David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production firm has agreed to a deal with TV writers and will return to the air next week. Congratulations to Letterman who chose to work with the writers rather than follow the example of Jay Leno and Jon Stewart who will come back without their staffs.
Leno and Stewart say its a difficult situation because while they support the writers, the strike also forces layoffs for staff members who are not writers. They have said they don't want those workers to suffer because of the strike.
As we've said before, this strike is an important one for the writers. They're simply asking to be paid for their work when it is used to make additional profits for the networks. It's a principle that has been used with musicians and other artists for some time.
The networks say the work can't be valued, yet they sue YouTube and others for millions of dollars when the work appears in places where the networks can't profit. Suddenly when their pocketbooks are at risk, the product has value.
Guild leaders said in a letter to membership Friday that Worldwide Pants accepted "the very same proposals that the guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on December 7."
We hope guests that frequent the late night talk shows will beat a path to Letterman's door to support his efforts and avoid Leno and Stewart who are helping their employers' profits at the expense of the writing staffs.
The writers are correct to stand their ground and they deserve more support than they're getting from people whose careers depend upon the magic of words.
- Jim Grinstead
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