Let Me Save the World
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Drama, Comedy
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, my home for months became a shelter. While all the characters are fictional, my own experience gave me the idea to make a film about five Ukrainians who were displaced, had to share one roof in a foreign country, and find a motivation to move forward.
Let Me Save the World
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Drama, Comedy
1 Campaigns | Spain
Green Light
This campaign raised $12,340 for development. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
76 supporters | followers
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After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, my home for months became a shelter. While all the characters are fictional, my own experience gave me the idea to make a film about five Ukrainians who were displaced, had to share one roof in a foreign country, and find a motivation to move forward.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Feature | Dramedy
THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU meets MEET THE PARENTS.
It's a dramedy about a working professional, a good friend, a loving wife, and a mother who tries to overachieve to keep up with her image of a flawless human being. Ironically, she finds the opposite – her artistic nature and inability to save the whole world.
It's a story about people whose lives were ruined by war. It’s about learning to live again, finding new senses, coping with pain, and seeing the light through these dark times.
Let Me Save the World is a unique and very timely project as:
1) the war is sadly still going
2) there hasn’t yet been a dramedy about the current situation in Ukraine
3) Ukrainians desperately need their voices to be heard
4) the mixture of drama and humor, description of everyday family issues, struggle for personal growth make this movie very relatable and easy to watch; exactly this will help to remind the world that the ruthless Russian war is still going on, and Ukraine needs support.
Let Me Save the World shows what it is to try to rebuild your whole life, to start from the very beginning. This project gives people hope, inspiration, the will to live, and a firm belief that democracy will prevail.
Oksana lives on the Mediterranean in a small town near Barcelona. She’s a successful lawyer who’s good at everything except for driving. Being almost 40, she keeps failing her exams. Most of all she loves painting, but never has time to really enjoy it.
Her peaceful family life is interrupted by horrible news: Russians invaded her homeland Ukraine. Oksana, her husband Jack, and daughter Sarah decide to welcome a group of refugees.
Just think about sharing a living space with your demanding mom, Olga, your eccentric transgender best friend from high school, Lesia, a constantly unsatisfied wine lover, Nastia with her two uncontrollable kids, Eva and Slavik, and a small but surprisingly evil chihuahua, Mr Fluffy, who hates your dog, your husband, your kid and of course personally you.
Visual Inspiration - This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
It’s hard to keep cool, right? So it is for Oksana. Especially when tension in the house grows, her guests start fighting, everything gets out of control, and as a result an important dinner she and Jack organized for their business partners gets ruined. Their fancy evening turns into a complete disaster with important investors falling into the pool, dogs chasing them and each other, kids screaming and fighting, house guests trying to save the situation, but only making it worse.
Visual Inspiration - Old School (2003)
All of this is happening with the war raging in Ukraine, where people are murdered every hour, where on the frontline Oksana’s mentor and former art teacher, Orest, defends their country. The house events underline the tragic stories of the refugees and the losses they're trying to process.
© Libkos/AP
While Oksana is worried sick about Orest, Ukraine and her guests, Jack finds it hard to cope with all the drama, and, trying to protect their family and their daughter, packs suitcases, takes Sarah and goes to London to visit his folks for a few weeks. He also hopes to meet potential buyers of their business. But there’s worse news that hits Oksana even more. Orest gets killed in a battle against the Russians.
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© Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/Reuters
Oksana’s world is shattered. Now she has to get herself together piece by piece, find a way to help her guests to get on with their lives, save their family business, and finally start doing what she truly wants and what she promised to Orest – to paint.
This is a time of great stress, but also a chance for priceless insights and global transformations.
Mariia Rudenko received three prestigious accolades for her screenplay Let Me Save the World:
Semifinalist, ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship 2024
Second Rounder, Comedy Feature category, Austin Film Festival 2024
Quarterfinalist, Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition 2024
Even though the screenplay is partially based on Mariia's own experience, all the characters are fictional.
Presently we have a wonderful screenplay, and a team of professionals mentioned in the wish list and below in a pie chart, and once we raise the necessary funds, we’re ready to go and develop the project.
