Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2022, when the film Mr. Harrigan’s Phone had just been released on Netflix.
In the film Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, just released on Netflix and directed by John Lee Hancock, Mr. Harrigan asks Craig to look up a joke online using the keywords “screenwriter” and “aspiring actress” or “aspiring starlet”.
This nod does not appear in Stephen King’s original story, so it was added afterwards by the film’s director.
Although Mr. Harrigan includes Craig in his will and leaves him a good deal of money to pay for his education and his first steps in working life, he makes it clear that he does not approve of his plan to become a screenwriter. Since the two have formed a friendship, Harrigan begins to feel responsible for young Craig’s future. He does not explain why he does not want him to become a screenwriter, but he asks him to look up the joke about the screenwriter and the aspiring actress.
Mr. Harrigan’s screenwriter and aspiring actress joke
The real screenwriter joke is one of the oldest inside jokes in the Hollywood industry. And it is quite short.
“Once upon a time there was an aspiring actress who was so dumb that she slept with the screenwriter to get ahead in her career.”
In the film industry, the screenwriter is the person with the least power and authority: all they do is write a script and try to sell it at any cost. Once it is sold, the screenwriter disappears. And on top of that, screenwriters are very poorly paid in many cases.
Hollywood is dominated by directors and by the executives of the biggest film studios. In fact, even directors sometimes have little say when it comes to choosing the stars who will appear in the film.
And that is the only reason Harrigan tries to persuade Craig to look for another occupation: being a screenwriter will neither make him rich nor give him any authority. And no, no girl is going to make a pass at you and sleep with you hoping to get ahead in her career either, unless she is as dumb as the woman in the joke.
But of course, there is a double nod here, because Mr. Harrigan was stuck in the past in a way: nowadays screenwriters have indeed made progress in the film industry and become influential people within it.
See also: 10 short business and office jokes
Featured image: Victor Gregory, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
