The duo behind the DISCOP Market and DISBOOK, Patrick Zuchowicki and Francoise
Lazard have expanded their business scope with the launch of a film and TV project
development label, Ideas for Film.
At the DISCOP Johannesburg 2017, the company unveiled plans for 2 global TV mini-
series, The Day of the Covenant and Diamond Squad, both of which
are packaged to be quickly financed and swiftly put into production.
The Day of the Covenant is a 4 part series developed in partnership with
Emmy winning producer Dan Jawitz, one of the most prominent Johannesburg based
independent producers with dozens of feature films and TV shows to his credit.
Jawitz has this to say of the project; “The Day of the Covenant offers potential CoPro
partners a spectacular retro 80’s romp though a far flung cold war in Africa, with
excellent roles for French and German actors, high production values, cheap crews,
and the opportunity to shoot in the most spectacular city in the Southern
Hemisphere.’
The series is based on a little known true story of the sabatoge of the Koeberg
Nuclear Power station, just outside Cape Town by a known operative who, with very
little experience of espionage or explosives, under the nose of one of the most
oppressive regimes known to mankind, decides to blow up the facility before it goes
live.
At DISCOP 2017, Ideas for Films also announced that well-known and respected
director Oliver Schmitz, best known for Shepherds and Butchers, and Live
Above All, will be directing the series.
For Diamond Squad, Ideas for Film and Jawitz have partnered with Michael
Esser, a Los Angeles based scriptwriter and producer who has won numerous US
screen writing competitions while developing and writing TV series and feature films
with US and German companies.
The team pitched the projects at DISCOP Johannesburg in the context of Germany as
DISCOP Johannesburg’s guest country, as both projects can benefit from the co-
production agreements between Germany and South Africa. Various marks of interest
have already been expressed by major German production and distribution companies
who are in attendance.
