So we all know that David Letterman returned to the air last night with writers thanks to a separate deal his production company (Worldwide Pants) negotiated with the WGA.
Does anyone know if Worldwide Pants is part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP)?
If yes, does this mean that individual production companies are NOT bound by the rules / bylaws/ agreements / what have you that are keeping the WGA and AMPTP from structuring a new contract? Will other production companies follow suit and break away from the AMPTP? I imagine there must be other, smaller production companies out there that are sympathetic with the writers’ cause and could also work out separate agreements. Worlwide Pants can’t be the only one, can it?
If no, then does anyone know what other companies are also not part of the AMPTP? Are they also trying to work out separate agreements?
I’m obviously not overly familiar with the structure of the organizations involved, so if I’ve misstated anything or oversimplified anything, I apologize.
It’s a very interesting development. From what I’ve been able to gather from the outside by closely following both news stories and writer blogs and from talking to the very few people I know in the industry (including an actor and an actually striking writer/director), the majority of the organizations in the AMPTP would be amenable to settling the strike on conditions that are acceptable to the WGA, but there are a couple of hardcore holdouts who want nothing less than to break the unions forever. I’m not clear about Worldwide Pants’ relationship with the AMPTP, but as a production company they have clearly broken ranks. This can’t be good for the AMPTP. And judging by the content of last night’s Letterman show it’s probably going to get worse. Consider: You’ve got Letterman rocking the strike beard, talking about the strike almost exclusively, the show’s strike captain allowed to go on the air and deliver a vitrol-filled rant against the producers (“Take a crowbar to your wallets and settle this strike”) while Letterman laughed not three feet from him, the Top Ten list delivered by striking writers—one of whom wrote for Conan!—and a segment called “what if we didn’t have writers” where Letterman interviewed a member of his staff.
So you’ve got Letterman, one of the best-recognized and most-trusted people in America and who, in the producer’s view, is totally out of control and totally untouchable, on national television every night sticking it to the producers and putting a human face on the strikers. Meanwhile, the also-beareded, writerless Conan (who is himself one of the greatest television writers in the history of the medium) was doing YouTube-level material (and, to be fair, slaying with it) like seeing how long he can keep his wedding ring spinning on his desk and threatening to turn Late Night into a dance show.
For the time being, making a deal with Worldwide Pants looks like a very good move on the part of the WGA. The message to the more reasonable producers is clear: make a deal and get back on the air, or go down with the ship while we make fun of you every night on TV. Some in the AMPTP want to break the union, but the union breaking the AMPTP is, largely thanks to Letterman, totally within the realm of possibility.
Bravo for Letterman, but you’re so right about the quality of his program. I’ve been watching him since before he was on this station, and I’ve rarely seen a lamer show.
Speaking of which, how about Craig Ferguson? No guests at all, what’s that about? At least he had some pretty funny material, and he’s such a charming guy who can do improv and so on. (Getting a little tired of his lame Sean Connery, though.)
WAG here, from somebody who’s been following the guild blogs but doesn’t know the details.
Frankly the guild has been eager to make decent deals with individual production companies ever since Counter walked away from the bargaining table in early December. Apparently they have a ‘right’ to bargain with each company instead of collectively, and some of the people have been throwing around some nasty accusations about syndicate ‘collusion’ (If the writers have the right to bargain collectively, why not the studios, I say. But anyway.) And a small independent late-night deal like Letterman’s was pretty much always a ripe target for a deal like this, because they’re so dependent on the writing and don’t have much of a vested interest in the ‘precedent’ that they’re setting.
Not sure about the details, but the guild seems to be very happy with what they got, so I would imagine it’s most of what they’re asking the big studios for that’s relevant in this situation - residuals for the Letterman/Ferguson writers if and when the shows ever start getting streamed online, and maybe a raise in the residual rate for conventional reruns if Dave is sick again or whatever.
Most of the more contentious issues, of course, don’t really apply to Worldwide Pants - they have no say in the unionization of animation writers or reality TV employees, and they don’t really need to worry much about home video residuals… except for ‘Letterman’s best of stupid human tricks’ DVDs or something like that.
I just thought that featuring a Conan writer was a big deal. It’s Dave’s old slot, and Conan will be Dave’s direct competition in a couple of years. And yet Dave put one of Conan’s writers on his show.
On its website, AMPTP lists the motion picture and television producers that it represents in the negotiations. Worldwide Pants is not on the list (although it might still be a member of the AMPTP).
