Read This: Late night writers explain labor implications of Colbert cancellation
Much has been said about the firing of Stephen Colbert and cancellation of The Late Show, but we’ll no doubt be examining the consequences of Paramount’s controversial move for years to come. The implications are not just felt on the political side, but also in the sphere of Hollywood labor, as some late night writers and Writers Guild of America members explain in a new piece for Vanity Fair. Both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, a late night show is an important part of the entertainment ecosystem.
For one thing, it’s a training ground for writers (VF points out that American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and The Menu‘s Seth Reiss both came up as late night staffers). The Late Show platform is also a vital promotional tool for other Hollywood projects. “It’s important for actors, musicians, and artists at every single point in their career to be able to connect with new fans and get their art out there,” Liz Hynes, a late night writer and WGA East council member, tells the outlet. “And Late Show was really, I think, a more democratic way for people to do that.”
Hynes also notes that the loss of roughly 200 jobs at The Late Show “is going to leave a real crater” from a labor perspective. This perspective is shared by the office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose spokesperson Kristin Devoe recently told Gothamist, “The loss of ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ is more than just the end of a television show. It means the loss of hundreds of good-paying production jobs, lost income for dozens of vendors, and a hit to the local businesses that rely on the show’s daily audiences.”
The insiders interviewed for the piece reiterated conventional wisdom floated by Andy Cohen and David Letterman that the network could have done more to trim the budget at The Late Show before jumping to a cancellation, adding that the company could do more in general to make late night viable in the streaming era. But the WGA members note that in the 2023 writers strike, a point of contention in the contracts was the studios’ attempt to turn late night writers’ 13-week-minimum contracts into day-long contracts. (The WGA has called for an investigation into the cancellation, releasing a statement that says in part the guild “will support our members at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and across the late-night industry as they speak truth to power and we will explore all potential legal and political avenues to fight for our members in the aftermath of this decision.”)
Getting rid of Colbert may indeed have appeased President Donald Trump, but getting rid of his writers room served a similarly nefarious purpose: “My most pessimistic read on a situation like that is that CEOs who resent having to deal with unions are always looking for reasons to get rid of those spaces,” Hynes theorized to VF. “It adds insult to injury [in] that I think it’s also pre-capitulating to a fascist—but I do think there are some people in this industry that want to just blow up union-dense spaces wherever possible.” You can read the full piece for yourself here.
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