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There are a lot of rumors that David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants may not get its interim agreement because of a change of heart by the WGA leadership. But here’s a new statement from Rob Burnett, president/CEO of Worldwide Pants and long-time executive producer of The Late Show With David Letterman, regarding the status of its request for an interim agreement with the WGA:
“We are willing to agree to the writers demands that are within our control, so we have no reason to believe that an interim agreement can’t be achieved with the WGA. As a result, our only focus is on returning January 2nd with writers.”
Right now there’s still no firm date for Letterman, a WGA member, to return to work. Both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien announced Monday they would go back January 2nd. ABC said today that Jimmy Kimmel returns then, too. ”Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than 100 people whose financial well-being depends on our show,” Kimmel’s statement said. “It is time to go back to work. I support my colleagues and friends in the WGA completely and hope this ends both fairly and soon.”
Update: I’m told co-head writer Eric Stangel and his wife Elizabeth Weitzman just had Late Show‘s first “strike baby”: Eva Weitzman-Stangel, 7 lbs 12 ozs, born at 3:50 PM today, 19 inches long.
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We need to give Letterman his waiver and then do everything in our power to get celebrities to appear on his program and not the shows hosted by scabs Leno and O’Brien. Any word on what’s going on with Kimmel and SNL?
I think the WGA should go for it. If they want a domino theory of falling studios, it has to start with one. And even though WP isn’t the biggest company, Letterman himself is high-profile enough to make an impact. I worry if the WGA denies Dave, if and when he does go back (kvetching and complaining all the while) he’ll be mad at both sides, thus taking a huge asset away from the WGA. At the same time, I wouldn’t put it past him to hold out even longer despite the hit he would take ratings-wise.
That would be great news for the quality of Dave’s show, even though it’s very unlikely that an agreement will be reached.
At the same time, I find it interesting that the WGA has announced that it has no plans to single out Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien for the kind of targeted protests aimed at Carson Daly.
“Jay and Conan have been supportive of us from the beginning, and we understand the pressure they’re under,” said guild spokesman Jeff Hermanson.
However this plays out, I hope Dave returns in one form or another. The real villains here are the networks, and they — not these few comics — should be the target of our wrath. IMHO.
Can somebody explain to me the downside of giving WP the waiver? I’m confused.
Why does Letterman want to go back the same day as Leno? Leno will trounce him in the ratings that one day, because everyone will want to see how bad bad can be.
A strike waiver by any other name is still a strike waiver. That is clearly what Worldwide Pants is seeking, not a contract.
If Worldwide Pants signs a 3-year contract with the WGA, they should return to air with their writers. A strike waiver agreement to retroactively apply whatever the new contract is to the date that the strike waiver takes effect is not a contract. When writers return to work under a waiver, there is little difference between that and being financial core. The reason is that those writers do not have to suffer the challenges of the strike, yet will enjoy the benefits of whatever agreement is reached following the strike. That is EXACTLY how financial core works.
Even this AP article refers to strike waivers that were denied to HFPA and AMPAS as “interim agreements.” This “interim agreement” wordplay by Worldwide Pants is disappointing.
The Late Show is probably going to return to air on Jan. 2 – waiver or not, contract or not. I can acknowledge that Worldwide Pants wants to return to air in the best way, but I don’t respect returning under a waiver. Waivers do not help end the strike. Contracts do.
NO TO WAIVERS. YES TO CONTRACTS.
Dave can be trusted.
David Young pretty much said last night that there’s no point in making a deal with Worldwide Pants as it gives us no leverage towards other networks and just brings in money for CBS.
So i really don’t think they’re getting a waiver.
And yes, the WGA isn’t calling Leno and Conan scabs because they’re doing exactly what Johnny Carson and David Letterman did 20 years ago. Going back to their shows without their writers after waiting two months, so the non-writing staff and crew who has been with them for 10 years or more doesn’t go hungry. It’s not ideal, but it’s hardly a “scab” move.
how can the WGA not grant a waiver to Dave when they are willing to meet the demands by the writers? isn’t the idea to get individual companies agreeing to put pressure on the rest of them? i wonder if the wga even knows what it wants. let dave get on the air ranting at THEM, not us.
