Help Us Get to Edit

We’ve spent the past 4 years on the ground with those fighting for our voting rights – through court battles, elections, protests, and map redrawing. Until now we’ve funded DRAW THE LINE out of our own pockets. But in order to finish the job and to assemble all of the incredible footage we’ve captured, we need your help. 

We know there are voting rights supporters out there and, with your generosity, together we can finish this movie!

Why us?

Our team has more than 100 years of combined experience. We think that is pretty impressive, but it’s really just a number.  When it comes down to it, what really matters is how much we care about the topic.  The two of us (Lynn and Erin) have been friends for a long, long time.  And we’ve worked together for nearly just as long.  One thing that brought us together was our activism.

The first grain of an idea for this film came about at a bar in Palm Beach County, Florida on November, 2, 2004.  We’d spend the day and a good part of the evening working as poll watchers for election protection.  And boy did we see some stuff that day.  As we were sitting at the bar, watching the results come in and nursing our drinks, we talked a lot about the voter suppression tactics that we had witnessed.  That conversation carried on for years… we often said we wanted to make a film about voting rights and gerrymandering in particular.  Sitting in a bar in Philadelphia on November 8, 2016 (again) nursing our drinks, was a do or die moment.  What we’d seen during the 2016 election was far more extreme and aggressive than anything we’d seen before (we’re talking about armed “citizens” showing up at polls in downtown Philly to “stop the steal.”)  It was time to put up or shut up.

Haven’t there been enough films about gerrymandering / voter suppression already?

There have indeed been some great films about voting rights — SLAY THE DRAGON and ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY are two recent films that are great.  Yet a lot has happened since those were completed.  And none of the films out there deal with what we feel is the key to what we’re seeing in our politics right now:  a long time plot to secure minority rule that was revealed by The Hofeller Files.

The Devious Plot

“I define redistricting as the only legalized form of vote-stealing left in the United States today.”

— Tom Hofeller

Tom Hofeller was not the kind of guy you’d notice.  But he was one powerful man.  In the 80s  Hofeller was the RNC’s go-to map guy.  He understood redistricting better than nearly anyone and had an uncanny ability to draw maps that gave his party as much advantage as possible.  His maps became the blueprint for Project REDMAP, a 2010 plan to pack as many black and Democratic voters into as few districts as possible, ensuring Republican control of state legislatures for a generation.  

The Whistleblower

“I remember him explaining to me that if we take control of the state legislatures, we’ll get the redistricting… And I said that’s a brilliant plan Dad, but you know  it’s going to destroy the Republic, right?”

— Stephanie Hofeller

Tom was great at maps, but he was a terrible father.  By the time he died, his daughter Stephanie hadn’t spoken to him for nearly a decade.  After learning of his death on the internet, Stephanie paid a visit to her parent’s home to look for childhood mementos.  What she found instead was a “smoking gun” — proof that, for years, Tom had helped the RNC violate the Voting Rights Act by using racial data to determine redistricting.  Even worse, he’d worked with legislatures across the nation to secretly use the Voting Rights Act to undermine the very system it was meant to protect.  Stephanie couldn’t let that stand.  She felt a duty to release her dad’s files to the public, no matter the cost to her personally.

The Fallout

“The lie of voter fraud is brilliant in this kind of evil genius way. Because it allows the destroyers of democracy to present themselves as the protectors of democracy.”

— Carol Anderson, author of One Person, No Vote

Tom’s master plan has kept the Republicans in power for more than a decade — even as their national popularity has waned — and created a system where the most extreme candidates are all but guaranteed victory.  It also has had violent and catastrophic consequences. His work is foundational to the violent insurrection on January 6th and offers a continual conduit for American Racism to deepen its hold on our political systems.

The Receipts

“The will of the people is not being translated into political power.  We are moving toward a point where America might not be a democracy. That was unthinkable ten years ago.”

— Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot

When we began, this was a film focused primarily on the perils of gerrymandering. And then we met Stephanie and she gave us a copy of the Hofeller files.  Immediately we realized the importance of what the files revealed — not just a plan to give one political party an advantage, but a blueprint for institutionalizing racially-motivated voter suppression.

The Perks!!  (yes we have swag…)

To let you know how much we appreciate your support, we’ve come up with swag for our donors:
add your name to the credits, get some extra footage, books from our participants, special voter swag and more!

If we make our goal of $50,000, we can get a cut of the film ready for the upcoming festival season!  

This money will pay for:

Filming:  we are nearly ready for post-production, but we still have the last couple interviews to complete.  We will record this as we begin the edit to make sure we are capturing exactly what we need.

Editing: we have countless hours of footage to comb through and shape into a compelling narrative.

Sound design and mixing: we’re bringing together a lot of sources and we want to make sure they sound perfect. 

Color correction: every film intended for release must go through this important step, so that whether we captured footage in a car, at the dinner table or at the polls, the images are consistent and beautiful.

Titles & animation: the creative visual elements throughout the film help to tie everything together.

Music composition: we have an awesome composer who will write a moving, original score for the film.

AND IF WE EXCEED OUR INITIAL GOAL, the additional funds will help us distribute the film and activate our outreach plan.

Whether we reach our goal or not, every penny will move the film forward.  We won’t let you down!

The Impact

It’s important to us to make a film that transcends our political divide as much as possible while focusing on a theme that should unite most of us: the importance of a functioning democracy.  To that end, we have included a diversity of voices that appeal to audience members across ideological lines.   

From the start we have worked closely with many organizations centered around the issues raised in DRAW THE LINE – the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Defending Democracy, and US Vote Foundation.  Through our outreach campaign we’ll work with these organizations to reach a broad audience.  

Our goal is to secure a broadcast/streaming deal that will give us the biggest platform possible to project the message and target a mainstream audience. Additionally, our exclusive access to Stephanie Hofeller and the whistleblower story will create a narrative that reaches “beyond the choir” and engages those who might not otherwise watch a film about “politics.”

Risks & Challenges

We’ve spent four years following this story already, so once we hit our goal, there are no barriers standing between us and finishing the film. Our challenge is to finish the film as quickly as possible so that it will have an impact on the redistricting process currently underway.  What happens between now and the 2022 elections will determine the stability of our democracy. 

Other Ways You Can Help

We appreciate that some people just can’t contribute right now.  That doesn’t mean you can’t help us out!

• Spread the word to your friends, neighbors or on social media. 
• You can find us on Facebook and on Twitter!  Just use the Indiegogo share tools!