Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker and Academy member Alex Gibney is behind Audible’s newly announced investigative podcast Meltdown, and it makes a lot of sense.

Astonishingly prolific, Gibney has more than 100 credits as a writer, director or producer (and sometimes all three) on nonfiction projects. Most of his shorts, feature-length films and docuseries share a common thread: They follow complex investigations and often expose widespread institutional corruption.

That’s why he feels like the perfect executive producer for Meltdown, an upcoming Audible podcast series about the aftereffects of the 2008 financial crisis. According to Deadline, the eight episodes will unpack “why the crisis happened, how the bailout went so wrong, and why politicians covered up Wall Street’s crimes.”

Featuring interviews with whistleblowers and former government officials, it will also draw a line connecting that chaos to the economic, political and even environmental turmoil of today.

A few of Gibney’s previous projects have also been finance-focused exposés. His first Oscar-nominated doc was Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. And by now we hope you’ve also seen Dirty Money, the Netflix docuseries about true stories of corruption. No doubt his knack for thrilling and insightful investigative content will translate to the Audible world as well.

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The project has another unique connection to the movie world. David Sirota, the journalist who led Meltdown’s 16-month reporting job and narrates each episode, recently worked on the upcoming Netflix sci-fi comedy Don’t Look Up, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. Sirota shares the film’s story credit with director Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice), another creator who knows a thing or two about breaking down economic and political complexities for an audience.


Meltdown will be available on Audible beginning Oct. 28.