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John Wells

Though most noted for creating and executive producing some of television's most critically acclaimed shows, John Wells was difficult to pigeonhole because of his extensive producing credits in features while also displaying considerable business acumen as the president of the Writers Guild of America, West. In fact, Wells made his producer debut on the satirical comedy "Nice Girls Don't Explode" (1987) before transitioning to television as a writer and eventual co-executive producer on the acclaimed Vietnam drama "China Beach" (ABC, 1989-1991). After developing the failed cop procedural "Angel Street" (CBS, 1992), he became the executive producer on the Michal Crichton-created medical drama "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009), a long-running, Emmy Award-winning series that established Wells as one of the top television producers in the business. From there, Wells ventured back into film producing with "The Peacemaker" (1997) before creating the mildly successful "Third Watch" (NBC, 1999-2005) and stepping into the showrunner role on the critically lauded political drama "The West Wing" (NBC, 1999-2006). Meanwhile, his company John Wells Productions produced a number of well-received indie features like "Far From Heaven" (2002), "The Good Thief" (2003) and "I'm Not There" (2007), and Wells himself made his feature directing debut with "The Company Men" (2010). But his bread and butter remained television, though the not-easily-defined Wells jumped from network to cable with "Southland" (NBC, 2009; TNT, 2010-13) and "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011- ), where he flourished under more creative freedom while retaining his high standard of quality television.