Feature Film ·
Financing Overview
HOTLINE
A crisis counselor takes a hectic holiday shift to dodge her family, but unruly neighbors, inappropriate callers and her own traumas make it more trying than the dinner she skipped.
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The film
Meet Jenna: a veteran crisis counselor who has dedicated her life to helping others since losing her father to suicide.
Years on the lines have made Jenna nearly unflappable. But this year, worn down by an overbearing mother and a fresh breakup, she decides not to go home for the holidays. Instead, she volunteers for the hardest shift on the calendar.
Raging neighbors. Unruly callers. Her own creeping anxieties.
What starts as an escape from her family's holiday table turns into a far more chaotic night than anything waiting back home.
Over one long night, Jenna has to hold her own life together while helping everyone else with theirs, one call at a time.
From the director
Hello! I'm Matt Ott, writer/director of Hotline. After losing a friend to suicide during the pandemic, I questioned if I was capable of helping him, had I known he was in crisis.
This gnawing question led me to explore the vital role that crisis counselors play in mental health. Connecting with these counselors inspired me to write Hotline. Beyond my search for answers and research for the film, this past year I completed training and have been volunteer crisis counseling. I know firsthand how important it is that people know about these services and that we recruit others capable of supporting those in need.
Hotline is an Academy Nicholl Fellowships Quarterfinalist, top 6.5% of all submissions.
Why this film, now
Crisis support is mental health's emergency room.
Crisis counseling is not therapy. It is de-escalation and fortification. Support is available 24/7, 365 days a year. It meets people where they are, by phone or text.
While many still find the topic of suicide to be taboo, a crisis counselor is trained to address a suicidal crisis head on. They compassionately connect with the caller while directly asking questions about risk and safety.
Support isn't limited to emergencies. Counselors help the caller remove what is putting them in immediate harm. They explore buffers to aid the caller through today and in the future. This work reinforces the promise that if the caller is ever in need again, support is always available.
Funding follows public attention, and right now the people making this system work are virtually invisible. Putting crisis counselors on screen humanizes this vital service for those who need it most. People in crisis are not the only ones who need to be reached. Everyone should know these resources exist and feel confident sharing them. Simply put, we need more crisis counselors. People should know volunteering is an option.
Our film never lectures. It does what a public service message cannot: it reaches people who would never watch one, and who may not know real people are there to pick up the phone.
Sources: CDC/NCHS final mortality data, 2024; SAMHSA / 988 Lifeline reporting, 2025; FCC, May 2026; Matthews et al., JAMA Network Open, 2026 (survey of 988 centers, 2025); Annenberg Public Policy Center, Aug 2026; NAMI/Ipsos, June 2026; NAMI, Oct 2026.
Beyond the screen
Our advocacy doesn't end when the film is released.
Screenings for crisis lines and the counselors, volunteers, and staff who answer the calls.
Screenings at gatherings like Project Healthy Minds and CrisisCon.
Screenings across campuses, paired with conversations about mental health and how to reach help, and access for classroom and counselor-training settings.
Helping bridge the gap between therapy and crisis work, ensuring therapists have the resources to give their clients.
Short public-service spots drawn from the film that point viewers to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Podcast appearances, interviews, and other press for the film and the cause, keeping the conversation about seeking help going beyond the screen.
Plans are provisional and still in development.
Who's involved
Named one of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch (2024), she won the Television Actress Award at the Critics Choice Association's inaugural Celebration of Asian Pacific Cinema & Television for Apple TV+'s The Afterparty. Recent work includes Jay Roach's The Roses opposite Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, and Marielle Heller's Nightbitch opposite Amy Adams.
Co-founder of Color Farm Media and an Independent Spirit Award nominee for American Fiction (2023). She stars opposite Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe in NBC's Reggie Dinkins, created by Tracy Morgan and Tina Fey. Credits include Get Out and the documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble, which she produced.
Co-founder of Color Farm Media and producer of John Lewis: Good Trouble. Scaled Wildfire to 400+ people through its acquisition by Google, with earlier roles at Universal Pictures and Scott Rudin Productions.
Actress and producer who develops work with Daniel Kaluuya's 59% Productions. Her credits include Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul.
Television writer and producer (represented by UTA) whose credits include South Park, Bob's Burgers, and Netflix's Disenchantment.
