The Lincoln Project
Synopsis
In 2019, a motley crew of veteran Republican operatives set out with a simple mission - take down the President of the United States, and wrestle their party back from a movement they consider an existential threat to America’s democracy.
The founders bear the scars from campaigns that secured Republican power for decades: George W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Rudy Giuliani… Experts in the dark arts of political persuasion, they are determined to direct all the skills they have spent decades honing to slaying the monster they helped create.
In an election year like no other, with a pandemic raging around the country, they come together in Park City, Utah for the final months of a campaign that has already grown beyond all imagining. With searing attack ads that are funny, brutal, and designed to get underneath Trump’s skin, they quickly win legions of online followers, rack up billions of views, and raise millions of dollars. More than just a good tweet machine, The Lincoln Project uses sophisticated data analysis to micro-target voters in key counties around the country, hacking social media and the electoral system to swing voters and help win the election.
But the founders have their own checkered pasts, and their own secret agendas. As the pressure builds around the country and Trump attempts to overturn the election results, the series digs deeper into the founders' motives, their role in bringing us to this point, and the brewing scandals that threatens to blow apart this band of political gunslingers.
A classic American story of money, power, and hubris, THE LINCOLN PROJECT asks what principles we’re prepared to sacrifice when democracy is on the line, and how we stop ourselves becoming the very thing we’re fighting against.
The Filmmakers
Karim Amer Director
Karim is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. He has recently produced and directed the Showtime docu-series focusing on the scandal-ridden Lincoln Project. Flight / Risk, a new documentary around Boeing’s controversial 737 Max planes, for Amazon Studios. He produced and directed THE VOW (2020), a series about the self-improvement group NXIVM. THE GREAT HACK (2019) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, made the Academy Award and Grierson shortlist, was BAFTA-nominated, Emmy-nominated, and won a Cinema Eye Award. He produced the Golden Globe-winning series RAMY (2019) and teamed up with Angelina Jolie to produce Academy Award-nominated THE BREADWINNER (2017). He also produced Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated THE SQUARE (2013), Audience Award-winner at the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, andRAFEA: SOLAR MAMA (2013). Karim is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Fisher Stevens Director
Fisher Steven's versatility in the entertainment industry is evident from his wide range of credits, from acting to directing to producing, from feature film to documentary, and from television to theater. In 2010, he won the Academy Award for the documentary The Cove. Political and environmental activism has been a main focus of his work. Most recently, Stevens directed and executive produced Showtime’s upcoming five-part series The Lincoln Project along with Oscar-nominated director Karim Amer (The Square). He is currently a series regular on HBO’s Succession, and is directing a 4-part documentary series on David Beckham for Netflix.
Alexander Hyde Producer
Originally from the UK, Alex has spent the past ten years producing award-winning films that document the American experience, covering everything from music legends Bruce Springsteen (Springsteen on Broadway, NETFLIX) and Elvis Presley (Elvis Presley: The Searcher, HBO), to pressing social issues including the Iraq war protests (We Are Many, UNIVERSAL), gun control (The Armor of Light, PBS), and wealth inequality (The American Dream and Other Fairytales).
He recently produced The Lincoln Project, a five part series for Showtime about the eponymous Super PAC formed by Republican operatives rebelling against Donald Trump. He is co-producer on the forthcoming experimental narrative film Remember This featuring David Strathairn as Polish resistance fighter and holocaust witness Jan Karski. His directorial debut, The Interruption, documents a self-help seminar promoting American individualism in mainland China.
Allison Berg Producer
Allison Berg is an award-winning filmmaker who directs and produces documentary films and series. Her feature-length film THE DOG screened at numerous film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival and Berlinale. The film was a New York Times critics pick and theatrically released by Drafthouse Films. Berg’s first film, WITCHES IN EXILE, premiered at SXSW, where it won the Special Jury Award for Documentary. Recent credits include Senior Producer on the series The Circus for Showtime, Producer on The Lincoln Project series for Showtime and Co-Director and Series Producer on the documentary series Cold Blooded with Joe Berlinger. Berg has received support from foundations as the Catapult Film Fund, Hartley Foundation, the Soros Documentary Fund, New York State Council of the Arts and Women in Film Foundation and was a selected filmmaker for the Artists Academy at the Film Society at Lincoln Center.
Mikaela Beardsley Producer
An Emmy Award-winning documentary producer who has worked with filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Alex Gibney, and Wim Wenders, among others, Mikaela has produced more than 20 broadcast projects, most recently The Lincoln Project series for Showtime. Past projects include Half the Sky Movement, a multi-year global media project about women and girls in the developing world that had over 2 billion media impressions, raised millions for direct programs, and created partnerships with USAID, numerous private foundations and corporate partners, and over 150 NGOs.