David Letterman and Craig Ferguson will be back on the air with fresh material next week, after a special deal was struck between the Worldwide Pants production company and the Writers Guild of America.
A statement on the guild website said “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” will return on Wednesday with a full writing staff, as part of a binding agreement with the Letterman-owned Worldwide Pants.
“[The] 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,” the statement reads.
It’s a positive breakthrough in the Hollywood writers’ strike that began Nov. 5. The dispute, Hollywood’s worst labour crisis in two decades, focuses on how writers will be paid for work distributed over the Internet, cellphones and other new technology.
Letterman said in a statement that he was “happy to be going back to work, and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers.”
He added, “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.”
