Research Project Down East

We have in Maine an agency called the Maine Film Office. When someone in Hollywood with 50 million dollars wants to film a Stephen King movie in Maine, our Maine Film Office will help them spend as much of that money as possible in Maine. And it came to pass that a movie producer called the Maine Film Office and asked where he could hear what a Maine accent sounded like. Much money was on the line, so arrangements were quickly made for the producer and a writer to quietly visit a store in Jonesport where lobstermen were known to drink coffee and talk. The visitors were told to show up early but to not sit at the center table because that was where the fishermen sat. The visitors should sit at a nearby table where they could order a coffee and hear what was going on. All went according to plan. The fishermen arrived on time and talked and the Hollywood people sat nearby and listened. But it was a somewhat shaken pair that checked in with the Maine Film Office later in the day. They couldn’t believe what they’d heard. For over two solid hours the only thing the lobstermen talked about was golf.