Painterly red pen, folded cream paper and an upright gold coin on teal.

Original artwork, not a still

Harry Zimm

I once asked this literary agent what writing paid the best, and he said, "ransom notes."

— Get Shorty · 1995

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker tells a wry story about asking a literary agent which kind of writing earns the most, and the agent answering with ransom notes. The gag is cynical: real money supposedly lies in menacing demands, not in books, poems or respectable literature.

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