Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver launched a limited series podcast to support writers on strike.
The late night talk show hosts released a trailer for “Strike Force Five” on Tuesday, August 29, one day before the first official episode. The series, which will run for at least 12 episodes, is led by Colbert, 59, Fallon, 48, Kimmel, 55, Meyers, 49, and Oliver, 46. Every episode will feature a new person running the conversation.
All proceeds received from “Strike Force Five” will be given to staff members from the hosts’ respective shows: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.
“[The podcast became] a series of hilarious and compelling conversations. Now, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver invite you to listen in on their once-private chats on this all-new podcast,” a press release from Spotify read.
Fallon and Meyers, whose shows air on NBC, reportedly paid their staffers three weeks of wages when their programs were originally sidelined when the writers strike began in May. NBC planned to pay the equivalent of two weeks salary, with the hosts each covering the third week out of their own pockets.
The WGA formally initiated a strike in May after failing to reach an agreement in its contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. (The AMPTP represents major companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony.)
Two months later, SAG-AFTRA authorized a strike after its own labor dispute with the AMPTP reached a standstill. Actors subsequently joined writers on the picket line as most Hollywood productions shut down.
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee announced on Sunday, August 27, that they were ready “at a moment’s notice” to return to the bargaining table.
“Unfortunately, as we’ve seen from the recent news out of the WGA negotiations, it appears the AMPTP is still unwilling to make the concessions necessary to make a fair deal that would bring the strikes to a close,” the statement read. “We have been ready, willing and able to continue bargaining with them and we very much want the AMPTP to come back to the table.”
The statement also addressed mixed feelings toward the Interim Agreement, which has allowed certain projects to continue filming if the movie is not produced by a studio that is a member of the AMPTP and agrees to union guidelines. Projects that have lowest-budget contracts with SAG-AFTRA are allowed to continue working as well.
“To be crystal clear, once an agreement is in place, we fully encourage all of our SAG-AFTRA members to work under that agreement AND to promote work made under that agreement. The more projects that get made with the Interim Agreement, the weaker the AMPTP becomes. So, let’s lift up our fellow performers who are out there working,” the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee continued. “We believe that our strategy to employ the Interim Agreement is working well, and we want you to know that seeing our fellow performers go to work and promote their Interim Agreement projects, including at film festivals and beyond, is a source of pride.”
