NBC Finds Way Around Paying Casey Anthony for Interview

The honchos at NBC -- the C stands for crafty -- think they figured out a way to snag an interview with Casey Anthony without paying a red cent, and make her a wealthy woman at the same time.

We've learned an NBC news producer has reached out to people in the literary world, trying to score a book deal for Anthony. The producer has contacted literary agents and others, telling them if he scored a book deal for Casey, she'd give the network a 1-hour, primetime special ... portions of which would also run on "Today."

The producer makes it clear -- NBC couldn't pay a cent for the interview. But he is gung-ho about the book deal, even representing that Casey wants up front money.

Baez was quick to add, "Casey is not ready to do an interview."

We tried multiple times to get a comment from NBC -- so far, no luck.