WGA, Letterman and Ferguson Strike Late Night Deal
Posted by: Ducky in Ducky Does TV, WGA StrikeLate Night could get funny again, well funnier than reruns at least. It looks like World Wide Pants (owning both Letterman and Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show) has successfully worked out a new deal with the WGA which will allow their shows to return with their writers.
According to TVGuide:
World Wide Pants has made a deal with the Writers Guild of America that will allow both Late Show and Late Late Show to resume production Wednesday with their respective writing staffs on board.
Helping make this special consideration possible is the fact that Letterman’s World Wide Pants owns both talkers and as such — and until Friday — had been working out a deal with the WGA.
“This is a comprehensive agreement that addresses the issues important to writers, particularly new media,” the WGA says in a statement. “Worldwide Pants has accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the [AMPTP] when they walked out of negotiations on Dec. 7. Today’s agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly.”
David Letterman also issued a statement, saying, “We’re happy to be going back to work, and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers. This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction.”
The pressure is now (conceivably) on other late-night hosts to follow suit, and the WGA has already called out one in particular: “It’s time for NBC Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers.”
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