Behavioral health system designer and innovator. Licensed Professional Counselor, suicide prevention specialist, and singer-songwriter. Co-founder of the Crisis Residential Association. TEDx speaker, owner of Heart & Voice, LLC, and recipient of the National Association of Crisis Organization Directors' Making the Mission award.
Launched in 2017 by Erika Alexander and Ben Arnon to develop and produce scripted and unscripted work that broadens representation.
Where you come in
Two ways to back the film. Pick the one that fits.
What your gift makes possible
Donations fund the film alongside equity investment. Together they make up the $1M raise.
How a donation works
Simple, and kept entirely separate from the film's investment side.
Your gift is made through the film's 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor and is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. You receive a donation receipt.
A donation is support. It does not recoup, does not share in profit, and never competes with the film's investors for revenue.
You made this film possible, and it's important to us that the credits say so. This credit carries no profit share and does not affect deductibility.
Donations go straight toward producing the film. Combined with equity investment, they bring the feature to the screen.
Made responsibly
The subject matter is serious. The production treats it that way.
Crisis counselors were consulted before a word was written and stay involved through production. Matt has spent the past year volunteering on the lines himself.
The comedy comes from Jenna's night, never from the people calling for help. Suicide is not played for laughs, and every crisis conversation is written to model what asking for help actually sounds like.
The chaos stays on screen. Production is structured so the pressure Jenna faces is never replicated for the people making the film.
Recognition for donors
Each gift level earns an on-screen credit. Honorary recognition only: no profit participation, creative control, or approval rights.
Ready to give?
Matt Ott, Writer / Director · ott.matt.p@gmail.com
Ben Arnon, Producer, Color Farm Media · ben@colorfarmmedia.com
Good to know
- A donation is a charitable gift, not an investment. It does not recoup, earn a return, or share in the film's profits, and confers no ownership.
- Made through a fiscal sponsor. Gifts are processed by the film's 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, confirmed before any gift is made, and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Consult your own tax advisor regarding deductibility.
- Honorary credit only. Donor recognition credits carry no economic interest, creative control, or approval rights, and do not affect deductibility.
- Kept separate from investment. The film's equity investment is offered separately and only through a Private Placement Memorandum. This page is not an offer of any security.
Built to limit your downside
The $1M raise is structured as half equity, half tax-deductible donations; both raises are in progress. The NY State tax credit then pays investors back first.
The tax credit comes back to you
New York refunds 30% of qualified in-state production spend. Hotline is shot and posted in NYC apart from a short pickup trip, so it qualifies.
Refundable NY State credit on qualified in-state spend.
Estimated credit (conservative end of the range, $163K–$173K).
How revenue is shared
When the film earns, the money flows in a fixed order. Equity is near the front.
Equity investors are first in line. Enter an amount to see what you own and the money that comes back to you before producers earn a single dollar.
Priority recoupment of 120% means your full investment plus a 20% premium are returned ahead of any producer profit, helped by the NY State tax credit landing first. These are priority targets based on revenue, not guarantees. Minimum investment $40K.
What it can return
Three illustrative outcomes, shown as capital returned per dollar invested (1.0x means your money back). Projections, not promises.
~0.84x. Most of your capital back even at a soft, low-end deal (a partial loss).
~1.44x. Full recoup plus profit.
~2.05x. Full recoup plus profit.
About the floor: the low case assumes a ~$375K acquisition, plus modest international sales, and even there the donor cushion and tax credit keep it from a total loss, the usual downside for independent film.
Illustration only: a $100K check returns roughly $144K in the middle case and ~$205K in the upside, or about $84K back in the low case. Minimum equity investment $40K.
Next step
Matt Ott, Writer / Director · ott.matt.p@gmail.com
Ben Arnon, Producer, Color Farm Media · ben@colorfarmmedia.com
Assumptions & notes
- Tax credit is a planning estimate (~$163K, conservative end of a ~$163K–$173K range), not a filing number. Production and post are in NYC, apart from ~2 days of out-of-state pickup shots (excluded from the credit).
- Return scenarios are illustrative and use the conservative ~$163K credit floor plus net international sales. They are based on comparable acquisitions, not guarantees.
- Recoupment is on the equity class ($500K target) only. Donor capital is a gift: it never recoups and never shares in profit. Minimum equity investment is $40K.
- The two tracks stay separate. Donor solicitation and the equity PPM are distinct documents; donor capital is not a security and does not enter the waterfall.
- The fiscal sponsor is confirmed before any gift is made. Final sales-agent attachment and completion-bond terms are also finalized ahead of close.