# Alternatives to "My phone number is 555-5555" in films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053 "2011-03-01T12:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/81 "2011-03-02T19:14:16Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > There was a time when dialing the last five digits of a number within your area would connect you. It was that way in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1959, I recall. And certain suburbs of NYC in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/82 "2011-03-02T19:24:02Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Heck, it could actually be worse, since they only reserved 1000 numbers in each range. Can you imagine giving your number to someone as 496-2854 and they immediately think you’re blowing them off with a fake number? 😛 Personally speaking, 9 times outa 10 that would be a godsend for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/83 "2011-03-02T20:40:33Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Money. Lawyers. Nuff said. Could a person really sue if their number was in a movie? Could they win? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/84 "2011-03-02T21:11:46Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Could a person really sue if their number was in a movie? Could they win? See landmark court case MGM vs 867-5309 But seriously, I don’t know that for a fact, but I am pretty darn sure they can. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/85 "2011-03-02T22:00:44Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > ..I bet if people could choose not to have this ruin a movie for them they would. I have no problem or difficulty choosing and succeeding to do that, just as when they give an address number that doesn’t exist (_Sunset Blvd_), or when a character goes from one real location to another in a way that isn’t possible (_Falling Down_, _Collateral_), or when they show someone going the wrong way on a famous bridge or when they obviously misidentify a famous location (i.e., the Bay Bridge or the Berkeley campus in _The Graduate_). It isn’t hard at all to ignore these things and “stay in” the narrative. Actual telephone numbers are just not that important to me. I guess maybe for some people they are, especially if there are actually people who are going to try to call them, thinking only God knows what. They call it “make-believe” because _ **you** _ make _ **yourself** _ believe. Not because the artist makes you believe with some kind of perfectly representational experience. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/86 "2011-03-02T22:07:23Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Could a person really sue if their number was in a movie? IANAL, but it is my understanding that people can sue for just about anything. They’d have to prove that they were harmed or suffered damages, I would think, but this wouldn’t seem too difficult if their phone never stopped ringing due to all the “clever” people calling. If it were a business number, and the business had spent money advertising the number, and potential customers could no longer get through, then damages would be even more clear. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > Could they win? I would think that would be up to the jury. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/87 "2011-03-02T22:23:16Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > They call it “make-believe” because _ **you** _ make _ **yourself** _ believe. Not because the artist makes you believe with some kind of perfectly representational experience. Its a joint effort though, the movie-maker _(depending on the nature of the movie)_ presents a story with a fair approximation to reality and the viewer willingly overlooks the unavoidable inaccuracies to immerse themselves in the fictional reality presented. I’m not American and the 555 convention never bothered me until I read about it, possibly on this very forum, but now every time its used it immediately jumps out and does grate slightly. Really how difficult would it be to avoid giving out an obviously fictional number? There are plenty of valid and easy methods used upthread to do so. The first paragraph relates to a movie I recently rewatched, Terminator 3, I recall hating it when I saw it in the cinema but on rewatching its actually not that bad. Not a great movie by any means but not as bad as I recall, the major problem is that the people making the movie seemed to be playing the whole thing tongue-in-cheek and throwing in a whole series of ‘clever’ references and a lot of inappropriate, out-of-context, humour which did nothing but utterly destroy any willing suspension of disbelief I attempted to engage in. One mark of a good storyteller and movie-maker is that they are able to engage you in the reality of the story they are telling, even if it is in a strange or fantastical context, Steven Spielberg is a ninja-master at this, one mark of a bad storyteller and movie-maker is that they don’t even try. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/88 "2011-03-03T22:06:22Z")
This kinda irks me too – doesn’t ruin the whole movie or scene, of course; it’s just a brief pin-prick of the illusion bubble. Like (as others have said) a boom mike suddenly showing up on camera, or the wobbling of a backdrop. I always enjoyed the lampshading of this convention in _Newsradio_. Jimmy James (Stephen Root) is trying to get the phone number from some attractive woman and she gives it to him, to his delight. Later he realizes, “Wait, 555…? Aw, that’s one of those fake TV phone numbers!” BTW, if I remember correctly from my Charles Schulz biography, _Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz_, the phone number in that _Peanuts_ strip that caused problems wasn’t random – it actually belonged to his friend/collaborator Lee Mendelson. Could be apocryphal (Mendleson is the author of the book) but when the Sunday strip appeared and calls began coming in, callers would ask “Is Charlie Brown there?” At one point, Mendelson’s daughter, who’d answered the phone, replied, “No, this is Lucy.” The caller hung up. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/89 "2011-03-03T22:08:36Z")
