"People thought it would be the death of the sitcom," says Carter Bays, executive producer of "How I Met Your Mother." With a few exceptions, "Cellphones have totally eliminated the existence of the 'drop by.'
In some cases, cellphones create problems while opening up new possibilities at the same time. For instance, they lead to a larger number of phone scenes -- which, as every director knows, can be deadly to watch. But they make those scenes more dynamic, allowing the characters to be outside and on the go.
Schwartz defends the cell-heavy "Gossip Girl," saying that phone conversations are "less dramatic, but they are becoming so accepted because the other version" -- conversing in person -- "is seeming so alien."
Because cellphones are more private than land lines, the scene in which a lover calls the house and accidentally talks to the cuckolded spouse will rarely happen again. But a wife receiving a racy text from her lover while surrounded by her family can be just as dramatic, as proven in the 2006 film "Notes on a Scandal."
"The Departed" was particularly creative in using cellphones to find new spins on old scenes. During a transaction between two gangs, the competing double agents played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon exchange info with their bosses via text. After Martin Sheen's character dies, DiCaprio gets spooked when he gets a call coming from Sheen's phone. A surprise ring on DiCaprio's cell as he pursues Damon almost gets him killed.
"Cellphones added to the characters' generalized anxiety, the same way cellphones add to our anxieties in everyday life," William Monahan, who won an Oscar for the screenplay, wrote in an e-mail. "In the film, the phone can be a tool for deception, or it can expose you."
Some recent suspense movies have been conceived around cellphones, exploiting society's paranoia surrounding the device. In the 2004 film "Cellular," a kidnapped Kim Basinger finds a land line, reaches a random beach bum on his cell and persuades him to save her. In Stephen King's novel "Cell" -- set to be a film directed by Eli Roth -- everyone using a cellphone becomes a zombie.
"Eagle Eye," opening Sept. 26, is about two regular people (Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan) forced to follow dangerous instructions via phone from a mysterious voice. "Whenever their cellphones ring they look at each other and go, '. . . something's going down,' " says director DJ Caruso. "One of our mantras was that at the end of this movie, we want you to fear your BlackBerry."
