John Wells Launches Online Guide To Help Train Next Gen Showrunners Amid TV Content Boom

deadline.com:

The existing system for training showrunners cannot keep up with the demand, and John Wells has stepped in to help. The seasoned showrunner of shows such as ER, The West Wing and Shameless and former two-time WGAW President has launched The Showrunner’s Corner, a section of his company John Wells Productions’ web site dedicated to giving up-and-coming writers the basics they need in order to successfully make the transition to showrunners.Complete with a glossary of industry terms, like DOOD or EFC, The Showrunner’s Corner includes an Adventures In Showrunning by John Wells section, in which he shares his experience and gives practical advice on how to handle Scheduling & Deadlines, Communication, Delegation and Leadership.

There is also a How We Make TV at JWP portion, where members of Wells’ team provide tutorials on Showrunner Prep and Production, How To Read a Call Sheet, Writer’s Assistant’s Guide as well as A Showrunners Guide To Business Affairs, which will be published shortly.

Also coming up is a section on how TV development works.Information is being added daily as The Showrunner’s Corner tries to be up-to-date on the fast-evolving TV business in addressing as many questions first-time showrunners may have and providing managerial experience writers need to go along with their creative talents in order for their shows to succeed.Wells said he got the idea and started working on the manual about a year and half ago during production on the praised Netflix limited series Maid, on which he was executive producer and director.

He traveled twice to Canada, where the series filmed, to direct the first two and the last two episodes, and both times he had to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks per the country’s Covid