When the Saints
Donna Davies, Ruby Tree Films Inc
Language: English
Based On: Literary Adaptation
Project Type: Feature Film (Scripted)
Genre: Crime Thriller
Stage of Development:
We have a script, pitch deck and budget Funded through Telefilm and Nova Scotia Screenwriters Development Fund and have just received telefilm Springboard
Estimated Length (minutes): 100 mins
Director: Sarah Hamblin
Director Bio:
Sarah Hamblin is a Nova Scotia born director best known for her Emmy Award winning work on The Daily Show (Comedy Central/Paramount+). Her most recent short, Best Mom Friends, featuring Michael Rapaport and Samantha Fontana, was an Official Selection of the Catalina Film Festival in Los Angeles. Her digital series, Good Mythical Morning: The Back Up Plan, was nominated for a Webby Award and has received over 60 million views across 10 episodes. She is an alumna of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs, and Stowe Story Labs (currently a Short Film Production Grant Quarterfinalist). Sarah is a Protégé in the 2026 DGA Diverse Directors Initiative, mentored by veteran director Randall Einhorn. Sarah is in post-production on UnComplete, a short about a young girl’s religious experience, featuring Lyla Randall.
Proposed or Confirmed Talent:
Bretten Hannam and Donna Davies Producers, Writer Sarah Mian
Total Budget: 1.4 million
Percent Confirmed: 60%
Currency: $ CAD
List names of confirmed partners:
Nova Scotia Film & Television Production Incentive Fund
Federal Tax Credit, Nova Scotia Screenwriter's Development Fund
Nova Scotia Content Creators Fund
What is this project seeking?
Financing, Distribution, Broadcaster, Co-production Partner
Logline:
When an estranged daughter returns home to her father’s deathbed, she finds her family in the crosshairs of a violent drug lord. She must decide whether to run and save herself, or stay and fight for her family—whether they deserve it or not.
Synopsis:
Tough-talking Tabby Saint returns to Jubilant, Nova Scotia to find her family homestead in ruins. At the local tavern, she learns that her mother and three siblings were run out of town. Meanwhile, her father—a notorious criminal—is in the hospital dying of cancer.
Tabby finds Ma in a rusty trailer caring for Tabby’s older brother, Bird, who’s suffered a beating that put him in a wheelchair, while struggling to look after Janis, the scrappy daughter of Tabby’s younger sister, Poppy. Ma thinks Poppy took off, but Tabby learns she’s being held for ransom at the local strip club by their father’s rival, Troy. Daddy has something that belongs to Troy and he won’t tell Tabby where it’s hidden until she reunites the Saints at his bedside.
Tabby attempts to rescue Poppy herself, but her hotheaded brother, Jackie, botches the mission, inflaming Troy’s vengeance. Now Tabby’s back in the shit-web. If she cuts and runs like last time, she’ll be leaving not only Ma and her siblings in peril, but little Janis, too.
In a town where even the cops treat their name as a curse word, the Saints will have to work as a team. Will Tabby, “the one that got away,” be able to unite the family to save itself?
The novel, When the Saints, made a grand entrance when it was published in 2015. Heralded by the Toronto Star as “a new Canadian classic,” the novel won both categories for which it was nominated at the Atlantic Book Awards (outstanding debut and overall best novel.) It was one of three finalists for the prestigious national Leacock medal and earned enthusiastic reader support internationally. In 2025, the novel was published in Spanish translation.
Contact Information: donnadavies@rubytreefilms.com