Our goal right now is to be fully prepared to start production once the financing is confirmed.
This includes:
- Film budget
- Ideas for cast and staff
- Ideas for locations
- Professional pitch deck
- Accurate worldwide domestic and international sales estimates/valuations/ projections
- Legal advice, contract negotiations, LLC openings
Development must take around a year.
We’re optimistically expecting to see the first movie screening in 2-2,5 years, given that investors are found quickly.
News about the project will appear on Mariia's Instagram Page
We'll be grateful for shares, likes and comments!
Our crowdfunding goal to develop the project is $15.000. Here's how it'll be spent:
.jpeg)
Promo Video is created by Anna Gerasymova (instagram: @so_glad_animation)
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Budget and Schedule
Costs $3,500
Budget created by experienced line producers with extensive experience in breaking down a script for budgeting and scheduling purposes.
Worldwide Sales Representative
Costs $3,500
Accurate worldwide domestic and international sales estimates/valuations/ projections are the cornerstone of acquiring funding.
Casting Director Consultant
Costs $3,500
Professional casting guidance to help navigate the casting and the pre-sale landscape.
Consultant Producer
Costs $2,500
To help navigate the production process before the film begins shooting, which ensures safe physical and legal delivery to distributors.
Graphic Artist Presentation Deck
Costs $2,000
First Impressions are Everything! Having a professional presentation deck is critical.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Mariia Rudenko
Writer/Producer
Mariia Rudenko is a prolific Ukrainian writer and producer.
Her writing is funny and dramatic. Her characters are bright and complex. The stories she tells are relatable and sharp.
Mariia's writing path started when she was 14, working as an editor of her school newspaper. She has never stopped since.
She has 8 years of experience in journalism, writing about nearly everything, starting with articles for tabloids, and finishing with industrial architecture analysis, coverage of political, social, and cultural events.
Feeling that journalism doesn't let her open her creative personality to its fullest, Mariia decided to apply herself to writing dialogues for soap operas for Ukrainian TV. It was the moment of truth: she is a screenwriter and there is no life without it.
Being fascinated with the significance of storytelling, Mariia successfully finished two 15-week screenplay workshops at NYFA, and two 10-week TV writing courses at UCLA Extension.
Now her portfolio includes: comedy feature, dramedy feature, thriller feature, sitcom TV pilot, spec episode for an existing show.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Feature | Dramedy
THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU meets MEET THE PARENTS.
It's a dramedy about a working professional, a good friend, a loving wife, and a mother who tries to overachieve to keep up with her image of a flawless human being. Ironically, she finds the opposite – her artistic nature and inability to save the whole world.
It's a story about people whose lives were ruined by war. It’s about learning to live again, finding new senses, coping with pain, and seeing the light through these dark times.
Let Me Save the World is a unique and very timely project as:
1) the war is sadly still going
2) there hasn’t yet been a dramedy about the current situation in Ukraine
3) Ukrainians desperately need their voices to be heard
4) the mixture of drama and humor, description of everyday family issues, struggle for personal growth make this movie very relatable and easy to watch; exactly this will help to remind the world that the ruthless Russian war is still going on, and Ukraine needs support.
Let Me Save the World shows what it is to try to rebuild your whole life, to start from the very beginning. This project gives people hope, inspiration, the will to live, and a firm belief that democracy will prevail.
Oksana lives on the Mediterranean in a small town near Barcelona. She’s a successful lawyer who’s good at everything except for driving. Being almost 40, she keeps failing her exams. Most of all she loves painting, but never has time to really enjoy it.
Her peaceful family life is interrupted by horrible news: Russians invaded her homeland Ukraine. Oksana, her husband Jack, and daughter Sarah decide to welcome a group of refugees.
Just think about sharing a living space with your demanding mom, Olga, your eccentric transgender best friend from high school, Lesia, a constantly unsatisfied wine lover, Nastia with her two uncontrollable kids, Eva and Slavik, and a small but surprisingly evil chihuahua, Mr Fluffy, who hates your dog, your husband, your kid and of course personally you.
