​When Sam Lipman-Stern was 14, he dropped out of high school and began working for a telemarketing firm in New Jersey. He believed he was raising money for police and firefighter charities, when in fact he was mostly raising money for his shady employees.

Lipman-Stern became fast and unlikely friends with the firm's sales star, Pat Pespas, who performed well on the job but was struggling with addiction. Lipman-Stern had begun documenting what went on at the office just for fun, but that documentation became something more when he realized what was really going on at the company.

HBO's original docuseries Telemarketers follows Sam and Pat's 20-year journey that evolved into a mission to take down an entire corrupt industry.

Telemarketers is directed by Adam Bhala Lough and Lipman-Stern. It's executive produced by Benny and Josh Safdie, Danie Bernfeld, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Jody Hill. Claire Read produces. Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Tina Nguyen executive produce for HBO.

Telemarketers debuts the first of three episodes on Sunday, August 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.