WGA STRIKE UPDATE: Worldwide Pants to Meet with Guild Friday

David Letterman’s Production Company Seeks Side Deal for The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/19/2007 6:27:00 PM

David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company said it has a meeting Friday with the Writers Guild of America as it pursues a side deal that would allow its two late-night CBS shows -- The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson -- to return to the air Jan. 2 with writers.

“With the WGA now embracing a strategy of offering interim agreements to individual companies, it is inconceivable to us that there is any producing entity more deserving than Worldwide Pants, which has been and continues to be a staunch supporter of the Writers Guild and its positions,” said Rob Burnett, president and CEO of Worldwide Pants, in a statement.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live are all returning to the air Jan. 2, but they are all doing so without their writing staffs, as all three shows are owned by the media companies on whose networks they air.

The CBS shows hosted by Letterman and Ferguson are hoping to cut deals that would not only allow them to return with writers, but give them a competitive booking advantage, as more actors may be inclined to appear on their shows with them not being struck companies.

For full coverage of the strike, click here.