He wrote Good Old Summertime, a biopic of George Evans for Arthur Freed to star Frank Sinatra but it was not made.

He did uncredited work on The Stratton Story (1949) then focused on musicals: Three Little Words (1950), The Toast of New Orleans (1950), Summer Stock (1951), Excuse My Dust (1951), Texas Carnival (1951) and Lovely to Look At (1952).

[3] This was a big flop and Wells' next film as producer, My Intimate Friend (to star Lana Turner and Ava Gardner), was never made.

After that Wells focused on comedies: Ask Any Girl (1959), The Gazebo (1959), Where the Boys Are (1960), The Honeymoon Machine (1961), The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962), Penelope (1966), Three Bites of the Apple (1967), and The Impossible Years (1968).

[5] He left MGM in 1970 and wrote Cover Me Babe (1970) and the TV movie The Fabulous Doctor Fable (1973).

With co-writer Harry Tugend, Wells was nominated for the 1950 Writers Guild of America Award in the category of Best Written American Musical for Take Me Out to the Ball Game.