Future Shack to Adapt Zelenskyy Press Secretary’s Memoir

Future Shack Entertainment has acquired the adaptation rights for The Fight of Our Lives, Iuliia Mendel’s account of her time as press secretary for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mendel’s memoir provides an inside look at the key events surrounding the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including attending meetings between Zelenskyy and other European leaders; visiting the front lines in Donbas; and the infamous phone calls between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy that led to Trump’s first impeachment.

The Fight of Our Lives was published on September 13 by Simon & Schuster imprint Atria/One Signal. Future Shack Entertainment CEO Jeff Wachtel, former president of USA Network and Universal Content Productions, is producing the adaptation with Jon Cotton, a Future Shack in-house producer, who found the property.

“We are very fortunate to be working with Iuliia Mendel, one of the bravest and most insightful writers working today, a woman who inspires us all by having an impact on the world at a very young age,” Wachtel said. “Her first-person account of life in Ukraine is heart-wrenching, uplifting and provocative. This is exactly the type of story that Future Shack is dedicated to making.”

Julia Cheiffetz, the publisher of One Signal, added, “Iuliia Mendel’s personal story is both astonishing and inspiring, and we are proud to give her the platform to share it.”