By the mid-1970s, the writing was on the wall for Sylvester Stallone. In an era when average Italian-American actors were getting passed over for pretty much everything but mob flicks, Stallone couldn't even land a role as one of Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) 300-plus nameless Italian wedding guests in "The Godfather." No one was going to give him a career — so he'd have to make one for himself.
With no prospects coming from writers, Stallone resolved to craft his own opportunity. In 1975, he penned the screenplay for "Rocky" in just four days, after which he gave it to none other than "Happy Days" star Henry Winkler. Having remained friends after their time in "The Lords of Flatbush," Winkler helped get the script in front of network executives at ABC — and they ultimately chose to produce it as a TV film. But when the network wanted to remove Stallone from the project, he urged Winkler to withdraw the script from contention. Fortunately, another Winkler read "Rocky."
Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff loved the "Rocky" screenplay so much that they offered Stallone $360,000 for the rights to turn it into a major motion picture. Once again, however, Stallone faced pushback from studio execs when he insisted he'd play the title role. Eventually, all parties agreed to allow Stallone to act for union wage, which gave him $80 a day for acting. In the end, his deal resulted in about $35,000 for the entire shoot — screenplay included.