Recent article in Cracked included a [pic worth sharing](http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/photoshop/3/7/2/45372.jpg?v=1). ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/90 "2011-03-04T04:52:15Z")
Are there no fake area codes? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/91 "2011-03-04T14:56:11Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Are there no fake area codes? It used to be easy to make a fake area code: just have any number other than a 1 or a 0 as the second digit. But, if you go back that far, you reach into the ancient history where practically no one had to give their area code with their number because practically everybody could use 7-digit dialing. Even relatively small metropolises like Charlotte have required 10-digit dialing for 10 years or so now. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/94 "2013-03-05T06:31:50Z")
If 555 kicks you out of the movie, you were never that deep in to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/95 "2013-03-05T10:27:50Z")
One thing that wasn’t mentioned before is that there are now genuine working 555 numbers. It’s only 555-0100 through 555-0199 that aren’t issued. That’s got to be inconvenient for somebody who has a number like 555-1234 and is always having to convince people he isn’t giving them a fake number. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/96 "2013-03-05T11:35:30Z")
> [@The\_Jay](#): > > The thing is, 555 is so ingrained in film TV that whenever I see a work around (say, a real number, or a real number with one or two digits concealed) it also takes me out of the movie. Because I start thinking “Ohh I wonder if that is a real number?” or “oh I see what you did there!” > > Anyone else? Sorry it’s taken a couple of years to reply, but “me too!” There is nothing a movie producer can do with a phone number that won’t get my attention. Use a 555 number? Ah-hah! They are adhering to the convention. Don’t use a 555 number? Why not? Is some poor schmuck gonna get inundated with crank calls? Hide part of the number? Ah, clever way to get around the 555 convention. Best just to avoid giving out phone numbers. I notice that a lot of the TV shows now have characters saying “I’ll text you that number” or “I’ll text you that address.” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/99 "2013-03-07T18:05:03Z")
> [@reverendflash](#): > > Likewise, when you said “If 555 kicks you out of the movie, you were never that deep in to begin with.”, your logic was backwards. It’s exactly BECAUSE I am so into a movie that a tell-tale sign like that (indicating that it’s only a movie) suddenly jars me enough to momentarily spoil the illusion. If I were passing through a room where some people were watching a movie on television, and I glanced at the screen and noticed a 555 number, I wouldn’t be taken out of the film because THEN I would not have been in it to begin with, so it wouldn’t bother me. No you’re not, because you’re still attempting to impose your reality upon the film. If you were in it, you’d accept that within the world of the movie numbers can start with 555. Plays and movies are quite different, you’re right, but the idea that a play cannot be escapist is laughably ludicrous. I mean, the entire point of Brecht’s work with alienation effects was to try to jolt audiences out of ‘escaping into the world of the play’. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/100 "2013-03-07T18:09:20Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > If 555 kicks you out of the movie, you were never that deep in to begin with. No I disagree. It is precisely \*because \*I am so immersed in a movie, that hearing a 555 area bothers me so much. If I was not that immersed in a movie, I wouldn’t care because I was already not that into it and it wouldn’t stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/101 "2013-03-07T18:26:34Z")
What about the 3 minutes of floating text at the beginning of the movie? A narrator without a framing device? Someone getting a parking spot right in front of a well-known building in a busy city? Why is 555 such an outrageous violation of the movie-world but none of the other cheats and shortcuts? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/102 "2013-03-07T18:54:16Z")
I always wanted a hacker character in a movie to have perpetrated a really major hack on the entire phone system and inserted as his number something like 5#2-4\*8-2##1 using the asterisk and hash keys on the phone number pad. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/103 "2013-03-07T22:08:24Z")
Seeing 555 doesn’t “kick me out” of a movie as such. It just makes me think “What a bunch of lazy movie makers. What else are they cheapening out on?” Good filmmakers care about doing things right. Using “555” isn’t doing things right. It’s like when a character’s shirt changes back and forth between camera angles. You know that this is not going to be a well done movie. If you don’t do the small things right … It is so easy to get a phone number. Just sign up to Google Voice, for example. Use that, all 10 digits. You can even get one with some choice of numbers/letters. (Mine includes “ftg”.) You only need to hold onto it for a couple years. Whoever gets it after you can’t sue since you had it first. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053/104 "2013-03-07T23:12:48Z")
I usually notice, but don’t care about, the 555 numbers. However yesterday I was watching an old episode of NCIS:LA and they had their wall-sized touch-screen monitor showing a perp’s cell phone log. The long list of lined-up 555 numbers _really_ stood out. It looked completely silly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-my-phone-number-is-555-5555-in-films/573053.md?page=6)