Viral Swing: Lincoln Project to Break Into TV after Election

The Lincoln Project is reportedly solidifying plans to ramp up its media arm after the general election next week and is considering offers from various television studios, podcast networks and book publishers.The political action committee, which was founded towards the end of last year and is run by prominent "Never-Trump" current and former Republicans, signed with United Talent Agency with an eye towards expanding Lincoln Media, Axios reported Tuesday.Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican strategist before he left the party following President Trump's election in 2016, outlined the group's outlook for its upcoming media ventures."We discovered in doing research that voters are getting lots of information from streaming and podcasts," Wilson said. "We decided to build those things as advocacy vectors. We didn't set out to become a media company, but we've inadvertently become a content creation machine."Other prominent anti-Trump Republicans fronting the group are George Conway, husband of former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, and Steve Schmidt, who was a senior strategist for John McCain's presidential campaign."As a media business, we're putting a pretty big bet on the idea that they know how to get audiences," Ra Kumar, a UTA agent who represents the Lincoln Project, said of the group's plans, adding that the Lincoln Project has received numerous inquiries from Hollywood firms wanting to work with the group.The Lincoln Project already launched a wildly successful podcast in June and has two shows that it streams on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. They have also seen high demand for its merchandise.The group raised over $58 million this year, including $39.4 million from July through September. The PAC's spending has come under scrutiny after they spent nearly $1.4 million through March with most of that money going towards the Lincoln Project's board members and firms run by them.The group raised over $58 million this year, including $39.4 million from July through September. The PAC's spending has come under scrutiny after they spent nearly $1.4 million through March, with most of that money going towards the Lincoln Project's board members and firms run by them.One of the projects reportedly in the works is a non-fiction film to be completed after the election. Several television studios are looking to team up to produce a series reminiscent of the hit show "House of Cards," and television networks that have expressed interest in hosting the Lincoln Project's two streaming shows.The group is currently in a kerfuffle with Ivanka and Jared Trump, who threatened to sue over the Lincoln Project's Times Square billboards depicting the pair displaying indifference to deaths caused by the coronavirus.“Sue if you must,” said Matthew Sanderson, an attorney for the Lincoln Project, saying the group “will not be intimidated by empty bluster.”