Letterman Back to Late Night, Backed by WGA?

Sick of watching reruns? Nervous you'll only get 8 episodes of Lost next season? Well, The NY Times reports on the first break in the writers' strike.

David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing.

Executives from Mr. Letterman's company said Saturday that they are hopeful they will have an interim agreement in place with the guild as early as this week. That could potentially put Mr. Letterman at an enormous advantage over most of his late-night colleagues.

This seems like a good compromise -- allowing the crew to get back to work, Letterman to edge out Leno, and of course the late night couch potatoes would be happy with some new episodes. Will anyone follow suit?

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show" has also been urging an interim agreement and would begin working toward getting one in place the first thing Monday morning, according to a representative. But Mr. Letterman is in a stronger position because, unlike Mr. Stewart, his show is not owned by a network but by Mr. Letterman's independent production company, World Wide Pants. (So is the show that follows it on CBS, "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," which would return with writers under the proposed interim agreement.)

Meanwhile, tomorrow the writers plan to demand (within their legal rights) that the "studios and network production companies bargain with the guild individually rather than as a group." This would of course create an even bigger headache for the producers alliance (which does the bargaining for all companies involved). A letter to WGA members on Friday, that we received a copy of, stated: "We nonetheless continue to hope that the AMPTP will return in good faith to negotiate a fair contract with writers, as two television seasons and numerous feature projects are currently at great risk."

The late night writers haven't yet mentioned the possibility of a return on their blog. We wonder how other WGA members feel about this. Just last week we received a letter stating "the WGA filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the AMPTP for its refusal to bargain in good faith with the WGA. It is a clear violation of federal law for the AMPTP to issue an ultimatum and break off negotiations if we fail to cave to their illegal demands."

Photo via myserenity1's flickr.

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By Jen Carlson in News on December 16, 2007 10:50 AM

Comments [rss]

Elderta

It's just a union, and they must be bad. Damned if the members of said union actually have a worthy fight on their hands, eh? Is that your point, Spirit?

Not every union fight is a bad one... and what part of "unions may have their problems" that I said early that you didn't get? In this case, the writers are the ones with the legitimate problem... they don't want to be shortchanged like they were in dvd and vhs sales...

I'll repeat: not every union fight is a bad one. Sometimes, the unions do the right thing.

Spirit of 76

Strikes and picket lines are a capitalist form of terrorism. The union is threatening everyone one, intimidating scabs, actors, directors, and other crew alike from doing work on the shows they've stopped production on. They say that if you cross their lines, you'll pay for it later on. In a real free market, if you don't like the work, you look for another job and let someone else take your place if they want.

If you worked at a company where what you did was being used to generate I'd hope you ask to share in that profit.

Do architects and engineers have unions? No. Do their end products "generate"? Yes. Yet I don't see any architect demanding to get a share of the rental income from a building he designed. I don't see any engineers picketing for a better cut. I have engineer friends at Boeing. None of them get a cent every time I take a flight. What about web designers and reporters? Web designers get paid for whatever work they do, but not a percentage of the site's income. Reporters don't get money every time somebody reads their stories in paid newspaper archives.

redhookreject

Spirit what is your point here? that you don't have to join a union to do what you do? Well that's great and neither do I. But those creative unions like the WGA do so because it is a unique talent.

You cast your broad strokes over this group pretty liberally without really getting what they are asking for... They want to be paid for the new uses of their work. If you worked at a company where what you did was being used to generate I'd hope you ask to share in that profit. Other wise that whole free market argument you made is pretty weak.

and they don't hire scabs because they know that the product will be inferior and they will have to charge less for advertising... lose viewers... and generally be hurt in the pocketbook. ie reducing their position in said free market.

what don't you get???

Spirit of 76

Oh, BTW, it's telling that while my "views on unions are pretty 17th century," unions have been seriously declining in both membership and influence in the last few decades. Perhaps my views are pretty 21st century.

Spirit of 76

If these shows want to hire scabs and put a lesser product on air then they will. But you get what you pay for, and they know it.

Then let them! If the new writers are that bad, they'll lose viewers and sponsors and be begging the old writers to come back at any price. I don't belong to a union and I don't have to. If somebody can do my job as well for less, I'm gone and I'm fine with that. But they can't, so I have job security. People should be judged and paid on merit, not on how many others they can take to the picket line with them.

matthew gannon

If it's a free market economy then you should be free to organize collectively for better wages.

Unions have done well for members. Corporations and wealthy capitalists have done better.

JacqueMehoff

sounds good BB, cause I'm definitely against any Producers. They make so much money and demands it's ridiculous. it's all image to those types.

Blairy Blair

Spiritof76:

Wrong! Valuable employees are ripped off all the time. It isn't in Capitalism's best interest to offer people good wages and good deals on products. The system is designed to rip off people at the expense of profit for the few. You're dreaming in the neo-con clouds.

Blairy Blair

Spiritof76:

Wrong! Valuable employees are ripped off all the time. It isn't in Capitalism's best interest to offer people good wages and good deals on products. The system is designed to rip off people at the expense of profit for the few. You're dreaming in the neo-con clouds.

Blairy Blair

Jacque,

The way the AMPTP negotiates would be like if there was one organization to represent Ford, GM and Chrysler instead of letting the UAW negotiate contracts with the individual companies themselves. If individual signatories begin making deals with the WGA directly, this is good for the writers and it weakens the (possibly illegal) AMPTP alliance.

JacqueMehoff

isn't Solidarity forever a Union Mantra?

How are individual talks helping the Union members when only some work and some don't?

the entertainment industry is crazy. this coming from a former Union delegate and a former employee in the entertainment industry.

Elderta

And other thing... most WGA writers don't get paid giant bucks. It's a lucky few who do. They got ripped off with VHS and DVD sales; I really hope they don't get ripped off with the Internet, too. Good luck, writers! I, for one, am with you (even if I do miss Jon Stewart something terrible).

Elderta

My point was that unions help protect both wages and lives. If you were a writer and weren't getting what you thought was a fair share, you'd be pissed, too. The analogy was a crazy one to match the crazy one that you threw out there. I usually agree with you on stuff, Spiritof76, but your views on unions are pretty 17th century.

redhookreject

Hey spirt, a free market is a two way street. If these shows want to hire scabs and put a lesser product on air then they will. But you get what you pay for, and they know it. And in this case and this strike its about getting what your worth, and getting the highest fee for your services. Just what a free market is designed to do.

So before you pull out Upton Sinclair, understand what your argument is. Is it unfair work practices, not really, is it getting what your worth? absooofuckinlutly.

what is your argument? or are you just a ditto head?

Spirit of 76

Wow. Are you really so blind that you can't differentiate between wage issues and truly illegal behavior? Those women didn't die because they weren't paid enough. They died because of dangerous working conditions in a firetrap factory with illegally chained doors. All they needed are labor LAWS to be written and enforced. Laws are the purview of government, not unions. Are you saying these poor writers are being handcuffed to their PCs and denied food, water and bathroom breaks until they get the next script out?

Elderta

Right... because corporations are always willing to pay the people what they want. Unions may have their problems, but there's a good reason why we have them. Just ask any young female worker who had to jump out of a burning shirtwaist factory or something in the 1800s... they could tell you all about it... if they hadn't been burned alive or died on impact with the pavement.

But then again, maybe you are being facetious. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Spirit of 76

Unions! Friggin' leeches on society. Ban them all! This is the U.S. of A. It's supposed to be a free market society. If nobody wants to pay you what you demand but others can do your job just as well for less pay, you should be out of a job, plain and simple. On the other hand, if you're truly invaluable, your employer will pay you whatever you want.