Exclusive: John Wells has teamed with Tony-winning theater and opera director Ivo van Hove on Doll, a psychological thriller series set in the ruthless world of a modern music conservatory, which is in development at Warner Bros. Television. Van Hove’s artistic collaborator Jan Versweyveld is set to serve as production and lighting designer on the project, which marks the duo’s first foray into scripted television.
Doll is written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach who was inspired by his experience training his own classical voice at one of the top music conservatories in the country and experiencing their cutthroat environment first-hand.
Set in an elite NYC music conservatory, Doll follows Nora, a working-class soprano with a dark past, punk ambitions and an outsized voice who gets the role of a lifetime that threatens to destroy her life. Thrust into a world of sex, drugs, ambition and madness,...
Doll is written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach who was inspired by his experience training his own classical voice at one of the top music conservatories in the country and experiencing their cutthroat environment first-hand.
Set in an elite NYC music conservatory, Doll follows Nora, a working-class soprano with a dark past, punk ambitions and an outsized voice who gets the role of a lifetime that threatens to destroy her life. Thrust into a world of sex, drugs, ambition and madness,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, John Wells Productions has landed the rights to Danya Kukafka’s recently published suspense thriller novel Notes on an Execution for series adaptation.
The novel, released just last month, tells the story of a serial killer in his last hours on death row through the eyes of the women in his life.
Per the description, Notes on an Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our system of justice, our cultural obsession with crime stories, and challenges audiences to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men.
“Danya’s novel had us on the edge of our seats with its propulsive writing while also moving us with its powerful commentary,” said Erin Jontow, President of TV, John Wells Productions. “Everyone at John Wells Productions devoured the...
The novel, released just last month, tells the story of a serial killer in his last hours on death row through the eyes of the women in his life.
Per the description, Notes on an Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our system of justice, our cultural obsession with crime stories, and challenges audiences to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men.
“Danya’s novel had us on the edge of our seats with its propulsive writing while also moving us with its powerful commentary,” said Erin Jontow, President of TV, John Wells Productions. “Everyone at John Wells Productions devoured the...
- 2/24/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Longtime John Wells Productions executive Ned Haspel has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. He was previously EVP, Business and Financial Affairs.
Haspel joined Jwp as VP of Business Operations in 1999. Based in Los Angeles and reporting to Wells, he handles all of the company’s business affairs, finance and production, as well as overseeing all budgeting on Jwp’s shows and features. He has also been integral to negotiating all of Wells’ overall deals with Warner Bros. TV.
Early in his tenure, Haspel worked on some of the company’s biggest hits, The West Wing, ER, Third Watch and Southland. Since then, he has been involved with Jwp’s entire slate, including Shameless and Animal Kingdom, for which he has negotiated the initial rights deals, and every other deal that followed. Additionally, he’s worked on several feature films, including Company Men, Love & Mercy, Far from Heaven and August: Osage County.
Haspel joined Jwp as VP of Business Operations in 1999. Based in Los Angeles and reporting to Wells, he handles all of the company’s business affairs, finance and production, as well as overseeing all budgeting on Jwp’s shows and features. He has also been integral to negotiating all of Wells’ overall deals with Warner Bros. TV.
Early in his tenure, Haspel worked on some of the company’s biggest hits, The West Wing, ER, Third Watch and Southland. Since then, he has been involved with Jwp’s entire slate, including Shameless and Animal Kingdom, for which he has negotiated the initial rights deals, and every other deal that followed. Additionally, he’s worked on several feature films, including Company Men, Love & Mercy, Far from Heaven and August: Osage County.
- 2/5/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
John Wells Productions has renewed its ties to Warner Bros. Television with a rich five-year overall deal that will extend the prolific producer’s tenure at the studio to nearly 40 years.
The deal, which is said to reach into nine figures, runs through 2024 and calls for Wells’ company to develop a wide range of programs for various Warner Bros. TV imprints. Wells has been aligned with Warner Bros. since he started there as a story editor in 1986. At present Jwp produces the Showtime drama “Shameless” and TNT’s “Animal Kingdom.” It has several development prospects set up at Showtime, Apple and WarnerMedia’s nascent streaming service.
Wells’ longevity at Warner Bros. is rare in the contemporary environment, especially with the level of moving and shaking in the television industry during the past few years. Wells, who delivered a once-in-a-generation hit to the studio as the showrunner of “ER” and the...
The deal, which is said to reach into nine figures, runs through 2024 and calls for Wells’ company to develop a wide range of programs for various Warner Bros. TV imprints. Wells has been aligned with Warner Bros. since he started there as a story editor in 1986. At present Jwp produces the Showtime drama “Shameless” and TNT’s “Animal Kingdom.” It has several development prospects set up at Showtime, Apple and WarnerMedia’s nascent streaming service.
Wells’ longevity at Warner Bros. is rare in the contemporary environment, especially with the level of moving and shaking in the television industry during the past few years. Wells, who delivered a once-in-a-generation hit to the studio as the showrunner of “ER” and the...
- 6/20/2019
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
One of the longest relationships between a writer-producer and a studio will continue. John Wells has signed a massive new five-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group. Under the pact, believed to be in the nine-figure range and to run through 2024, Wells and his John Wells Prods. will remain based at the studio where the veteran writer-producer-director has been working for virtually his entire TV career to date, since landing a story editor job there in 1986.
Since then, Wells has executive produced a slew of successful and critically praised series for Warner Bros. TV, including ER, The West Wing, Southland, Shameless and Animal Kingdom.
Jwp currently has more than a dozen projects in the works, including the provocative Heart of a Lion, written by Wells based on a: Finnish film, which I hear is in talks at Showtime. Marking the first TV project Wells has written since adapting Paul Abbott’s British series Shameless,...
Since then, Wells has executive produced a slew of successful and critically praised series for Warner Bros. TV, including ER, The West Wing, Southland, Shameless and Animal Kingdom.
Jwp currently has more than a dozen projects in the works, including the provocative Heart of a Lion, written by Wells based on a: Finnish film, which I hear is in talks at Showtime. Marking the first TV project Wells has written since adapting Paul Abbott’s British series Shameless,...
- 6/20/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
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