Conan O’Brien to pay his non-writing staff during the strike
By fred | November 30, 2007
As soon as the strike started, all late night show went off. Unlike scripted series late night shows are written day to day and obviously can’t have episodes made in advance, and reruns have been airing for the whole month of November now; resulting in networks having to give sponsors their money back one way or another, something they obviously don’t like to do.
Networks have been pressuring all their hosts to get back on the air, and so far no one caved (except for Ellen DeGeneres, who only took a little break before going back). The idea of having guest-host was even thrown around at NBC as a way to get their Tonight Show back on without Leno. In fact NBC’s high pressure succeeded as Carson Daly is said to go back to work soon.
Rumors has it that he might have lost his job if he didn’t, but the truth is he’s a sucker. And for the few of his show I ever saw, it wasn’t really good.
Anyways, Conan O’Brien on the other hand - who started as a writer and wrote for shows such as Saturday Night Live or The Simpsons - is supporting the strike and willing to put his money where his mouth is. So far non-writing staff of the Late Night show were paid by NBC, but starting next week NBC might stop.
O’Brien intend to pay the full salaries of approximately 80 nonwriting staffers out of his own pockets, on a week to week basis. Well, through his company, Conaco. This is really a generous move from the giant redhead freak, because unlike Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants, which is generously paying its employees through at least the end of the year for both Letterman’s and Ferguson’s show, Conan’s company does not own Late Night, NBC does.
I’ve always been a fan of Conan, I believe that his show is the best of all late night shows, and that he’s the best interviewer, and this is only just another reason to love O’Brien, who’s not paid as much as other late night hosts like Leno or Letterman, though his salary has been estimated at $10 million to $15 million a year. An executive with knowledge of budgets for late night shows estimated that paying all those staffers would be about $200 000 a week.
» Jay Leno will pay his staffers, too | I Watch TV!