Letterman, Ferguson Back Up Late

Fri., Dec. 28, 2007 3:43 PM PST by Josh Grossberg

David Letterman has the write stuff after all.

The gap-toothed comic's production company, Worldwide Pants, and the Writers Guild of America have stitched together a deal that will allow CBS' Late Show and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return to the air Jan. 2 with their full writing staffs.

Worldwide Pants, which produces both programs, initially had hoped to leave Late Show fans last week with a nice holiday gift—a pre-Christmas proclamation that Letterman would be returning to the home office—but discussions stalled.

Finally on Friday, the WGA confirmed that the two parties have reached a "binding independent agreement" that will allow him to resume broadcasting. In return, writers who work on The Late Show and The Late, Late Show will be fairly compensated for material they create that is distributed via the Web.

"Today’s agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously, a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly," read the union statement.

"It’s time for NBC-Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a companywide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers."

"I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement," Letterman said in a statement. "We're happy to be going back to work, and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers. This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction."

Since Letterman independently owns the production outfit, he was able to cut a side deal with striking writers. CBS had been airing repeats of his and Ferguson's gabfests since Nov. 5, when they went off air in solidarity with striking film and television writers who are seeking a bigger slice of the new-media pie. Both Letterman and Ferguson are WGA members.

Rivals Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel all announced plans early last week to resume broadcasting duties on Jan. 2 sans scribes.

They were quickly joined by Comedy Central's clown princes, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who revealed they would be coming back in fresh episodes starting Jan. 7 but would still honor striking writers by ad-libbing their way through the shows.

Like his late-night competitors, Letterman has been paying his writers out of pocket while they take to the picket lines.