John Wells

John Marcum Wells (born May 28, 1956) is an American producer, writer, and director. He is best known for his role as showrunner and executive producer of the television series ER, Third Watch, The West Wing, Southland, Shameless, Animal Kingdom, and American Woman, as well as the miniseries Maid. His company, John Wells Productions, is currently based at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California. Wells is also a labor leader, having served as president of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1999 to 2001 and from 2009 to 2011. Wells serves on the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) Board of Governors. In 2011, he developed the series Shameless on Showtime, which ran for eleven seasons ending in 2021. Early life Wells was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Marjorie Elizabeth (née Risberg) and Llewellyn Wallace Wells, Jr., an Episcopalian minister. He has English, Irish, Scottish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry. Wells graduated from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 1979. A studio theatre at Carnegie Mellon University bears his name. While at CMU, he was one of the earliest actors to work at City Theatre, a prominent fixture of Pittsburgh theatre. Career