'Late Night With Seth Meyers' Now Halted Amid Writers Strike
The Writers Guild of America on Tuesday began its first strike in 15 years after the union was unable to reach a new contract with the labor group representing the major Hollywood studios, and the move is already having wide-sweeping effects on the TV landscape. As writers put down the pen and join the picket line, many scripted projects are going dark, with a number of late-night talk shows feeling the immediate effects, and on Tuesday, May 2, Late Night with Seth Meyers joined the growing list of series to pause production.
Although a new episode of Late Night aired Monday, May 1, after the WGA failed to reach a negotiation and its contract expired at 11:59 p.m., officially beginning a strike at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, there were no late-night writers in the office. As a result, Tuesday's episode was a rerun, with the schedule for the remainder of the week also scrapped. As the strike continues, and until an agreement is reached between the studios, networks, and writers' union, Late Night, as well as many other late-night talk shows, will air reruns in place of new episodes.
Ahead of the strike, Meyers had shown his support for writers during the "Corrections" segment of his show on Friday, telling his viewers, "I'm good at one thing, which is writing, and I love writing so much. I am deeply proud of the fact that I get to be a professional writer." Meyers noted that he was bringing "this up because as of Monday at midnight, there might be a writer's strike," adding that if a strike were to happen, "that would shut down production on a great many shows, and I've been through this before in 2007, 2008," referring to the last WGA strike. Meyers added that "it doesn't just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows, and it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through."
"I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show. I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here," he continued. "No one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living. I think it's a very reasonable demand that's being set out by the guild. And I support those demands."
It is unclear exactly what will happen to the late-night TV landscape as the strike continues. One showrunner told Deadline that they will "continue to talk to the other shows to see what they're up to." Last Night On noted that it is possible late-night hosts will return to the stage, albeit without their staff, if the strike continues long enough.