[lbo-talk] Letterman's company, writers are primed to talk; Worldwide Pants takes the union up on its offer to negotiate with individual firms.

[John Adams]

This looks like an important development from here, but then, I'm two  
thousand miles away:

<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na- 
letterman16dec16,1,4468284.story?coll=la-headlines-nation>

Letterman's company, writers are primed to talk
Worldwide Pants takes the union up on its offer to negotiate with  
individual firms.

By Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 16, 2007

NEW YORK -- David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants,  
jumped at the chance Saturday to negotiate independently with the  
Writers Guild of America, saying it was eager to make a deal with its  
striking writers and get new episodes of its late-night shows back on  
the air.

The move by Worldwide Pants, which produces the "Late Show With David  
Letterman" and "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson," could bolster  
the union's efforts to break apart the alliance of studios and networks  
with which it has been at loggerheads.

Hours after the union told its members it would try to break the logjam  
by dealing with individual companies, Worldwide Pants Chief Executive  
Rob Burnett said the company would take the guild up on its offer.

"Because we are an independent production company, we are able to  
pursue an interim agreement with the guild without involving CBS in  
that pursuit," Burnett said in a statement. He added that the company  
told the WGA when the strike started that it would be willing to make  
such a deal consistent with the guild's demands: "It is our strong  
desire to be back on the air with our writers, and we hope that will  
happen as soon as possible."

CBS, which broadcasts the two late-night shows, said it respected  
Worldwide Pants' desire to help its employees. But network spokesman  
Chris Ender said that "should not confuse the fact that CBS remains  
unified with the [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers]  
and committed to working with the member companies to reach a fair and  
reasonable agreement with the WGA."

WGA officials did not have an immediate response as to how quickly  
negotiations with the company could proceed.

Bill Scheft, a veteran Letterman writer and the program's WGA strike  
captain, greeted Saturday's developments with relief. "This would be  
too good to be true," he said. "It's totally pro-writer, which is what  
Dave has been throughout. Ideally, other people would then fall in  
line."

On Saturday, guild officials sent members a letter detailing their new  
strategy, which they plan to present to individual studios on Monday.

"We want to do everything in our power to move negotiations forward and  
end this devastating strike," the guild's negotiating committee wrote.  
"The internal dynamics of the [alliance] make it difficult for the  
conglomerates to reach consensus and negotiate with us on a  
give-and-take basis."

An AMPTP spokesman dismissed the union's tactic, saying the guild was  
"grasping for straws" and that its members were unified.

The deal would be a major boon to Letterman, allowing him return to the  
air with his writing staff at a time when his rivals are sidelined.

The CBS host is in a better position to make an individual deal with  
the WGA than late-night hosts Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel,  
whose programs are owned by their networks.

They may return to the air without their writers -- a move considered  
likely to happen after the new year -- but could face problems getting  
guests to cross the picket line.

Since the strike began, all the late-nights hosts have worked to ensure  
that their non-writing staffs continued to get paid, with many doling  
money out of their own pockets. It's unclear how long they would be  
able to continue doing so; Letterman alone has been spending $300,000 a  
week on payroll.

For the last six weeks, the Letterman show writers have been a constant  
presence on the New York picket lines and have produced a lively blog  
about the labor stoppage.

Scheft said that while the show's writers would be thrilled to be back  
at work, "you think about all the people still left on the line."

"The longer it's gone on, the more I believe in what we're doing,"  
Scheft said.

matea.gold at latimes.com