Paddy Chayefsky

He Saw the Sign

The story of Marty begins with a really sad sign: "Girls, Dance With the Man Who Asks You. Remember, Men Have Feelings, Too."

Ouch, right? Bronx-born writer Paddy Chayefsky and director Delbert Mann were rehearsing for a TV movie they were working on together when they stumbled upon that heart-wrenching sign.

It turned out that the room was also used for a "lonely hearts" meeting (the old-timey word for "singles" in the pre-Tinder age), and this sad sign got Chayefsky's brain going. He began writing almost immediately, pitching a story about a guy who goes to a dance hall. And soon, in 1953, the TV-movie version of Marty was born.

Would You Like to Super-Size That?

When Marty jumped from the small screen to the big, Chayefsky worked on the subplots, including Clara's life and Aunt Teresa's move. It was the writer's first solo-written screenplay, but he stayed in film after that, winning Academy Awards not only for Marty, but also The Hospital and Network.

The moral of this story? The next time you scroll through Tinder Nightmares or Craigslist Missed Connections, think about penning a screenplay. It might just rocket you to the Oscars.