User:JSFarman/sandbox/Morgan Wandell

Morgan Wandell is an American media executive and producer. He is the head of international content development for Apple. A "veteran of the streaming revolution," he previously held senior creative positions at Amazon, ABC, and Touchstone. His credits include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Man in the High Castle, Jack Ryan, Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey’s Anatomyand  Goliath.

Early life and education
Morgan Wandell was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Jeffrey and Charlotte Wandell. He grew up in Champaign, Illinois and graduated from Centennial High School in 1989. He was the senior class president and a member of the competitive swim team at Centennial.

Wandell attended Claremont McKenna College, and as a student interned for Channel One News. A fellow at the Athenaeum at Caltech during his senior year, he graduated from Claremont McKenna in 1993 with a degree in economics.

Career
Following his graduation, Wandell was hired by Channel One News, where he wrote, produced, and directed news features and series for a daily newscast for 8 million teenagers. In 1996, he landed a creative executive role at Disney’s Touchstone Studios, where he managed primetime series and supervised the development slate of established producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer, David Hoberman, and Peter Tolan. His shows included series such as Boy Meets World and Home Improvement as well as Ryan Murphy’s first series, Popular, for the WB. The Home Improvement writers named the fictitious network executive who cancelled Tool Time -- the show within the show -- Morgan Wandell. ("There's no project...If you have any complaints about that, you might want to email Morgan Wandell at big-fat-zero-dot-com.")

In the late 90s, Touchstone was merged with ABC Studios, and in the wake of the merger, Wandell decided to pursue his interest developing streaming video programming. In August 1999 he was named VP of Development at DEN, a precursor to modern streaming services that "lead the convergence of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, as it worked to create a new TV-style entertainment medium delivered on the Internet." . While at DEN, e supervised DEN's entertainment-based programming, oversaw the development and production of nonfiction video and animation, and helped to restructure the production operations and reduce its expenses.

In March 2000, DEN CEO Jim Ritts left the company to become CEO of Channel One, and recruited Wandell to return to Channel One as its head of of programming. He was promoted to president of programming the following year. There Wandell oversaw production of an award-winning daily newscast for 8 million young people and expanded its capabilities into production commitments with other outside networks, including the MTV documentary series Breaking It Down with Serena Altschul, the 9/11 special The Day It All Changed  for the WB, and investigative features on ABC News’ Nightline on underground Christian churches in China.

In 2004, Wandell was appointed senior vice president, drama at ABC Studios. Over the next four years he developed series including Ugly Betty, Private Practice, Criminal Minds, and Ghost Whisperer, and helped to launch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. While Wandell was at ABC, the studio went from producing one returning drama to 17. In 2008, producer Greg Berlanti recruited him to run Berlanti Television, which produced shows such as Brothers and Sisters, Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, and No Ordinary Family. Sneaky Pete, the anthology series Electric Dreams, Patriot, a cult hit, and the limited series A Very English Scandal. He was promoted to head of international series in 2016., and expanded Amazon’s production operations in multiple territories, working on co-productions such as The Widow with Kate Beckinsdale (UK), Breathe, El Candito (Mexico), and Inside Edge, Made In Heaven, Mirzapur and The Family Man (India).

In October 2017 Apple established internal production of creative content and Wandell was appointed head of international content development for the company. In October 2020, it was announced that Apple had greenlit "Masters of the Air," an international WWII television series by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Tom Hanks' Playtone, the first series in which Apple serves as the studio. The international programming slate also includeShantaram and Pachinko.

Personal life
Wandell and his wife, Francine Li, were married in September 2018. He serves on the Friends of the Saban Community Clinic Board of Directors.