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Letterman Opens Wallet for Staff

Non-writers get help from boss as strike continues

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 15, 2007 6:24 PM CST
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(Newser) – David Letterman will open his own pocketbook to pay non-writer employees of two late-night shows his company produces, Deadline Hollywood Daily reports. With Letterman's own show and another hosted by Craig Ferguson idled by the writers' strike, Worldwide Pants confirmed today it will cover all or part of staff salaries through year's end.

While NBC owns Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show, CBS merely licenses its late-night slate, which is produced by Worldwide Pants. “Dave’s not doing this to get good press,” said one source. The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, says rumors that Daily Show host Jon Stewart would pay his writers for lost time have since been denied.

Television writers, from left, Barry Julien and Mike Brumm, writers for The Colbert Report, and Bill Scheff, right, a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman, joins a Writers Guild of America picket line outside News Corporation headquarters as the union's strike continues in New York, Friday, Nov. 9,...
Television writers, from left, Barry Julien and Mike Brumm, writers for "The Colbert Report," and Bill Scheff, right, a writer for "The Late Show with David Letterman," joins a Writers Guild of America...   (Associated Press)
Actor Robin Williams, left, Eric Stangel, center, and his brother Justin Stangel, both head writers for the Late Show with David Letterman, march in the picket line with others during the fourth day of a strike by television and film writers, Thursday Nov. 8, 2007, at the Time Warner Center...
Actor Robin Williams, left, Eric Stangel, center, and his brother Justin Stangel, both head writers for the "Late Show with David Letterman," march in the picket line with others during the fourth day...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by CBS, presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., laughs with host David Letterman after recounting some of his pants-suit jokes about her on the set of The Late Show with David Letterman, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007, in New York. Sen. Clinton also read her...
In this photo released by CBS, presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., laughs with host David Letterman after recounting some of his pants-suit jokes about her on the set of "The Late...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by CBS, talk show host David Letterman is interviewed on the Ball State University campus radio station that he helped found as an undergraduate, Friday, Sept. 7, 2007 in Muncie, Ind. Letterman was on hand to dedicate the David Letterman Communication and Media Building. (AP Photo/CBS,...
In this photo released by CBS, talk show host David Letterman is interviewed on the Ball State University campus radio station that he helped found as an undergraduate, Friday, Sept. 7, 2007 in Muncie,...   (Associated Press)
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NBC • CBS • Jay Leno • Jon Stewart • David Letterman • Hollywood writers' strike • Worldwide Pants

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