  john marcum wells (born may 28, 1956) is an american theater, film and television producer, writer and director. he is best known for his role as executive producer and showrunner of the television series er, third watch, the west wing, and shameless. his company, john wells productions, is currently based at warner bros. studios in burbank, california. wells is also a labor leader, and was elected president of the writers guild of america, west in 2009, after serving a prior term in that office from 1999 to 2001. == early life == wells was born in alexandria, virginia, the son of marjorie elizabeth (nÃ©e 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.conner, lynne (2007). pittsburgh in stages: two hundred years of theater. university of pittsburgh press. pg. 247. isbn 978-0-8229-4330-3. retrieved 2011-07-15. ==career== ===television=== wells was a producer on the 1987 film nice girls don't explode. he began writing for television with an episode of cbs summer playhouse entitled "roughhouse" in 1988. ====china beach==== he was hired as a producer for the second season of abc drama series china beach in
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