Posted on Thu, Nov. 30, 2006

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Filmmaker tries inventive ‘Phone Sex’

By ROBERT W. BUTLER

The Kansas City Star

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Let’s talk about creativity.

Specifically, let’s talk about making something out of nothing.

Filmmaker Steve Balderson, 31, lives and works in Wamego, Kan. He spent several years making “Firecracker,” a hallucinogenic feature (shot in Wamego) about murder in a small town. It featured Karen Black and Faith No More singer Mike Patton.

Though “Firecracker” didn’t get widespread distribution, it was the opening night film at last year’s Chicago Underground Film Festival and scored a rave 4-star review from Roger Ebert.

This summer Balderson decided he was wasting time waiting for the financing for his next film. It was time to make a movie. But he had no money.

He made a movie anyway. And it cost him practically nothing.

It’s called “Phone Sex,” and he did it by phoning, faxing and e-mailing people he knew, or who his friends knew, or who he simply knew of, and inviting them to leave him a voicemail message answering the question “What is sexy?”

More than 90 of them called back.

Famous people like comic Margaret Cho, porn star Ron Jeremy and magician Penn Jillette.

Sorta famous people like Lloyd Kauffman (the producer/director of Troma Entertainment), Tura Satana (the towering star of Russ Meyer’s 1965 cult classic, “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”) and drag superstar Jackie Beat.

Local folk like blues songstress Kelley Hunt.

Some talked for a few seconds. Some rambled on for many minutes.

Some took the philosophical long view of sexiness, while others got very specific about what turns them on.

Balderson took their comments, created a 95-minute soundtrack and illustrated it with several hundred photographs that run the gamut from astronomical images to shots of rural Kansas to portraits of famous movie stars.

“Phone Sex” goes on sale Tuesday at selected video stores and through Balderson’s Web site, Dikenga.com.

“Here’s a project that literally required nothing more than long-distance service,” Balderson said. “No actors. It’s a movie one person could make. When I hear people saying, ‘Oh, I wish I could make a movie,’ my response is, ‘Well, just be creative.’ ”

Balderson said he was surprised at how many people — people who didn’t even know him — responded.

“Of course there were a lot of people who didn’t call back. The whole project was sort of a big mystery. They didn’t know what the other people were saying; they had to go into it completely cold.

“But what surprised me was how incredibly open and honest the people who phoned in were. Even if they were funny, it was clear that they’d really given some serious thought to what sexiness is all about.”

Balderson put together the film on his Macintosh computer and with his own videotaping equipment. The biggest expense was producing the actual DVDs for sale.

“Phone Sex” isn’t a conventional movie. It’s part documentary, part art film. In fact, Balderson thinks ideally it should be viewed as part of a museum installation, where art lovers could wander in and out of the room.

“It doesn’t have to be shown in its entirety,” he said. “I think it may work best playing like a TV show in the background, or on your computer while you’re working. You can be doing other things, but it sort of creeps into your mind. It would also be great as a background element at a party.”

“Phone Sex” won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. Balderson is OK with that.

“As a filmmaker you’ve got to please yourself, and you’ll find an audience. No matter what you do, some folks will appreciate it and others will hate it. Might as well make yourself happy.”