TALK TO ME is the real life "NYPD Blue" meets "Dog Day Afternoon" - the first documentary profiling the lives and work of the extraordinary men and women of the NYPD Hostage Negotiating Team (HNT), who save lives and capture criminals with their words, not their guns. Their motto "Talk to Me" is emblazoned on all their gear.

Over 100 times a year the police in New York encounter situations that require the unique talents and training of the HNT, 90 elite detectives are on call all day and night to talk down desperate, suicidal, crazed, criminal, and terrorists threatening to take the lives of others and themselves. TALK TO ME is an action filled documentary narrative that develops personal stories from the pressured lives of those in the last line of defense against tragedy. With the exlusive and total access to the behind the scenes workings of the HNT during the negotiations, training, and day to day operations, we show the drama of the toughest challenges the police face and what it takes to be a negotiator.

HNT was created 25 years ago after the trauma of the Munich Olympics and the disaster immortalized in the film "Dog Day Afternoon". They are trained to handle both terrorist and criminal hostage takers. But most of their call outs deal with the emotionally disturbed and suicidal. Even though New York has more call outs than any other city in the country, HNT achieves a peaceful resolution in over 90 percent of their cases, has set the highest standards in this field, and has become the pioneering model for the FBI and internationally.

TALK TO ME is much more than simply riding shotgun with beat officers like "Cops". Through the time spent following the negotiators (both on and off the job), it becomes a powerful character-driven film about people in the most extreme and dangerous situations - a film about life and death, stress, fear, control, and the power of words - a film about pioneering non-violent methods of safe and secure policing.

The film follows the team over a six month period and shows a range of hostage call outs, from a Queens husband who has violated an order of protection and is holding a machete to his wife's throat, to a mentally ill man in Harlem who has barricaded himself and is threatening to shoot the police, to a suicidal jumper on the Triboro Bridge. We also explore the stresses on the negotiators in an incident that ends in tragedy: a man barricades himself with a shotgun after holding his wife hostage, then shoots himself before the team is able to engage him in dialogue. The film culminates in a hostage stand off with a man holding a gun to the head of his 12-year old nephew. He surrenders after 11 hours of intense, harrowing negotiation.