Leno and O’Brien are not “scabs”. Even if you don’t approve of what they are doing, they’ve expressed an intention to abide by guild strike rules. The “S” word should not be used indiscriminately.
How on earth can the WGA support Leno and Conan? Leno is already saying he will ignore strike rules and do a monologue! Both of their producers are saying that the resolve of actors not to cross a picket line has “softened” since December. Why are we supporting this? This could be a disaster….
Grant the waiver to Dave and put out a statement condemning those who appear on the scab shows! If we deny it and he comes back as well it will look like the WGA has no power at all….
Betrayers of the WGA:
Scab Dave
Scab Jay
Scab Conan
Scab Ellen
Scab Whoopi
and if they’re next:
Scab Jimmy
Scab Craig
Anyone who goes back to work hurts the strike.
All this does is help CBS get it’s ratings back up.
This is absolutely unbelievable. What incentive does Letterman have to agree to this deal if the WGA has announced an Amnesty for Scabs policy? Oh gosh, what are they going to do to punish him if he withdraws from negotiations, send him a smaller cookie basket than the lavish “Thank You For Scabbing” assortment we sent Leno and O’Brien? If we make the deal, we have to go to the wall for Letterman and against Leno and O’Brien (oh and if we don’t make the deal, then we STILL have to go to the wall against O’Brien, Leno, and any other host who scabs, Letterman, Stewart, whoever), but we’re not going to, so it’s the worst of all possible worlds. Leno and O’Brien will be blatantly scabbing, not even making a pretense of attempting to follow the strike rules, Letterman will get precisely no benefit out of this, and that will really help us push the 342 to break up the cartel. “Join us– get nothing and we’ll sell you out to Rupert Murdoch first chance we get. We just like him.” And meanwhile, NBC and CBS will both be rolling in cash and there’ll be blanket coverage of all the studio releases. If our new policy is Scabs Yay, then Ellen and especially Daly deserve a damn apology, sorry we lost our minds and for a moment imagined we were a union, and Ellen should take out full page ads pointing out the hypocrisy. What are we doing? Did we experience a takeover by Tom Short in the middle of the night?
Advertisers shouldn’t buy these bastardized versions of Tonight and Late Night.
This thing NBC has coming on January 2nd at 11:35 may be called The Tonight Show, but the Tonight Show includes a monologue and sketches. Maybe it has Jay Leno in it, but without a monlogue and bits, it ain’t the Tonight Show. Same goes for Conan.
If I were an agency buyer, I would not buy these shows. They are not the shows they claim to be.
I want to make this clear – “Guild spokesman” Jeff Hermanson does not speak for me nor for the majority of WGA writers. Mr Hermanson: the vast majority of the WGA membership does NOT approve of Leno and O’Brien returning. The vast majority of WGA membership feels you are sadly out of touch. Mr. Hermanson, Leno and O’Brien are viewed by many guild members as scabs. Why the hell would you give these idiots a pass and accord Ellen and Carson Daly such horrible treatment? Daly, in particular, is not even a WGA member.
I’m starting t think the Guild leaders are sadly out of touch. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel if our leaders misunderstand us to this degree.
PS – I am not a shill, I am just thoroughly disgusted.
Letterman should NOT be getting the waiver. No show should be getting a waiver. This is a strike goddamn it! Thousands of people are out of work and struggling to pay the bills and it’s a slap in the face to them as well as everyone else affected by this strike if a handful of WGA members are allowed to work and earn a paycheck during a strike called by the WGA. But Letterman’s writers want to work over the holidays while the writers they were standing with on the picketlines last week are still going to be standing on the picketlines in the fucking snow and catching their deaths. Disgusting. Either this is a strike for ALL members of the WGA or else it’s just a joke.
“Jay and Conan have been supportive of us from the beginning, and we understand the pressure they’re under,” said guild spokesman Jeff Hermanson.”
ATTENTION EVERYONE: It’s OK to scab, as long as you’re not Ellen or Carson Daly!
That is depressing. Why is the WGA giving these guys a pass?
WGA needs to get all over this thing. Someone is willing to negotiate and WANTS to bring their writers back to work. Get the damn deal done. It would be a shame if Letterman couldn’t go back on the air WITH HIS WRITERS the same day his competitors are returning WITHOUT theirs.
