Charles Grodin got some of his actors friends involved in trying to pitch the film. Himself, Steve Martin, Gilda Radner, Penny Marshall and Tyne Daly all agreed to work for the least amount of money the union allowed.did so without even reading the script. When the film was finally green-lit, Grodin received no salary for writing or producing the film, only the minimum for working five weeks as an actor: about five thousand dollars for two years of work (seven years in total since the inception of the project).
While Charles Grodin was still going around every movie studio in Hollywood trying to get his script made, director William Asher agreed to make it for two millions dollars if people would defer salaries. This is why Grodin and Asher share a producers credit on the finished film.
In the mid 1970s, Paramount Pictures paid a great amount of money to secure the rights to Alex Comfort's sex manual 'The Joy of Sex' just so they could use the title, which they found to be highly commercial. In 1978 they hired Charles Grodin to write a script, telling him the movie 'could be about anything'. Grodin decided to use this exact situation as the premise: a Hollywood writer struggles to write a script based on a sex manual after a big studio acquires the rights. When he finished his first draft, Paramount passed on the project. The title was still used by Paramount Pictures for a 1984 teenage sex comedy (Joy of Sex (1984))
After Paramount Pictures put Charles Grodin's script in turnaround in 1978, he was free to offer it to other studios. However, since Paramount held the rights to the title 'The Joy of Sex', the film was re-titled 'Dreamers'. Columbia Pictures showed interest to produce 'Dreamers' with Peter Falk playing the leading role of the producer. But when the deal with Columbia fell through, Charles Grodin ended up pitching his screenplay to every studio several times over the course of the next seven years.
When the film was finally ready to go in front of the cameras, original lead actor Peter Falk was no longer available. Another well known comic actor had to drop out when he didn't pass his insurance physical. Walter Matthau agreed to star at the very last minute, receiving US $1 million, half his usual fee at the time for his work.