An old David Letterman skit has resurfaced amid the ongoing writers’ strikes in Hollywood.
In May, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after a deal was not reached with representatives from Hollywood studios.
The union represents more than 11,500 writers across film, television and other entertainment forms. Production across the industry has been affected. The production of high-profile shows including Severance, The Last of Us, and The White Lotus have been impacted.
There is precedent for the strike. In 2007, the WGA took industrial action, with a key issue in the negotiations being royalties from DVD sales.
The 2007/08 strike lasted for 100 days, with nearly 25 per cent of primetime scripted programming over that period lost completely.
A sketch from The Late Show with David Letterman, which aired around that time, has recently gone viral on social media.
Shared by username @Todd_Spence, the clip is captioned: “During the WGA Strike of ‘07/’08, David Letterman did a bit on the AMPTP [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers]. As relevant now as it was then.”
In the clip, Letterman speaks about the strikes that were ongoing at the time, stating: “The big media companies have been criticised for refusing to negotiate but judging from this announcement, it seems like maybe the writers might be the ones who are being unreasonable.
“Can you believe that? All along we thought the enemy was big corporate show business but based on this announcement maybe we’re wrong, maybe the writers have been unreasonable.”
Letterman then played a fake public service announcement in which a voiceover is played over clips of picketing writers.
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“The Writers Guild of America is trying to portray the studios as greedy and unwilling to compromise,” says the voiceover.
“But consider the facts: when the writers complained about their share of revenue from online streaming of their programmes, we proposed a contract that doubled their percentage but the writers refused to sign even after we tripled and quadrupled our offer.
On the screen, visuals show “0 per cent” being doubled to “00 per cent” and tripled to “000 per cent” and quadrupled to “0000 per cent”.
— (AP)
“You just can’t win with these people,” adds the voiceover before signing off: “AMPTP: Cowards, Cutthroats & Weasels since 1982.”
Viewers have applauded the clip. One person wrote: “This bit is pretty spot-on in how the AMPTP responds to union proposals.”
Another added: “Classic Letterman. I love it,” while someone else wrote: “Same s***, different decade.”
In 2007, Letterman’s production company and the WGA reached an agreement that allowed the late-night host star to resume his CBS show with his team of writers, even as the strike continued elsewhere in Hollywood.
The major networks and studios had vowed to not give in to the writers’ demands but Letterman’s production company – Worldwide Pants – was able to reach an agreement with the striking writers because the company owns the late-night show and licensed it to CBS. In contrast, other shows are owned by their networks.
— (2019 Invision)
“We are a writer-friendly company,” Rob Burnett, the chief executive of Worldwide Pants, said at the time. “We don’t have a problem giving the writers what they are asking for. We think they deserve it, and we’re happy to give it to them.”
Earlier this week, a new report from Deadline claimed that AMPTP plans to let the WGA “bleed out” before resuming negotiations. It claims that the AMPTP plans to let the strike continue until the writers run out of money and are willing to compromise on their demands.
Multiple US late-night shows have been pulled off the air as a result of the strike, with Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert’s programmes on hiatus until an agreement is reached.
Following the announcement of the 2023 Emmy nominations on Wednesday night (12 July), nominees including Succession’s J Smith Cameron and Alan Ruck, Abbott Elementary’s Janelle James, and The Last of Us star Melanie Lynskey have reiterated their support of the striking writers.
Find the full list of Emmy nominees here.
