Safdie Brothers’ ‘Telemarketers’ Subject Patrick J. Pespas Is Missing — Report

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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“Telemarketers” docuseries subject Patrick J. Pespas has been reported missing, according to limited series helmer Adam Bhala Lough. Lough, who co-directed the recent HBO docuseries with Sam Lipman-Stern, took to X (previously known as Twitter) over the weekend to share, “Pat is missing, and [his wife] Sue, his family and friends are very worried about him. Please put out the word that Pat is missing and help us find him.”

“Telemarketers” centers on a New Jersey-based call center that previously employed Lipman-Stern, Lough’s cousin. Pespas was featured in the docuseries as a salesperson who worked for Civic Development Group. Lough and Lipman-Stern began investigating the workplace after its employer, CDG, allegedly stole donations people made for different organizations through the telemarketing scheme; the docuseries takes place over the course 20 years. The Safdie brothers and Danny McBride produced the HBO three-part docuseries.

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Pespas went missing from his home in Easton, Pennsylvania on September 29. He is now believed to be somewhere in New Jersey. The co-directors are encouraging anyone with leads to contact them at findpatpestas@gmail.com.

Per a recent IndieWire interview, Lough encouraged Pespas to be part of the limited series during COVID, and used Pespas’ personal story to attract the Safdie brothers after seeing documentary “Lenny Cooke.” “We would always have lists of questions to ask, but at the end of the day, I would always want Pat to ask the questions in the way he would ask them. I didn’t want him to memorize a list. He wasn’t not going to do it anyway. I tried not to interject my professional documentarian stamp on him,” Lough said. “We leaned into Pat’s amateur investigative journalist persona. But we couldn’t tell him what to do.”

Co-director Lipman-Stern added that Pespas “has this star quality to him. He’s charismatic, really nice, has a pure heart. He’s almost childlike in a way — but he’s not a small-minded person.”

Lipman-Stern also noted that Pespas’ goal to testify in front of Congress about telemarketing regulation remains unchanged after the documentary’s release. “This wasn’t a pie-in-the-sky thing,” Lipman-Stern said. “We really believe that Pat deserves to sit in front of Congress as a whistleblower. If there’s regulation in this industry, the money should go to good causes. These are donations from generous Americans who don’t even have the money to give. We want it to go to the right place.”

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