‘Tonight Show’ nonwriting staff laid off in strike

updated 4:45 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Nonwriting staff members of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” became the latest casualties of the four-week Hollywood writers strike when they were laid off Friday.

NBC confirmed the layoffs at the show without providing further details. The show went into reruns when the strike began on Nov. 5 and Leno honored the picket lines.

NBC had been covering the salaries of the nonwriting staffers. Conan O’Brien has promised to cover the salaries of about 75 nonstriking “Late Night” staffers next week.

The layoffs came as the Writers Guild of America mulled a new contract offer. Negotiations were recessed until Tuesday.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it was willing to offer $130 million in extra pay over the life of the proposed three-year deal along with the $1.3 billion writers already receive each year.

The Writers Guild of America countered that the offer amounted to a “massive rollback.”

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