Visual Inspiration - This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
It’s hard to keep cool, right? So it is for Oksana. Especially when tension in the house grows, her guests start fighting, everything gets out of control, and as a result an important dinner she and Jack organized for their business partners gets ruined. Their fancy evening turns into a complete disaster with important investors falling into the pool, dogs chasing them and each other, kids screaming and fighting, house guests trying to save the situation, but only making it worse.
Visual Inspiration - Old School (2003)
All of this is happening with the war raging in Ukraine, where people are murdered every hour, where on the frontline Oksana’s mentor and former art teacher, Orest, defends their country. The house events underline the tragic stories of the refugees and the losses they're trying to process.
© Libkos/AP
While Oksana is worried sick about Orest, Ukraine and her guests, Jack finds it hard to cope with all the drama, and, trying to protect their family and their daughter, packs suitcases, takes Sarah and goes to London to visit his folks for a few weeks. He also hopes to meet potential buyers of their business. But there’s worse news that hits Oksana even more. Orest gets killed in a battle against the Russians.
© Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/Reuters
Oksana’s world is shattered. Now she has to get herself together piece by piece, find a way to help her guests to get on with their lives, save their family business, and finally start doing what she truly wants and what she promised to Orest – to paint.
This is a time of great stress, but also a chance for priceless insights and global transformations.
Mariia Rudenko received three prestigious accolades for her screenplay Let Me Save the World:
Semifinalist, ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship 2024
Second Rounder, Comedy Feature category, Austin Film Festival 2024
Quarterfinalist, Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition 2024
Even though the screenplay is partially based on Mariia's own experience, all the characters are fictional.
Presently we have a wonderful screenplay, and a team of professionals mentioned in the wish list and below in a pie chart, and once we raise the necessary funds, we’re ready to go and develop the project.
Our goal right now is to be fully prepared to start production once the financing is confirmed.
This includes:
- Film budget
- Ideas for cast and staff
- Ideas for locations
- Professional pitch deck
- Accurate worldwide domestic and international sales estimates/valuations/ projections
- Legal advice, contract negotiations, LLC openings
Development must take around a year.
We’re optimistically expecting to see the first movie screening in 2-2,5 years, given that investors are found quickly.
News about the project will appear on Mariia's Instagram Page
We'll be grateful for shares, likes and comments!
Our crowdfunding goal to develop the project is $15.000. Here's how it'll be spent:
Promo Video is created by Anna Gerasymova (instagram: @so_glad_animation)
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Budget and Schedule
Costs $3,500
Budget created by experienced line producers with extensive experience in breaking down a script for budgeting and scheduling purposes.
Worldwide Sales Representative
Costs $3,500
Accurate worldwide domestic and international sales estimates/valuations/ projections are the cornerstone of acquiring funding.
Casting Director Consultant
Costs $3,500
Professional casting guidance to help navigate the casting and the pre-sale landscape.
Consultant Producer
Costs $2,500
To help navigate the production process before the film begins shooting, which ensures safe physical and legal delivery to distributors.
Graphic Artist Presentation Deck
Costs $2,000
First Impressions are Everything! Having a professional presentation deck is critical.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Mariia Rudenko
Writer/Producer
Mariia Rudenko is a prolific Ukrainian writer and producer.
Her writing is funny and dramatic. Her characters are bright and complex. The stories she tells are relatable and sharp.
Mariia's writing path started when she was 14, working as an editor of her school newspaper. She has never stopped since.
She has 8 years of experience in journalism, writing about nearly everything, starting with articles for tabloids, and finishing with industrial architecture analysis, coverage of political, social, and cultural events.
Feeling that journalism doesn't let her open her creative personality to its fullest, Mariia decided to apply herself to writing dialogues for soap operas for Ukrainian TV. It was the moment of truth: she is a screenwriter and there is no life without it.
Being fascinated with the significance of storytelling, Mariia successfully finished two 15-week screenplay workshops at NYFA, and two 10-week TV writing courses at UCLA Extension.
Now her portfolio includes: comedy feature, dramedy feature, thriller feature, sitcom TV pilot, spec episode for an existing show.