Rocky Balboa press reports teach authors and book-to-screen writers great lessons. Most people know screen actor Sylvester Stallone starred in the movie Rocky and played the character Rocky Balboa. Press them further and they unlikely know he also wrote Rocky and is credited as the movie screenwriter.

Unlike most adaptations, Rocky began as a screenplay and was later adapted and published into a book, a novel, also titled Rocky. More often, the adaptation process is a Hollywood book-to-screen adaptation, as opposed to a script-to-novel adaptation.

Stallone said in an interview that during negotiations for Rocky, he was offered as high as $360,000 for the rights to his screenplay (this was in 1975), but he refused because they wouldn’t let him star in the movie. He instead chose to sell his dog for $50 because he couldn’t afford dog food. He later bought it back for $1500.

There’s something remarkable about Stallone’s personal story as well as that of the title character, Rocky Balboa. Press reports and box office earnings from the time confer. Stallone’s movie has inspired generations to be like Balboa — press on!