 Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. paid $150,000 for the screen rights, an unusually high price tag during the Great Depression, and to ensure the film's success he hired Elmer Rice to adapt his own play.In early August 1933, Wyler met Rice in Mexico City, where he was vacationing with his family, for preliminary discussions about the script.Rice was loath to mix business with pleasure and assured the director he would begin working as soon as his holiday ended.