In 1978, Herbert Ross was shooting "Nijinsky" at Shepperton Studios and invited Potter to write the screenplay for his next project "Unexpected Valleys". But after watching "Pennies from Heaven" on television one evening, Ross contacted Potter about the prospect of adapting that series for the cinema. The film version of "Pennies from Heaven" was launched at MGM as an 'anti-musical' with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters in the lead roles. According to Potter, the studio demanded continual rewrites of the script and made significant cuts to the film after initial test screenings. The film was released in 1981 to mixed critical reaction and was a box-office failure. Potter, however, was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar that year.