Introduction
Connor Schell is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning producer of movies and TV shows. He is the co-creator and executive producer of the 30 for 30 series for ESPN. He has executive produced more than 80 episodes of that series. He is also a creator and executive producer of 30 for 30 shorts.
Films
Connor is a producer of the 2016 documentary film O.J.: Made in America along with Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow and Libby Geist. O.J.: Made in America was directed by Ezra Edelman and is an eight-hour documentary that premiered to extraordinary reviews at Sundance Film Festival in 2016. It also played at the Tribeca Film Festival and HotDocs before it was released theatrically. O.J.: Made in America premiered on ABC on June 11, 2016.
Along with Bill Simmons, Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray and Joe Roth, Connor served as an Executive Producer of the 2014 Disney film Million Dollar Arm starring Jon Hamm.
Schell is also an Executive Producer for the upcoming Disney film Queen of Katwe which was scheduled to be released in the fall of 2016. Queen of Katwe is the first Disney film on which ESPN Films has a presentation credit. It is directed by Mira Nair and it stars Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo.
Television production
The 30 for 30 series, created by Schell and Bill Simmons has become the gold standard of sports storytelling. The show was created in 2007 and has aired since 2009. It has won four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. In 2012, Simmons and Schell announced the creation of 30 for 30 shorts. In 2014, Schell and Simmons discussed the series at the Paley Center with Jason Hirschhorn.
Working with Maura Mandt and MaggieVision productions, Schell is the executive producer of the annual ESPY Awards on ABC. He has been the executive producer of the show since 2013.
In 2014, the Disney XD channel premiered the series Becoming which was created by Schell, Bill Simmons, Erin Leyden and Gentry Kirby. Becoming is a series of 30 minute documentaries profiling today's superstar athletes when they were kids and so far episodes have aired about LeBron James, Alex Morgan, Tim Howard, Henrik Lundquist, Chris Paul and CC Sabathia. The show is executive produced by Schell and Simmons along with Libby Geist, Maverick Carter and LeBron James.
Education
He has degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Business School.