If you’re a budding TV and film writer looking for the best place to learn your craft, we’ve got good news for ya. John Wells, of ER, The West Wing, Shameless, et al, has your back:
by Greg Evans
John Wells, the writer, director & producer behind such TV classics as ER, The West Wing and Shameless, has endowed a “significant gift” to the USC School of Cinematic Arts Division of Writing for Screen & Television.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my career, a career that would not have been possible without the USC School of Cinematic Arts,” Wells said. “It’s where I learned to write, where I learned to produce, where I learned how to direct. My career would not have been possible without my time at USC and without the many wonderful professors who gave unselfishly of their time and expertise.”
Wells currently is the Executive Producer on TNT’s drama Animal Kingdom and Showtime’s Shameless. He was Executive Producer on Southland, Mildred Pierce, and China Beach. For the big screen, Wells produced Beach Boys biopic Love & Mercy and directed August: Osage County, among many others. He’s a a 1982 graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Peter Stark Producing Program.
“We are so grateful to our alumnus John Wells for this support of the talented storytellers who make up the John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television,” said SCA Dean Elizabeth Daley in announcing the gift today.
The Division was dedicated last night, with a program that included a conversation between Wells and West Wing’s Bradley Whitford about “the power of story and writing in Hollywood….”