Give Dave his deal. Let him be the only guy with a writing staff, because he’s the only guy with the nerve to stand up the studios and deal with the WGA.
(Yes, I know Dave owns his company, and Leno doesn’t. But let Leno put the pressure on Zucker, what does he have to lose, his relationship with NBC has already been shot. By them.)
Sandy Daley -
Your entire post was slewed with misinformation. This is not a waiver like the Golden Globes and Oscars wanted. The Writers Guild made a clear statement over the weekend that they were willing to begin negotiating with individual companies. Well, they have to start somewhere – even if it means David Letterman’s small production company, which cuts its writers’ paychecks. By the way, this situation has total precedent since Carson did the same thing in ’88.
The Late Show has already canceled its shows through Jan. 1, so your idea that they want to work during the holidays is completely misled. I can also guarantee that should Letterman’s writing staff return before any other writers, the first place they will be on dark days is on the picket line, supporting the writers still on strike.
I understand that you’re probably not the only one to allow your rage to blind you, but many guild members have spoken out supporting Letterman and his writers. At least get your facts straight before ranting about something you know nothing about.
“Even if you don’t approve of what they are doing, they’ve expressed an intention to abide by guild strike rules.”
Uh huh. NPR is quoting The Tonight Show’s Executive Producer as flirting with the idea of a monologue, after all Johnny did one, right? And if Jay does one, the WGA will do nothing. Except cheer and send flowers. There is virually no way these guys could abide by the strike rules even if they wanted to, and there’s absolutely no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt there. There’s almost no way they can fill an hour of television without performing any tasks usually performed by writers. And hell, with leaders like these, next we’ll all be ordered to scab for free to help them out, because it’s so sad that they have no writers–that was SUCH a good pizza Leno brought!
Oh, and BTW? The deal’s dead. Vickers is also quoted as saying, “It certainly isn’t our first choice to go against them with writers,” and well, that’s good enough for the WGA. We don’t want to harm our scab friends.
“David Young pretty much said last night that there’s no point in making a deal with Worldwide Pants as it gives us no leverage towards other networks”
Not with our guys performing fellatio on Conan and Jay, it doesn’t.
If Letterman, Leno, O’Brian and Kimmel all go back to work, and CBS / NBC get the rewards of being able to sell advertising space at a higher rate… this is good ??? You don’t find this counterproductive??? Lots of crew people are out of work, is this the excuse that can now be used “I’m going back for my crew”. This is the sort of action that is going to start causing division. You can’t pick and choose who gets a pass and who gets called a scab. If you’re a member of WGA and your union is on strike against CBS/NBC, there is no excuse for crossing a picket line.
Signed,
An unemployed Teamster btl crew person, who walks the picket lines in support of the WGA.
Folks -There are thousands out of work. The only thing that will settle this impasse is for the AMTPT and Guild to ultimately sit down hammer out a deal acceptable to both. In the meantime, the only power the WGA has is to with-hold services in an attempt to pressure the other side to coming to some type of accord. What Letterman, O’Brien, Leno and Kimmel are proposing is tantamount to offering aid and comfort to the enemy (as the members of the Guild, that they are). It is tantamount to lifting the embargo and allowing a massive revenue-stream to pour into the network’s coffers thus empowering the AMPTP and in effect prolonging this strike. Please spare me the talk about “concern about our staffs”, when in reality these selfish and self-interested millionaires are concerned only about themselves. If they had any real compassion or concern about their fellows or in bringing a conclusion to this impasse, it would be by continuing the work-stoppage and thus motivating the AMTPT to action. All they are doing now is prolonging the strike by allowing their corporate bosses to resume their revenue-flows. They are hypocrites and sell-outs and have evidenced not a whit of sincerity in wanting to stand by their mates or use their influence to try and affect a resolution. Please. Let these gentleman be labeled for what they, in fact are and know in their own hearts to be. Sleep well, our good friends. You can be assured they’ll be hundred on the sidewalks with signs in our hands, only to glad to tell you to your face exactly what you are. But you know. And we know, and always and forever and ever will.
i think the wga should be generous towards both letterman and the awards shows. the more you give the more you get back and the more you tactically justify other people’s suffering to further your own union’s self interest, the less moral validity you have. the AAMPT are dickheads but my opinon’s turning against the union by the day. you’re either good guys or not.