In what may be the first break in the Hollywood writers' strike, David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing.
Executives from Mr. Letterman's company said Saturday that they are hopeful they will have an interim agreement in place with the guild as early as this week. That could potentially put Mr. Letterman at an enormous advantage over most of his late-night colleagues.
Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show" has also been urging an interim agreement and would begin working toward getting one in place the first thing Monday morning, according to a representative. But Mr. Letterman is in a stronger position because, unlike Mr. Stewart, his show is not owned by a network but by Mr. Letterman's independent production company, World Wide Pants. (So is the show that follows it on CBS, "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," which would return with writers under the proposed interim agreement.)
The news of Mr. Letterman's potential deal came at the same time the union took a new tack that could potentially throw the negotiations into procedural chaos. The writers' representatives said they planned on Monday to exercise a legal right to insist that the major studios and network production companies bargain with the guild individually rather than as a group.
In a letter sent to members on Saturday, negotiators for the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said: "Each signatory employer is required to bargain with us individually if we make a legal demand that it do so. We will make this demand on Monday."
The writers' move was aimed at breaking what has been, at least in public, a united front by a small number of media conglomerates General Electric, News Corporation, Sony, Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom and CBS whose entertainment units dominate the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group.
In a statement, the producers alliance immedately dismissed the move as "grasping for straws." J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the the alliance, said in an interview that his group remains the bargaining agent for each of the represented companies, whether they proceed individually or together.
The alliance "represents all the companies both individually and on a multi-employer basis," Mr. Counter said. In all, about 350 production companies are represented by the alliance, whose stance is controlled by representatives of the big corporations.
Even if forced to bargain separately and representatives from both sides said they expected the unions' position to be challenged the companies would remain free to deal through the alliance and would be permitted to let other companies monitor their separate talks, allowing them to remain on common ground.
Since the alliance was formed in 1982, no Hollywood union has tried to force individual bargaining across the board. But Anthony R. Segall, general counsel for the West Coast guild, pointed out that interim contracts with various companies have been reached during prior walkouts. Such contracts, said Mr. Segall, typically use "most favored nation" arrangements that promise signers final terms as at least favorable as those signed by any other company.
No agreement had been reached with Mr. Letterman's proposal as of late Saturday afternoon, according to both Mr. Segall and reprentatives of Mr. Letterman's company. Rob Burnett, the chief executive of World Wide Pants, said in a statement, "Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit." He said the company had been seeking a separate deal with the Guild since the start of the strike, adding, "We're happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible."
All of television's late-night shows have been off the air for six weeks since the strike was called. The hosts have been paying the salaries of their non-writing staffs over the past several weeks.
The hosts have been debating when they might be able to return and it has been expected that at least the two chief NBC late-night stars, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien both of whom are the longtime ratings leaders in their time periods would announce early Monday a plan to come back, probably on Jan. 2.
It is expected that any interim agreement with World Wide Pants would bind the company to accepting whatever terms are finally agreed to when the writers and studios settle the strike. CBS executives have been aware of Mr. Lettermans efforts, said Chris Ender, a corporate spokesman for the network. He said in a statement that CBS respected Mr. Lettermans attempt to secure the interim agreement but emphasized that CBS remained unified with the producers in their negotiations with the Guild.
