NEW YORK - David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, jumped Saturday at the chance to negotiate independently with the Writers Guild of America, saying it was eager to make a deal with its striking writers and get new episodes of its late-night shows back on the air.

The move by Worldwide Pants, which produces the "Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," could bolster the union's efforts to break apart the alliance of studios and networks with which it's at loggerheads.

Hours after the union told its members it would try to break the logjam by dealing with individual companies, Worldwide Pants executive Rob Burnett said the company would take the guild up on its offer.

"Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the guild without involving CBS in that," Burnett said. "It is our strong desire to be back on the air with our writers, and we hope that will happen as soon as possible."

Bill Scheft, a veteran "Late Show" writer and the program's WGA strike captain, greeted Saturday's developments with relief.

"This would be too good to be true," Scheft said. "It's totally pro-writer, which is what Dave has been throughout. Ideally, other people would then fall in line."

On Saturday, guild officials sent their members a letter detailing their new strategy, which they plan to present to individual studios Monday.

"We want to do everything in our power to move negotiations forward and end this devastating strike," the guild's negotiating committee wrote. "The internal dynamics of the [alliance] make it difficult for the conglomerates to reach consensus and negotiate with us on a give-and-take basis."

A spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said the guild was "grasping for straws" and that its members were unified.

The deal would be a boon to Letterman, allowing him return to the air with his writing staff while his rivals are sidelined. The CBS host is in a better position to make a deal with the WGA than Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, whose programs are owned by their networks.

LOS ANGELES TIMES