New Documentary Explores the World of Telephone Hotlines
By Hans Pedersen - Nov. 6, 2014
Tony Shaff, Hotline's director and writer.
Are telephone hotlines relevant anymore? The documentary Hotline reveals that the answer is a resounding yes.
A friendly voice on the phone is a greater asset to social service groups than Internet chats, according to Tony Shaff (right), the film’s director and writer, adding that he believes phone numbers that provide anonymous help are an essential and undervalued resource that needs to be preserved.
Shaff explores the parallels among several types of phone lines and the underlying reasons people call them in this fascinating documentary that’s essentially a compilation of interviews with folks who staff a variety of phone numbers, including a teen hotline and the national LGBT line.
The idea for this moody movie about what makes people dial them came to him after college when his car broke down.
“I was in need of some quick money,” the director explained during a recent phone interview with Echo. “I looked in the back of the LA Weekly, and I actually worked for Ms. Cleo’s Psychic Hotline.”
Years later in New York he worked for a suicide hotline.
“I noticed the calls I was getting at the suicide hotline were really similar to what I was getting at the psychic hotline,” he recalled.
Shaff believes there’s a pervasive loneliness in this age where everyone is interconnected online and the result is many of these telephone numbers are racking up a record number of calls from folks wanting to talk to strangers.
But there’s another reason the GLBT National Hotline in San Francisco is overrun with calls.
“There are a lot of regional (LGBT) hotlines around the country and now two-thirds of those shut down due to funding issues,” the director said, explaining the record number of calls are flooding that national phone line.
“There are so many other hotlines out there, like the GLBT hotline, that don’t have the resources they need to take all the calls,” he said.
“I don’t know if people realize, in this day and age, the value of a hotline,” he lamented. “I do hope the movie sheds a little light on that these places need help and support.”
Filmed over the course of two years, the director says they encountered an array of other fascinating subjects, too.
For every interview he landed — including Ms. Cleo and a phone sex operator who uses her real photo — there’s another he didn’t include, like the Butterball Turkey hotline (which denied him access) and those devoted to UFO sightings or graffiti prevention.
Additionally, the director said the discoveries he made while creating this documentary have convinced him that people aren’t getting the opportunity to connect with others in the social sphere.
“People are very isolated and they’re feeling lonely and they feel there’s no one else they can turn to,” he said. “Reaching out to a hotline, which is anonymous and a lot of times confidential, allows you to express your innermost feelings and talk to a stranger about it.”
The privacy and anonymity of these hotlines is often their biggest asset, he added.
“It seems like through these hotlines it’s an opportunity to be free and speak whatever it is you’re feeling and not feel like you’re going to be judged,” he said.
While places like the LGBT or teen hotlines use the Internet as a tool to establish contact, Shaff said that a telephone conversation remains the preferred mode of communication. And because texting is ripe for misunderstanding, he added, the tone of voice over the phone can speak volumes.
“Whether it’s coming out for the first time or having some serious depression or anxiety you need to talk about, I think the voice is really powerful,” he said solemnly.
Shaff noted that the struggles and issues of the gay community are not limited to the LGBT phone numbers, they carry over to phone sex operators, suicide prevention hotlines and even veterans crisis lines.
“A lot of their callers might call them because they’re depressed about something but maybe that depression is rooted in their sexuality,” he said. “I think every hotline is seeing our community being represented.” e
Review
Hotline
Available On Demand Nov. 18
4 Stars
By Hans Pedersen - Nov. 6, 2014
Hotline is like a confessional where we’re privy to poignant stories coming from hotline operators, making for an altogether riveting movie. A wide variety of phone lines are explored here, including hotlines for teen issues, suicide and phone sex.
The first operators in the movie are two workers at the GLBT National Hotline in San Francisco. The center received 9,680 calls last year, many of them from conservative parts of the country. And because local LGBT phone lines have disappeared across the country, folks have been turning to the national center for support.
LGBT phone line operators, along with the other operators interviewed in the movie, talk about the importance of pulling away and backing off when a caller needs space.
Similarities abound among all the workers of these various hotline numbers, as the movie explores the underlying reasons people dial them. Whether it’s bullying, homework, weight issues, immigration help or sexual abuse, the movie reveals the workers at that hotline ready to help people in need.
One of the more revealing subjects is a phone sex operator who uses her real name and photos, saying she combines her acting and playwriting skills with her phone sex career.
She points out her callers are just human beings who want to be “witnessed,” and are essentially folks who are looking for someone to listen and “tell them you’re OK.”
Another subject, a counselor at a suicide hotline, says desperate people regain strength to carry on after they call him to talk. He eloquently points out that loneliness and desperation “become magnified at night.” Like a street poet, he speaks of how Jesus came to help the misfits in the world.
We even hear from a woman who talks on camera about her suicidal thoughts and how the hotlines have helped her.
Across the board the operators describe how they’re supposed to keep boundaries and not build relationships with the callers. They also all seem to agree that there’s always an exception to that rule.
Other interviews are surprising, such as “One Lonely Guy” who receives tens of thousands of calls a year: anyone wanting to talk can call him up. After publishing this number, Jeff One Lonely Guy has been inundated with calls, presenting him with a unique overload of callers and messages to answer.
Phone psychic Ms. Cleo, famous for her infomercials in the 1990s, is one of the most fascinating interviews in the movie.
Still offering advice on the phone, Ms. Cleo explains how her popularity among lovelorn callers got her promoted to become the spokesperson for a psychic hotline, which she says existed a decade before she got hired. She dishes the dirt on the lawsuits that ended it all, before all charges got dismissed, and shares her moment of disillusionment.
The movie includes a playful split-screen of many 1-800 and 1-900 numbers popular in the 1990s to help illustrate the variety of places one can call to talk to strangers.
Lovely ambient music spinning in the background, incorporating dial tones and busy signals, keeps this interview-driven film humming right along. Created by Los Angeles-based composer Jeff Stroup, the minimalist electronic score preserves a human element, thanks to all of the “found sounds” gently woven into the music.
Coupled with super-wide shots of cityscapes and clips of vintage films, these songs keep the movie compelling.
People behave differently because of the anonymity of a hotline, the subjects of this movie point out. But the underlying reasons these callers dial these phone lines seem to be loneliness and despair. The movie succeeds in its exploration of why, when people are most in need, the sound of a human voice over a phone line is a source of support while other modes of telecommunication like the Internet seem to falter. e
Hotline is available On Demand Nov. 18.
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