WGA Takes Issue with Leno Monologues

BURBANK, January 4: The Writers Guild of America has accused
Jay Leno of violating union rules for penning his own monologue for The
Tonight Show on NBC.

The WGA said in a statement that Leno’s writing for The
Tonight Show “constitutes a violation of
the Guilds’ strike rules.”

Leno is among several late-night talk show hosts who have
resumed new episodes without their writing staff. Only David Letterman and
Craig Ferguson have their writers on hand, after Letterman’s production company,
Worldwide Pants, struck a deal with the WGA.

According to an AP report, NBC maintains that the “WGA
agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologue for The Tonight Show. The WGA is not permitted to implement rules that
conflict with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the
studios and the WGA.”

The contract reportedly includes a provision that “material
written by the person who delivers it on the air” is exempted from the
agreement. The WGA maintains that the provision is only valid if the individual
is not also employed as one of the writing staff, as Leno is.

Leno’s return on Wednesday out-rated his talk-show
competitors, drawing some 7.2 million viewers.

—By Mansha Daswani