Operator (Short Film)

Written & Directed by Jonathan Hughes

Produced by Jonathan Hughes

Starring Lennon Clarke

“A self-obsessed call centre worker deals with a personal heartbreak while on shift as the world crumbles around him... due to a zombie apocalypse”.

The film was written, directed and edited in under a week during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in May 2020.

OFFICIAL SLECTION
Galway Film Fleadh 2020, Glasgow Short Film Festival 2021, Discover Film Awards 2021, Wicked Queer Film Festival Boston 2021, AGLIFF 2021, IndieCork 2021, Chicago Irish Film Festival 2021, Moscow Irish Film Festival 2021, The Richard Harris International Film Festival 2020, Catalyst International Film Festival 2021, Dublin International Comedy Film Festival 2020, Horrors 4 You Festival London 2020, Irish Film London 2020, Festival International du Film d'Aubagne Music & Cinema 2021, Waterford Film Festival 2020, Underground Cinema Film Festival 2020, Culture Night Limerick 2020, Queer Vision at Pride of the Deise 20201, Indie Shorts Mag Short Film Festival 2021

The story of Operator

Lockdown was hard on many people. The Operator team were no exception. Writer/director Jonathan Hughes was out of work; all the production jobs he had lined up were shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. He spent his time writing scripts and sending them out but nothing was moving forward.

Operator star Lennon Clarke was no better off. He was working his customer service job from home and lamenting the fact he hadn’t been able to work more as an actor and this pandemic was only going to make that tougher. 

Then Jonathan got news that he was going blind due to undiagnosed diabetic eye disease. And Lennon found out he was being made redundant from his job due to the economic downturn.... All in the same week. 

And thus, OPERATOR was conceived as a no budget, totally DIY distraction project. The script was written in one day and shot the next in their apartment. They took turns voicing the callers calling in. Two days later, the first cut was made. They never set out to make something that would be seen by the public, it was supposed to be an exercise just to see if it could be done. A trial run. But reaction to the film from friends was much stronger than either of them anticipated. 

The film was born out of desperation and stress. It is a film about frustration, confusion and stubbornness, but also about how your own problems always seem like the biggest deal to you, but maybe in the grand scheme of things they’re not so major. 

- OmegaBeta HQ