist with a dashing moustache and tales of exotic places inspires a shy boy to rebel against his racist mother. The dusty suburb is changed forever…
Swirsky was made for trouble,” says Martin’s disapproving mother. But to Martin and his friends, Swirsky’s innate sense of fairness and childlike capacity for play open up a new way of thinking about the world.
Based on the acclaimed comic novel by celebrated South African author Christopher Hope, each episode introduces a different story, as Martin proceeds from initial resistance to full-on defiance. Along the way, we meet a host of unique characters, like Nicodemus the gardener, who knows only how to give and Sally, the tomboy girl next door whom Martin loves.
We meet eccentric neighbours, Martin’s ex-soldier father and his bone-headed wartime buddy, Gus, the Indian topsoil delivery-man, Errol, and his young albino assistant, Reggie, who becomes Martin’s friend. And Swirsky himself, humiliated and betrayed by the glamorous, new English wife he adores… The tone is comedic and satirical, but in the shadows lurk racism, dark secrets and violence.
HEAT
Mini-Series/Feature
screenplay by Peter Goldsmid based on a novel by best-selling author Daphne Rooke.
Logline: When a decadent, risk-addicted married woman manipulates the romantic longings of two unsophisticated young sisters in ‘twenties rural Natal, she arouses passion and ruthlessness that lead to violence and murder.
Summary Synopsis:
A wealthy, decadent couple, fleeing scandal in England, buy an estate in Northern Natal in the ‘twenties, where they make a devastating impact on two sisters in a poor farming family struggling to survive.
The arrival of Madeleine and Julian Taunton changes everything in the lives of Caroline and Estelle Kramer. The Tauntons live dangerously, drink excessively, drive recklessly, fight passionately and make up with even more passion. Madeleine gallops her thorougbred stallion fearlessly through the tawny veld, a woman to whom danger is an aphrodisiac, risk a spur. She takes lovers, despite the fierce jealousy of her husband. She fascinates bookish Caroline, who becomes complicit in her deceit. Then she draws Estelle in, corrupting her for her own ends. The sisters experience forbidden passions and lose their innocence in ways they could never have imagined. They become bitter rivals, learn hard truths about the limits of sibling love and cross boundaries that lead to lies, heartrending loss – and murder.