The Stress of Knowing Other People's Secrets

In our short film Lies on the Line, the main character Lawrence, played by Tom Lane listens in to telephone conversations having newly installed them in unsuspecting customers' homes. It just so happens that it was my birthday in 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the telephone, although he may have just been quicker at it than another inventor, Elisha Gray.

Bell demonstrated the use of the telephone to Queen Victoria in 1878 but initally only wealthy households could afford to have them installed. In Britain, it wasn't until the 1960s that telephones became a common household device. In Lies on the Line, Lawrence deals with the secrets and lies told to him by his mother as a young boy, by becoming a telephone engineer. The only caveat was that he was a sole trader and he used his skills to listen in to private telephone conversations. We show one soon to be customer signing a contract for the phone to be installed, giving the paperwork only a cursory glance. It made us think as writers how often many of us quickly agree to terms and conditions without properly reading a single word. In the film Lawurence seems strangely comforted and yet troubled by hearing incriminating conversations. The only person he shares his strange addiction with being his sister, Shirley Ann, played by Yasmine Meaden.

It's amazing what effort goes into the production of short films, from hiring the right locations, getting the right look in terms of furniture and clothing and for this film especially, finding authentic 1960s vehicles to complete the look. Finding good actors to fulfil the roles is almost the easy part because there are so many talented people out there.

We were lucky to work with a great cast and crew and being only our second film, we were rather proud of ourselves!

Historical info above regarding the telephone was sourced from the Science Museum in London.

Tom Lane as Lawrence Gordon