Writers Guild makes a deal with David Letterman

NEW YORK -- David Letterman’s production company has struck an independent deal with the Writers Guild of America that will allow “Late Show With David Letterman” and its sister program, “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” to return to the air Wednesday with its writing staffs, according to a person familiar with the agreement.

Worldwide Pants, which produces and owns both programs, is the first company to strike a deal with the guild in the nearly 8-week-old strike. The terms of the agreement were not immediately known.

The accord means that when Letterman and Ferguson resume production next week, the CBS hosts will be the only late-night comedians back on the air with their writers. NBC’s Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert said earlier this month that they would also return with new shows in January, but without their writing staffs. (Because their programs are owned by their respective networks, those hosts could not make the kind of separate arrangement with the union that Worldwide Pants did.)

So while Letterman is reeling off his famous Top 10 List, Leno -- who is prohibited from writing under strike rules -- will have to rely on improv, musical guests and celebrity interviews.

The Worldwide Pants deal is a small bright spot for the guild, which is engaged in a bitter standoff with the studios. While the agreement covers only a small fraction of the 10,500 striking writers, it allows the union to make the case that it is willing to work with reasonable producers.

Still, even with Worldwide Pants offering to give the union the terms it sought, it took nearly two weeks for an agreement to be reached between the two sides.

More news on the strike

-- Matea Gold

The story continues: 'Heroes: Saving Charlie'

With a lingering writers strike, many TV fans are finding other storytelling outlets to occupy their time. Online tales, comic books and even card games (in the case of Fox's "24") are making the rounds.  For followers of NBC's "Heroes" who are looking for an action-filled, mystery-inducing romp reminiscent of the first season of the show, the novelized "Saving Charlie" might not fill that adrenaline junkie void.  But in terms of expanding on one of the show's more endearing and popular characters, it scores high marks.

"Saving Charlie" is a love story.  One that, due to Hiro Nakamura's powers of teleportation and time travel, literally spans a lifetime in months.

Back in the first season, Hiro and his friend Ando found themselves in a small Texas eatery (Burnt Toast Diner) while on their way to save the world. There they met Charlene "Charlie" Andrews,  a waitress who coincidentally has powers that cause her to superhumanly remember (and maybe more importantly) comprehend pretty much everything that she reads almost instantaneously.  In a few short minutes, Charlie learns Japanese and Hiro is smitten.  In a few more short minutes, Charlie is killed by the now infamous Sylar.  Hiro, feeling it's his duty and destiny, decides to use his abilities to go back in the past and save her.  And this is where the book comes in.

Holiday e-mail to WGA, East, members

Dear Fellow Members of the Writers Guild, East:

I write this to you two nights before Christmas. It’s tough as hell to be on strike during the holiday season. Not only are we staging outdoor pickets and other events in the throes of winter’s cold, we’re without work and paychecks at a moment when gift giving and good times are very much on the minds of everyone around us, especially our friends and loved ones.

Yet we know that what we’re fighting for is worth it, that we’re exchanging our temporary stress and discomfort for future gain and security, not only for ourselves but those who will follow us as wordsmiths and storytellers.

WGA's got Spirit

The Writers Guild of America, West, has issued the following statement regarding the Independent Spirit Awards:

"Film Independent came to us before the strike and the WGAW board decided to grant an interim agreement allowing for writing services for the Spirit Awards. The best way to get the awards season back on track is for the AMPTP to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild to get this town back to work."

More news on the strike

'Honk Profiler'

Late-night shoes continue to drop: Colbert and Stewart will return Jan. 7

This afternoon, Comedy Central announced that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would return to the cable network's airwaves Jan. 7. Neither show has had new episodes since the Writers Guild of America went on strike Nov. 5.

That leaves David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, who hope to negotiate an interim deal between their Worldwide Pants production company and the WGA, as the only late-night hosts who have no official return date.

Here is Comedy Central's press release:

"'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and 'The Colbert Report' will resume production on Jan. 7 with both shows returning to air that night without their respective writing staffs.  The Jan. 7 return follows a scheduled two-week, end-of-year hiatus that was previously built into the shows' production calendars.  We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again."

-- Comedy Central

"We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

-- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

More news on the strike

People's Choice Awards: Strike leaves little choice

Days after the WGA declined to give a waiver to the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards -- and at a time when many in Hollywood continue to worry that striking writers will derail the pomp, circumstance and box-office windfall that arrives with each award season -- another award show has decided to drastically alter its format to ensure a picket line won't disrupt the proceedings.

On Wednesday, the People's Choice Awards announced plans to produce its Jan. 8 broadcast in a "magazine-style" format. Instead of a live ceremony with presenters giving statuettes out to honorees, the show, hosted by Queen Latifah, will consist of taped pieces. A source close to the production described the new format as a post-produced show package.

Industry sources said the change in format came as a direct result of concerns about WGA picketing and the strike discouraging movie, television and music stars from attending.

The People's Choice Awards have been broadcast annually since 1975, recognizing the most popular people and work in popular culture. Unlike the Academy Awards, Emmys or Grammys, which are voted upon by professional peers, the People's Choice Awards are dictated by the general public. Honorees in music, movies and television are selected based on results from polls, market research and online voting. Categories run toward the esoteric and include favorite tour, favorite all-around movie and favorite hair.

More news on the strike

-- Chris Lee

The return of Jimmy Kimmel

In the end, it’s all about Uncle Frank and the rest of the gang.

As expected, ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, announced Tuesday that he, like NBC’s Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, will be crossing the picket line to go back to work on his live show Jan. 2. Kimmel, who has picketed and served lunch to picketing writers, has declined to speak publicly about the strike. But Tuesday’s announcement contained a statement from the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than a hundred people whose financial well-being depends on our show,” said Kimmel, who also employs a handful of family members and close friends on the show's staff.  “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.”

More news on the strike

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

HFPA responds to WGA's waiver denial

Statement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:

The Golden Globe Awards, which has a long and friendly relationship with the Writers Guild of America, is obviously disappointed that the WGA denied its request for a waiver.  However, we are encouraged by the fact that the WGA has announced that it plans to negotiate agreements with independent production companies.  Therefore, we will attempt to reach some type of agreement with them on behalf of the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which will recognize and honor outstanding achievements in both movies and television programming made before the strike. 

More news on the strike

WGA denies Oscar, Golden Globe waivers

Deepening its conflict with Hollywood's studios, the Writers Guild of America has denied requests for waivers from the producers of the Golden Globes and Oscars

Dick Clark Productions and the Foreign Press Assocation had sought a waiver from the guild's strike rules to allow writers to work on the awards show, to be aired on NBC Jan. 13.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had asked the guild for permission to use clips from movies and past awards programs that could be shown during the awards shows on ABC in February.

However, Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, rejected the requests in letters to both groups Monday night, citing the union's ongoing battle with studios to negotiate a new contract to replace one that expired Oct. 31. Writers are in their seventh week of a strike.

-- Richard Verrier

(full text of letters below)