Douglas Wellman was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota and studied television broadcasting at the University of Minnesota. After working at television stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, he moved to Los Angeles where he had a 35 year career as an award winning television producer-director. He worked primarily in comedy on shows such as The Facts of Life, Gimme a Break, Comic Strip Live, An Evening at the Improv and Comedy on the Road. Concurrent with the last 17 years of his career he taught sitcom production at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and also served as Assistant Dean at that school.