SHAGGY DOG STORY

In Hollywood, sometimes the story behind the deal is more interesting than the story in the script.

Take “K-9,” about a policeman and his canine partner. When it came in at 20th Century Fox, no one at the studio had heard of first-time writers Andrew Charles and Scott Myers.

But the script was well-received: “No one thought much of the writing, but the idea seemed like a very commercial concept,” said a Fox insider. “You could see the potential for a TV series, too.”

But the Fox execs didn’t know that Andrew Charles was actually a pseudonym for Steve Siegel, an assistant to Fox exec Michael Levy (Scott Myers is Siegel’s partner). Siegel’s own company offered the pair $30,000 for a first draft, according to Fox production president Scott Rudin.

But a bidding war ensued--and rival Universal Pictures won it, paying $300,000 up front with a $300,000 bonus if “K-9” ever gets made.