# Late Night Hosts Personally Paying Writers Jay Leno & Conan O'Brien Support Staffers By Bianca | Published 2007-12-01 | Pop Culture Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/late-night-host-pay-writers References: [peoplefalltv.wordpress](http://peoplefalltv.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/report-tonight-show-staffers-all-out-of-jobs/) The Writers Guild of America strike has had some interesting twists. Tonight Show host, Jay Leno, said today he would personally pay the staff of his show after Friday's announcement they would all be out of jobs. That includes payment out of his own pocket to keep his crew, band members and other employees. Leno's decision follows late night host, Conan O'Brien's announcement earlier this week that he too would begin paying [non-writing production staff](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/employee-driven-philanthropy). The payments will start on Monday, the first day they will no longer be on the [NBC](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/candy-cane-brownie) payroll. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 2.0/10 - Popularity: 20% | Activity: 33% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Pop Culture](https://www.trendhunter.com/popculture) > [Media](https://www.trendhunter.com/media) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Personal Payment:** Late night hosts personally paying staff members create disruptive innovation opportunities for employee compensation strategies. - **Loyalty and Support:** Late night hosts demonstrating loyalty and support to their staff during the Writers Guild of America strike present disruptive innovation opportunities for employee relations and branding. - **Employee Empowerment:** Late night hosts taking responsibility for paying their staff members empower employees and showcase disruptive innovation opportunities for leadership and management practices. ### Where This Applies - **Broadcasting:** Personal payment initiatives by late night hosts open up disruptive innovation opportunities for compensation strategies within the broadcasting industry. - **Entertainment:** Late night hosts personally paying their production staff presents disruptive innovation opportunities for employee relations and compensation practices within the entertainment industry. - **Media:** The support shown by late night hosts in paying their non-writing staff members brings forth disruptive innovation opportunities for employee relationships and compensation methods within the media industry. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Income-Centric Animated Comedies](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/universal-basic-guys.md) - [Comedian-Themed Holiday Brownies](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/candy-cane-brownie.md) - [Employee Return-to-Office Protests](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/returntooffice-protests.md) - [Comedic Streaming Service Livestreams](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/neflix-livestream.md) - [Content Creator-Backed Tournaments](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ludwig.md) - [Earned Wage Campaigns](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/earned-wage.md) - [Inaugural Live Comedy Specials](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/chris-rock-2.md) - [Pay-What-You-Want Pizza Trucks](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pay-what-you-want-pizza-truck.md) - [Gray QSR Mascot Campaigns](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/wendys-canada-goes-gray.md)