[4] Steve dropped out of high school and joined the United States Coast Guard when World War II broke out.
[2] Shagan came to Hollywood in 1958 with his wife,[5] Elizabeth Florance "Betty" Ricker, whom he married on November 18, 1956, in Quincy, Massachusetts.
He then adapted his 1979 novel The Formula into a 1980 film of the same name, which he also co-produced and which reunited him with Save the Tiger director John G. Avildsen.
Of the performances by Brando and Scott in The Formula, Steve Shagan reportedly stated: "I sensed a loss of purpose, a feeling that they didn't want to work any more and had come to think of acting as playing with choo-choo trains.
Shagan also wrote the teleplay for the made-for-television movie Gotti, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special.