The Life of the Party

Directed by: Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris
Produced by: Meg Griffiths

Stage:
- Completed, Seeking Distro
Location:
- Texas, United States
Updated: May 5, 2026
Project Type:
- Short
Project Style:
- Observational
Theme Subject:

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Logline

The Life of the Party follows three female Republican leaders in Texas as they confront the soul of their party ahead of the contentious 2024 election.

Synopsis

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The Life of the Party follows three Texas women whose political careers illuminate a Republican Party in crisis. Former State Rep. Sarah Davis, once the last pro-choice Republican in the Texas House, reflects on a decade of moderate dissent. Former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores—the first Mexican-born woman in Congress—leans on her faith to reclaim her seat amid a political realignment in the Rio Grande Valley. And in her final session, State Rep. Geanie Morrison, the longest-serving Republican woman in the Texas House, mourns a vanishing era of civility. Together, their stories reveal the peril for women navigating a polarized political climate in which “moderation” is increasingly seen as a liability.

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Background

America is coming apart at the seams. As our political parties chart ever more extreme tactics and rhetoric in escalating ideological warfare, the center—a place of good-faith compromise and bipartisan progress—fades. Yet even in the conservative vanguard of Texas, it remains possible to find Republicans for whom “moderation” and “compromise” have not yet become dirty words. These individuals are the lone remnants of a bygone era of civility and dignified

...

The Life of the Party captures three voices that map our current political trajectory—an outlier, an outsider, and an old guard. These are the voices of women, a demographic Texas Republicans frequently hail as the “backbone of the party” despite being dramatically underrepresented in elected office. They offer a minority perspective on a majority movement—one driven by religious fundamentalism and the pursuit of partisan power—that is eroding civic norms and shaping US political discourse for generations to come.

Each of these women has defied the odds to hold positions of power in a party intent on legislating their bodies and rights, and they remind us that the spectrum of American values is much broader and more expressive than the ideological bifurcation suggested by our two-party system and its portrayal in the media. You may not agree with the positions these women hold, but The Life of the Party will certainly help you form a more nuanced understanding of the tensions that exist on the “other side” of the political aisle, uncomfortable as they may be, and the value of seeking common ground through compromise.

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Participants

Sarah Davis

Last pro-choice Republican in the Texas House of Representatives

Participant

Sarah Davis

Last pro-choice Republican in the Texas House of Representatives

Sarah Davis, the last pro-choice Republican in Texas, entered politics in 2010 after surviving cancer in her early 30s. She quickly clashed with her party when she voted against a bill mandating sonograms for rape victims.

Over the next ten years, Sarah forged a proudly moderate-verging-on-contrarian reputation for herself, one that drew the ire of Republican Governor Greg Abbott and felt increasingly at odds with the extremism animating her party.

When she lost in 2020 in a wave of anti-Trump sentiment that swept her affluent Houston district, Sarah stepped away from a party she felt increasingly alienated from – though she insists she remains a Republican to this day.

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Mayra Flores

First Mexican-born member of Congress

Participant

Mayra Flores

First Mexican-born member of Congress

Mayra Flores, the first Mexican-born member of Congress, won a 2022 special election in TX-34 but lost her seat months later due to redistricting.

Determined to return in 2024, Mayra campaigns in her historically Democratic Rio Grande Valley home, confident that conservative Hispanic values will deliver a red wave. Inspired by Trump’s 2016 victory, Mayra converted her family to the GOP and jumped into politics to follow her MAGA heroes.

On election night, her supporters gather in the hope they’ll see both Mayra and her idol, Donald Trump, return to power.

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Geanie Morrison

Longest-serving Republican Woman in the Texas House of Representatives

Participant

Geanie Morrison

Longest-serving Republican Woman in the Texas House of Representatives

Geanie Morrison of House District 30 is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Texas House. After 25 years, she is ending a career that began when she reluctantly ran for office after years managing local campaigns.

A college dropout and stay-at-home mom, Geanie became a respected peacemaker, known for prioritizing relationships over party politics—even when it meant helping Democrats.

Though proud of her conservative record, she laments the bitterness of modern politics, embodying a fading generation that sees public service as a calling, not an opportunity for personal gain.

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Team

Meg Griffiths

Director & Producer

Team

Meg Griffiths

Director & Producer

Meg Griffiths is a Los Angeles-based documentary director and producer. Meg Griffiths began her career as a photo and video journalist at the Houston Chronicle and then held a leadership role at Teach For America where she built the nonprofit’s first video studio. After overseeing content development and digital strategy at an LA-based agency, Meg co-founded Universe Creative, a documentary production company that collaborates with foundations, nonprofits, and socially conscious brands. Meg’s work has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and is supported by the International Documentary Association, the Redford Center, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. She holds a MA in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Her debut feature film, IMPOSSIBLE TOWN, premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride, CO, and Meg serves on the board of the Documentary Producers Alliance.

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Scott Faris

Director

Team

Scott Faris

Director

Scott is a filmmaker and former educator who founded Universe Creative with his creative partner in 2017. He and his partner produce short scripted and nonfiction content for a deep roster of social good-focused orgs like the Gates Foundation and Teach For America. Scott typically shoots, directs, and edits, and is particularly interested in storytelling that spotlights Appalachia, Native issues, and education.

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Budget

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Story visual screenplay production screenplay team story team impact editing. Editing team independent festival production director festival team.

Rights

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Stills

Our Ask

The nonfiction landscape is awash with political stories of activists waging battles against discrimination and oppression. These stories play an important role in energizing a base already sympathetic to the cause, but they tend to reverberate entirely within familiar echo chambers, rarely crossing partisan lines.

The Life of the Party takes a decidedly different approach: it aims to create a new dialogue by challenging the predispositions of viewers on both sides of the aisle. For those on the left, the charge is to find common ground with someone they’ve grown accustomed to seeing as caricature, part of the monolithic evil known as the Republican Party. Even Rachel Maddow can see in someone like Sarah Davis an ally in pursuit of a common cause.

For those on the right, the provocation comes in the form of a stark depiction of the party’s embrace of apocalyptic, winner-take-all rhetoric and extreme intolerance, a shift that seems particularly hypocritical in light of the universal deification of party saint Ronald Reagan, whose values have long since disappeared from the party platform.

We’ve completed the film and are now seeking funding for our festival run and the impact campaign we plan to execute with Picture Motion’s support. Our goal is for these efforts to help secure distribution on a prestigious platform and bring the film to a broad audience ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

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The Life of the Party

Logline

Participants

Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis

Mayra Flores

Mayra Flores

Geanie Morrison

Geanie Morrison

Team

Meg Griffiths

Meg Griffiths

Scott Faris

Scott Faris

Budget

Rights

Stills

Our Ask